Page 168 of Symphony for Lies

I squeezed as if that alone could tether her to this world.

“You belong to me. No one is taking you from me.”

Nothing else mattered.

The beeping machines. The medical jargon. The sterile scent of antiseptic. They didn’t exist.

Only Amelia.

I held her like I could will her back to full health.

She wouldn’t die. She couldn’t. I wouldn’t allow it.

Hospital. Bright lights. Movement.

And then they took her from me.

“Sir, you have to stay here.”

Hands held me back. I didn’t fight, but my eyes never left her until she disappeared behind a set of doors. Gone.

A numbing void spread through my chest.

At some point, I found myself in a waiting area.

My hands were still covered in her blood. My breathing hitched.

He will pay for this. I will fucking kill him.

Darkness coiled around my thoughts, suffocating and consuming.

If Amelia survived, I would never let her be in danger again. Never.

No risks. No threats. No distance. She would stay with me. Safe. Where she belonged.

“Zane!”My mother’s sharp voice snapped through the silence, followed by the hurried steps of several others.

My head lifted.

Amelia’s friends were with her.Their faces were pale, stricken with fear.

My mother dropped to her knees, her hands gripping my shoulders. “What happened to you?” Her eyes filled with tears. But none of what was going on was about me.

“I’m fine.” My voice was hollow, unrecognizable.

“What are you talking about? You’re bleeding.”

“Not all of it is mine.”

A sharp inhale.

The horror on Stacy’s face was almost unbearable to look at.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. Tiana whispered a curse under her breath, and Layla sank into the seat beside me.

No one spoke, but then my mother broke the silence once more. “Zane, you need to get treated.”

“Not until she’s okay.”

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