Page 117 of Lunar Crest University

“No. No, no, no,” I mumble, pressing my lips to her forehead as my vision blurs.

She can’t be dead.

Finley can’t be dead.

“She was stabbed. Twice.” Levi’s voice sounds a million miles away. “She passed out literally two seconds before you started kicking at the door.”

Scooping her head up, her arms dangle as I prop her in my lap. Her dead weight rests on me, and it’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t scare easily. I don’t scare at all. But the thought of losing her puts fear in me that feels like it could quite literally kill me.

“Finley, baby?” I pat her cheek softly, my shoulders sagging even more when she doesn’t flinch. “Wake up. Can you hear me? Wakeup.”

Levi grabs one of her hands, andfuck, I hate this. Ihatethis.

We can’t stay here. The fire will consume the entire building soon, and she needs help. My brain goes into overdrive as I start to move, pressing my fingers to her throat as I assess the wounds on her stomach and her right thigh. A sigh of relief leaves me as I feel the tiniest,faintestthrumming against my fingers.

“There’s a pulse,” I say in a rush, laying her head down gently as I take my hunting knife and rip the sleeve of my sweater off. “It’s barely there, but it’s there. We need to tourniquet her leg and get out of here.”

For the slightest second, my nostrils flare in frustration that Levi didn’t think to do this already, but she’s not the only one who has been through trauma tonight. I clocked the cut on his neck the moment he sat up earlier and how skinny he seemed compared to normal. He just watched his best friend bleed out until exhaustion. I have to let it slide that it didn’t cross his mind. There’s no going back now.

“What do I do?” he asks.

“Here.” I hand him the torn piece of fabric. “Tie this off above the stab wound on her leg. Tie it tight.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy for a minute, and I’m sure he has an overwhelming amount of thoughts circling his head right now, but he swallows thickly and nods before doing what I ask. More blood oozes from the wound as he ties it around her thigh, and he hisses uncomfortably as it gets on his shaky fingers. Swiping his nose with the back of his hand, he looks up at me again with a newfound uncertainty.

“Is that right?”

I nod. “Now help me get her up.”

Throwing her arm over my shoulder and wrapping mine around her waist, I hoist her from the ground. My heart stutters as I watch her limp body sag in my hold. Levi groans as he puts her other arm around him, and I can see the fresh tears on his cheeks. Finley would want me to comfort him, I know that, but he’s a grown man. So, I comfort her instead, even though I have no idea if she can actually hear me.

And maybe it’s more for me, I don’t know. But I do it anyway.

“Come on, baby,” I say into her ear, walking her toward the open door with Levi’s help. “I’m getting you out of here. You’re going to be fine. Hear me? Hear what I’m saying? I’ve got you,Princesa.”

My old contacts came in handy today. I’d found a scapegoat for the explosion at my house on the drive here—some poor fucker who would take the blame for it instead of allowing the police to fully look into it. My guys are already on their way here to take care of the smoke and fire here at the compound, so no one would come snooping around to see where all of it was coming from. I have my bases covered. I always do.

There’s even a medic on standby who can take care of Finley and use the cover story I’d come up with in two minutes as I was rigging this place with explosives.

I just have to get her to him, and he’ll do the rest.

I just have together to him.

There’s just one minor flaw in my plan. I haven’t run into the sorry son of a bitch responsible for this, and I know he’s here. He wouldn’t leave. Javier needs to see this through, so I know he’s still creeping around here somewhere, waiting. Typical of him to allow all his men to be killed while he sits back.

Turning right out of the doorway, we hurry away from the fire and smoke down the hallway. I know this compound like the back of my hand. Getting out of here won’t be an issue, but not knowing where Javier might be…

Keep going.

She’s my main focus.

She is always my main focus.

Even when I see a shadowy figure step into the end of the long hallway, she’s my main focus. Even when I make out the sadistic grin and split eyebrow immediately, she’s my main focus. Iwillget her out of here, no matter how I have to do it.

“Sad,” Javier’s voice carries down the hallway, making Levi halt in his tracks and forcing me to stop with him. He’s a good ten feet away still, but he takes short strides toward us. “She had so much potential.Sí?”

“Hold her,” I tell Levi.

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