Page 84 of His Red Carnation

She laughed bitterly, the sound hollow. “Over? Not yet.” The blade dug into my skin, just enough to draw blood. I felt the warm blood trickle down my neck and gasped, but I fought to keep still. The terror in Callan’s eyes only seemed to fuel her.

“You think you can just walk away from me after everything?” she shouted, her voice shaking with rage. “I’m going to make sure you feel the same helplessness I did.”

And then, with a sudden, violent motion, she plunged the blade deep into my side.

The pain was instant and overwhelming. I screamed, my legs buckling as my vision blurred. I could hear Callan’s agonizedshout, but it felt distant, muffled by the searing heat spreading through my body.

Callan surged forward, but Sarah yanked the knife out before I collapsed to the ground, blood soaking through my clothes. “Now you can watch her bleed,” she hissed.

Before she could do more, the agents rushed in, tackling her to the ground as the knife clattered from her hand. She struggled beneath them, but the fight was gone from her. The damage had already been done.

Callan was at my side in an instant, his hands trembling as he pressed them over the wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. His face was a mask of terror, his eyes wide with fear, and seeing him like that—so broken—made my heart ache more than the pain itself. “Sloane, stay with me, baby,” he begged, his voice cracking under the weight of his panic. “Please, you’re gonna be alright, baby. You’re gonna be okay.”

I wanted to reach out to him, to tell him how much I loved him, how I’d loved him since the moment I realized what he meant to me. But the words wouldn’t come. His voice grew more frantic, his grip on me tightening. “Sloane? Sloane, baby, open your eyes! Please…please don’t fucking leave me.”

I tried to hold on to the sound of his voice, to focus on the warmth of his hands against my skin. But the edges of my vision blurred, the world around me dimming.I love you, I thought.I love you more than anything.

Everything was slipping away now, slowly and quietly. And then there was nothing.

38

Callan

The helicopter ride was a blur of noise and chaos, but all I could focus on was Sloane. I held her hand the entire time, watching the medics work frantically to stabilize her, the blood soaking through their gloves as they shouted orders over the roar of the helicopter. I kept telling myself to stay calm, that she’d pull through, but the sight of her—so pale, so still—made it feel like the world was collapsing around me.

I didn’t let go of her hand, not even when we touched down at the hospital and they wheeled her into the ICU. Now, sitting here in the small, sterile room, the machines beeping softly around us, I couldn’t stop watching her chest rise and fall. It was the only thing keeping me grounded—those small, shallow breaths telling me she was still here.

The doctors said she was going to make it, that the knife had missed anything vital, that she was lucky.Lucky. The wordrattled in my brain, but I didn’t fucking feel lucky. All I could think about was how close I’d come to losing her.

I squeezed her hand gently, my thumb brushing over her knuckles. “You’re safe now, baby,” I whispered, my voice barely holding together. “You’re gonna be okay.”

I leaned in closer, resting my forehead gently against her arm, letting the sound of the machines fill the silence.

“I’m here, baby,” I whispered. “I’m not leaving.”

* * *

The steady beeping of the machines was a constant reminder that Sloane was still alive, still here. I held her hand, guilt gnawing at me. I had tried to stop Sarah, tried to talk her down, but it hadn’t been enough.

Jake stood by the window, his arms crossed, his face hard and unreadable, but I could feel the weight of his anger bearing down on me. We hadn’t spoken about what had happened yet, at least not in detail. Ana sat on the other side of Sloane, her eyes flicking between the two of us, her frustration barely contained. The air between us felt like it was ready to explode, and I was tense as fuck.

Finally, Jake broke the silence, his voice low but sharp. “You should’ve stopped it.”

I looked up, already feeling the knot in my stomach tighten. “What?”

“You were there,” Jake continued, turning to face me, his eyes narrowing. “You should’ve stopped it. The car crash, the kidnapping, Sarah stabbing her—you were there for all of it. How the hell did you let it get this far?”

I could feel my frustration boiling over. “You think I wanted this to fucking happen?” I shot back. “I tried to stop her.”

“Tried?” Jake’s voice rose, his anger surfacing. “My daughter’s in that bed because you didn’t stop Sarah. You didn’t fight her. You let it happen.”

“I didn’tletanything happen,” I said, standing up, my voice rising. “I tried to talk her down. I didn’t get a chance to fight.”

“But you didn’t stop her, did you?” Jake snapped. “You were too distracted by Sloane. You were too caught up in your feelings to pay attention to the danger. And now look where we are.”

Before I could respond, Ana cut in, her voice trembling with anger. “Don’t youdareput this all on Callan. It isnothis fault, not at all.”

Jake’s eyes flicked toward her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

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