Page 193 of BounBound By Scars

And I was.

Still beating.

Still—wait…

“Where’s Dylan?”

The room shifted.

Everything stilled.

The smiles faded.

Logan’s head dropped.

Amelia went pale.

Zarek squeezed his eyes shut and stepped away like the question had physically hit him.

My stomach sank.

The dread rushed back in, fast and cold.

“Where is he, Lia?” I asked, quieter this time.

She looked at me like she couldn’t find the words.

So Seb answered.

His voice was low, heavy.

“We don’t know.”

FORTY-ONE

Kabir

It had only been two days since I got back.

Two days, and everything still felt like a dream I hadn’t woken up from. No interrogations. No suspicion. No cold, assessing looks.

Just warmth.

Just her.

Amelia had told me bits and pieces—how fractured the team had become while I was gone. How quiet Dylan had turned. How Zarek stopped barking orders. How Logan kept losing sleep. How she barely breathed.

I hated that. Every fucking word of it.

I told her I’d take the blame.

She shut that shit down real fast.

She’d just left ten minutes ago to get us dinner, threatening me with bodily harm if I left the bed. I didn’t argue. I liked her fussing over me. I liked the softness in her voice when she checked on my meds. I liked… being hers.

I only wished I’d been there when she woke up from her own gunshot wound.

Fuck.

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