Page 53 of Vicious Little Princess

He’d been right fucking there! Right there!

I’d lost control. It was how he’d been able to escape. I’d been caught up in the violence, dealing out punishment on those who’d been complicitandabout to hurt Caterina when I’d walked into that dungeon.

I’d expected Caterina to lose it. Nico had basically sanctioned it, because he believed that was when she was her strongest and the best combatant she could be.

But I was different. I wasn’t supposed to lose control. Iwascontrol.

Steadfast.

Rational.

Dependable.

But the moment I’d seen Julian lying there like that…dammit,I’d snapped.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I looked away from staring at Julian unconscious in the hospital bed as I pulled it out and took in a text message from Nico.

He and Caterina had stayed until Julian had been brought in here after surgery, and then Nico had led her off to get her seen to by a doctor as well.

Nico:She’s being seen right now.

Milo:Good. It will give us all peace of mind there.

Nico:She kicked me out, making me wait outside the exam room. Should I go in any way?

The corner of my mouth turned up. The fact that he was asking me and being so unusually vulnerable about it really showed how much he wanted to do what was right for her now, not just what felt right to him from his obsession standpoint when it came to her.

Her and Julian being taken had shifted something in him.

Hell, it had shifted something in all of us.

Milo:Give her the space she’s asking for. But you can text her after another few minutes just to check in.

Nico:Sounds good. Is J awake yet?

I was about to text back ano,but then I saw his fingers twitch.

Milo:Waking up now.

I pocketed my phone and watched carefully as Julian’s striking hazel eyes locked onto me, a little glazed, as he tiredly tried to make sense of what was going on.

“You’re okay. You’re at the hospital and you’re going to be absolutely fine,” I told him quickly.

I grasped his hand in a gesture of comfort, but he flinched and an awful cry escaped him.

I released him instantly. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

Tears welled in his eyes and he squeezed them shut, pain blanketing his features.

It was absolutely brutal to witness.

His agony was so acute, so distressing.

What he’d been through… I couldn’t… I justcouldn’t.

But Ihadto.

I had to handle it.

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