Page 41 of Untamed

I hug myself tighter, his oversized shirt swallowing me up, and force one foot in front of the other.

Left, right. Left, right.

My heart stays behind in that gym, wounded and bleeding all over the cracked concrete floor.

But my body? It moves forward.

Because what other choice do I have?

I don’t bother waiting for Ares to come back up. I change into my dress from the night before, grimacing as the damp fabric clings to my skin like a second, suffocating layer. The coldness seeps into my bones, chilling me from the inside out.

I don’t even know how I got undressed and wound up in one of his t-shirts, but I don’t even have the energy to think about it.

I catch sight of his T-shirt, the one I was just wearing, the one he must have pulled over me at some point, lying crumpled at the foot of the bed. My chest squeezes in a way I don't want to examine too closely. Gently, I pick it up, smoothing the creases before folding it neatly and placing it back on the bed.

It feels oddly final. Like sealing off a moment I’m not supposed to want to remember. Without another glance at the room, at the place that smells like him, feels like him, I pull open the door and slip out into the long, dim hallway.

My footsteps sound too loud against the marble floors. My heart even louder.

I need to get out of here. Before I do something stupid. Before I convince myself that this, that he, means something more than he ever will.

When I get back to the Russo Manor, I find Bianca in the sunroom, curled up in one of the massive window seats,flipping through a thick binder full of what looks like funeral arrangements and legal paperwork.

The second she sees me hovering in the doorway, her face tightens. I see worry, guilt and relief. All of it flashes through her too fast to catch properly.

She sets the binder down and quickly stands.

“Where the hell have you been, Jordyn?” she says, crossing the room fast, her voice breaking somewhere between angry and scared.

“I—” I don't even get a full word out before she throws her arms around me, pulling me into a tight, desperate hug.

“You scared the life out of me,” she mutters into my hair. “Jordyn, you can’t just keep disappearing on me like that.”

I don’t hug her back right away. Something inside me is still too raw, too fragile.

But then she pulls back enough to grab my face between her hands, forcing me to look at her. “Enzo told me what happened,” she says quietly. “The club. The drugs. Are you okay?”

Shame slices through me, hot and fast.

“I didn’t mean to—” I start, but she cuts me off.

“What were you thinking? You could’ve died, Jordyn,” she says, eyes shining with unshed tears. “Do you get that? You could’ve ended up like them. You could’ve been—” Her voice chokes off, and for a moment, neither of us moves.

“I know,” I whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Bianca repeats, her voice breaking. “Jordyn, I know you’re devastated. I know you’re drowning in the loss of Mum and Dad... but so am I.” Tears fill her eyes, brimming until they spill over. “You’re not the only one who lost them, okay?”

The sting behind my eyelids is immediate and brutal.

“I know your grief, your trauma, is heavier than mine. Youwatchedit happen. You were there...” She shakes her head, her chest heaving. “But I’m hurting too. And you’re all I have left, and I don’t know what the hell to do because it feels like I’m losing you too.”

Bianca’s words punch straight through the walls I’ve been trying to keep up. I stand there, frozen, the apology caught in my throat, the tears burning the backs of my eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper again, but the words feel too small, too useless for the damage already done.

Bianca doesn’t say anything. She just stands there, broken and furious and desperate. And ithitsme right then how selfish I’ve been in my pain. How I’ve been so busy drowning that I didn’t notice she’s been gasping for air too.

The next breath I take shudders through me, and then I’m moving. My arms wrap around her in a messy, desperate hug, clutching her to me like I’m afraid she might vanish if I let go. For a second, she stiffens, like she’s not sure if it’s real, and then she clings back just as fiercely.

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