Page 179 of Seeking Shadows

She could do it. She could make it stop. Give in, lash out, make the pain shift from inside her to somewhere else, someone else.

But she won’t.

Because it’s me.

And it’s fucking killing her.

He’s going to kill her… slowly. And make me watch.

It’s cruel. It’s sick. A fat tear threatens to slip down my face, but I look away, forcing myself to keep it together. I can’t fall apart.

Not now. That’s when I see it—the little chain I kept, tucked away like a memory of something that once felt safe. Back when things were still good. I slip it over my fingers, pressing it against my palm, searching for something—anything—to hold onto. A clicking noise startles me for a second, but nothing happens. The necklace stays the same.

Damn.

Nico said Paulina recognized me the second she saw me. It didn’t take much for him to figure out the disguise I’d been perfecting for the past month. I should’ve been smarter. Should’ve seen this coming. But all I could think about was getting Mia out.

And she wouldn’t leave without Katie.

Shit.

It’s been a week. A full week of this hell. I count the days in my head, my thoughts spiraling. A human body can survive without food for a maximum of fifty days, three days without water. If they keep giving Mia water every two days, she has forty-three days left before her body gives out completely.

I rummage through the dark, my hands shaking, my breathing uneven. There has to be something. Something sharp. Something I can use. My fingers scrape against the floor, against metal, against nothing. My chest tightens. Every second I waste, she’s slipping further away.

Then I see it.

A shard of glass, jagged and glinting under the dim light. I grab it without thinking, the edge biting into my palm. It’s not enough. I need more.

I bring it down against the ground—hard. The sound of shattering fills the space, sharp and final, like breaking bone. Splinters scatter, thin and cruel, and I don’t hesitate. I reach for the biggest one, ignoring the sting, ignoring the blood welling up as I press it to my skin.

If I have to bleed for her, I will.

If I have to give a part of myself to keep her breathing, then it’s already hers.

I barely get the shard to my arm before cold fingers clamp around my wrist. Weak, trembling, but unrelenting.

"Don’t," she breathes, her voice so fragile I almost don’t hear it.

I try to pull away, but she won’t let me. Her grip is weak, but it’s desperate. Her nails press into my skin, her entire body shaking.

"You need it," I tell her, voice rough, my throat raw.

"I won’t," she whispers, her eyes wide and wet. "I can’t."

Her face is pale, her lips cracked, her breath uneven. And yet, she’s looking at me like I’m the one dying. Like I’m the one she’s afraid of losing.

"I’d rather die than see you bleed for me."

The words dig into me deeper than any blade ever could.

I swallow hard, my grip on the shard loosening. Her fingers tighten around my wrist, her entire body curled toward mine, like she can hold me together if she just tries hard enough.

"If you die, I die," I whisper. And I mean it.

A breath shudders out of her, broken and heavy, and something inside me fractures when I see the way her tears slip down her face, the way she’s clinging to me like I’m slipping away.

The shard falls from my hand, landing between us with a quiet, deadly sound.

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