Page 212 of Never Fall for an Angel

His other hand clamps around my throat, his fingers digging into my flesh and cutting off my oxygen.

Distantly, I register the sound of a pounding at the door mixed with the feral growl of my dog outside, but the sounds slowly drift away as the corners of my vision grow fuzzy.

“Tell me, sweetheart,” the man growls, but I’m fighting for oxygen. My limbs are growing numb as a sense of calm takes over. “Do you like pain?”

“Do you?”

For a moment, I lie there, sputtering as I suck in air, unable to move as all of the man’s weight is lifted off me. My hands and legs tingle as blood flows back through them, and my eyes are blurry from the mix of tears and makeup clouding my vision.

I roll over, scrambling to my knees and falling back into the wall, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. Christian holds none other than Collin by the throat, pressing him up against the wall opposite me, his gaze darker and more potent with fury than I’ve ever seen it before.

He snarls, his fingers tightening around William’s throat until his face takes on a blue hue from the lack of oxygen.

“Please,” Collin manages to croak, fingers clawing at Christian’s hands, but Christian’s grip only tightens, his eyes wild and his face so blurred with rage that he’s almost unrecognizable.

Christian shoves him back into the wooden wall, his arm shaking with the force of holding the grown man up off his feet. Collin chuckles, seemingly no longer concerned with begging for his life. He spits in my direction, a pool of blood landing at my feet.

Levi rushes into the room, and chaos ensues as two other men I’ve never seen before follow him. It’s too dark for me to see much of anything, but a pain settles in my limbs, my breathing not quite returning to normal.

I reach out to pet Phantom’s head, and a surprising lance of fire shoots through my hand when he whimpers from beside me, barking in my face.

“Mila.”

It’s Levi falling down to his knees in front of me. He’s got a flashlight, and he’s shining it on my face, nearly blinding me while he looks me over.

Then his eyes go wide as mine threaten to close.

Why is the room tilting?

“I . . . can’t breathe . . .” I mumble, my lips and fingertips prickling with numbness. Shivers ghost through me from head to toe, and I feel cold despite the sweat beading on the back of my neck.

“Fuck!” he grunts, launching to his feet. “Christian!”

“Get him to the fucking bunker,” Christian growls from somewhere nearby, but I can’t focus on anything.

Not even when Christian drops down in front of me.

“Baby, look at me.”

I can’t.

I can’t open my eyes.

“Goddamnit, Mila, fucking look at me,” he growls, but I can’t. It hurts too bad to move.

And just as my consciousness starts to fade from the pain, I hear three little words that would seem crazy, were I not bleeding out on the living room floor.

“Call Paulina. She’s been stabbed.”

CHRISTIAN

Get the lights!”

“On the table!”

I clutch Mila tightly to my chest, hoisting her from the ground while Collin is dragged from the house by a few members of our security team. The lights kick on, illuminating the dark, red stain in the grey material of Mila’s shirt.

“What happened?” Paulina gasps when she rushes through the door, her gaze on my bloody wife in my arms. I’m not sure who called her, but I’m thankful she’s here. I couldn’t do this without her. Mila’s head lulls against my chest, the knife in herside dripping blood onto the shining wood floor with every step I take. I hurry into the dining room, and Levi rushes ahead of me to shove the chairs out of the way.

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