Page 104 of Revenge & Ruin

It’s faint, but it’s there. He coughs once, a weak, shuddering sound, and I sit back, gasping as he turns his head to the side, dragging in a painful breath. His eyes blink open, unfocused, but he’s breathing. He’s alive.

Relief slams into me, as powerful as any of Leon’s blows. I let out a shaky breath, pressing a hand to his shoulder, steadying him as he coughs and sputters, trying to get air into his lungs.

“Rocco,” I whisper, my voice barely more than a rasp. “You’re all right. Just breathe, okay? Just keep breathing.”

He nods weakly, his gaze slowly focusing on me, recognition dawning through the haze of pain and exhaustion.

“C-c-”

“Cas,” I finish for him. “Cas is okay, too. She’s alive, Rocco. She’s fine. She’s on the other side.”

“C-c-…s.”

He pushes himself up with grueling difficulty. He’s sitting with sweat and agony dripping from his face as he braces himself for…

“Easy there, big guy,” I rush in to stop him. “You need to just lie down, okay?”

“Cas,” he grits out, more firm than before.

The man has to be operating on pure adrenaline at this point, intent on reuniting with his wife if it kills him, which—at his rate—it probably will.

If I leave him here to confront Ida, he’ll only try to follow.

“You are a pain in my ass, you know that?” I growl as I swoop down to pick him up.

There’s no strength in his legs at all, so I stagger dangerously as I try to stand with the added weight.

My only choice is to throw him across my back like we used to as kids. The familiarness of the action makes his arms wrap around my neck almost instinctively, and despite his useless legs, I manage to secure him tightly.

This absolutely cannot be safe for him. I think over a dozen times as we slowly make our way back to the front of the house.

My own adrenaline wears off just as we round the side of the building. The sudden pain in my thigh causes me to stumble forward awkwardly, and Rocco slips.

It’s all I can do to fall along with him to ensure he doesn’t crack his head on the concrete.

“Rocco!” I half groan as I roll out from under him.

His eyes are shut again, but at least this time, there’s a reassuring rise and fall of his chest. I almost sag back into the floor in relief.

“No, NO!”

A scream draws me back to the present, and I scramble to my feet.

The smoke unhelpfully blocks my view, so I carefully begin to approach the direction of the sound.

Only to freeze when the scene finally unfolds before me.

Leon, with hands around Isabella, as if holding her back.

Cas screaming.

Ida is holding onto Cassandra’s hair with one hand.

The other is holding a knife to her stomach.

And that quietness overwhelms me once more.

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