Page 29 of Milk & Malice: Vadik

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Just… despair.

They locked on mine.

He saw me.

He knew.

And in that flicker of recognition, I saw everything.

What he used to be.

What he’d become.

What I would become—if I ever stopped being useful.

A gurgle spilled from his throat. His lips trembled, useless against the tube.

Not a scream.

Not a plea.

Just a breath.

A warning.

A prayer for death.

I couldn’t look away.

My mind went blank.

Until Vadik seized my chin and wrenched my face toward his.

“No,” he snapped sharply, grabbing my chin and twisting my face toward him.“You stay right here with me. No more disappearing acts.”

My breath came too fast.

I couldn’t slow it.

My body shook.

Just breathe.

Breathe—

But all I could see was the brown-haired man in the brown sweater.

What was left of him.

No arms.

No legs.

Only a head and chest.

A tube stuck from his mouth like a grotesque straw.

Then I felt it—

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