Page 107 of Smoke and Shadows

“How the fuck are you so sure?”

“Because Owen Reed is escaping.”

No!Marissa’s mind was screaming when her limbs refused to move. Viktor had stabbed her with atropine. She watched him drop in front of her. He was having trouble breathing, but even then, he tried to smile at her. And then his body convulsed as saliva poured from the side of his mouth. His breathing grew shallower and the light began to leave his eyes.

You can’t die. You’re invincible. Remember?

She must have blacked out afterward. She heard the basement door slam open, followed by muffled cursing. Openingher eyes, she saw a man wearing a chem suit crouched over Viktor, plunging what looked like an injector into him.

“You okay, Marissa?”

Derek.

“Yes.” Her voice. Her voice was back.

And then she saw him. His eyes. Viktor’s beautiful blue eyes were staring at her. But they were lifeless.

Struggling to her knees, she screamed, “Viktor! No. No. You cannot die.”

Her insides were flaying her alive like shards of glass was ripping through each organ. It was her heart breaking into pieces. It was her soul that was shattering. She watched the man she loved die to save her. How could he do this to her? How could she survive this?

“Don’t you dare die on me, Viktor!”

“Marissa, I’m getting him outside.” Derek lifted Viktor under his arms and dragged him through the door.

Another man in a chem suit arrived. Through his mask, Marissa noted numbly that it was Jack. Then her eyes blurred as her tears finally came. She sobbed, her body giving out again.

“Get her out. She’s had a shot of atropine, but she needs to be evacuated,” Derek told his friend.

Jack scooped her up and raced out with her. She looked back, watching Derek heave his friend over his shoulders in a fireman’s hold, Viktor’s blond head bowed. His massive, muscular form, so intimidating in motion, was now uncharacteristically limp. Three more people in masks ran past Jack to help Derek.

No. No. No.She didn’t want to leave him. But it was too late. He was already gone.

Beeping.The sound of a heart monitor.Shit. Was he in a hospital?And what the fuck was shoved down his throat?

Yes, there was the sound of a breathing apparatus and he was damned intubated. He struggled to open his eyes. A dark head was bent over his bed. Long silky hair. Marissa.

He must have made a sound because she jerked awake. Her green eyes were dull, the brilliance much dimmed. But they were still beautiful.

Darkness clawed at him and his eyes grew heavy. Oblivion.

He drifted. For how long, he didn’t know. He heard people talking in hushed tones, and he tried to rouse himself again. He couldn’t feel his body, but he was remembering everything. Especially the pain of suffocating made easier only with the thought that Marissa would live.

“Viktor?”

He finally opened his eyes and focused on her lovely face, the image that had haunted the darkness that had been his companion of late. He didn’t react too much to the intubation anymore, but he still couldn’t feel a fucking thing.

Marissa.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Why do you look so sad then, kitten?

The doctor came in, interrupting his moment with his woman, and if he had a choice right now, he’d kick the man in the ass. Except it was his ass that felt kicked. He endured the poking and prodding because, frankly, he had no choice. Intubated, remember?

“Can you understand me, Mr. Baran? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”

He blinked once.

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