Page 81 of The Celtic Resolution
“’M’okay,” he croaks. “What… what’s going on?”
“No time,” I gasp, painfully wrenching myself backward. “There’s no time to explain. Can you walk?”
Despite the fogginess in his eyes, he nods awkwardly. “Sort— sort of. Slowly.”
“Come on—ahh!”
“Saoirse! What’s wrong?”
As I double over at another contraction, Cian slowly pushes himself up onto his good knee and his hands tighten at my shoulders.
“Long story,” I gasp, crouching on the ground and panting. “Baby’s coming. We gotta go. There’s no time!”
“Holy shit…”
Cian’s visibly under the influence of some kind of drug so getting him onto his feet and keeping him there is more challenging than I have the energy for, but somehow I manage.
Tucked under his arm, I support him the best as I can as we both limp out of his cell and into the corridor. I want to hug him and check him over, make sure he’s really okay and that nothing I’m doing will make him any worse but there’s no time. We have to keep moving.
Underneath the panic and the pain though, there’s overwhelming relief at being reunited with him. It’s enough to bring me to tears if I wasn’t already sobbing about everything else.
“Come on, we’ve got a shit ton of stairs to climb. Stay with me, Cian. Stay with me!”
He does. Every step, he’s there. Even when his consciousness starts to fade, Cian is thankfully able to pull himself out of each one until we reach the top of the fourth set of stairs. It’s there he collapses, panting so harshly that I’m terrified he’s not even getting any air.
“S—Saoirse!” He gasps, clutching at my arm and gazing at me through heavily-lidded eyes. “You— you gotta leave me.”
“No!” I clutch at his shoulders and then his cheeks. “No, I can’t!”
“You have to,” he gasps and every single word sounds like it’s taking him great effort. “Go. Save you— yourself. Get help. I can’t— I can’t?—”
“No! Cian! No, come back!” His head sags in my hands as his whole body slumps. “No! Don’t leave me, I need you! Come back! Cian, come back! Please. Please!”
There’s no response.
“Fuck!” I sob brokenly as pain cuts me in half once again and exhaustion has me trembling so badly that I can barely keep upright. “Fuck.Fuck!”
I have no choice. Pressing a trembling kiss to Cian’s forehead, I stand slowly.
“I’ll come back for you,” I say tightly. “I swear. I’ll come back.”
Climbing the stairs alone is ten times harder this time. Weakness pulls at my limbs like tentacles drying to drag me back down into a dark abyss and by the time I reach the door to the outside, I’m panting desperately and my vision is fading in and out.
The first gust of cold night air as I shove open the door is like a slap in the face. Whether it’s adrenaline or the realization that freedom is so close, I have no idea but renewed energy suddenly floods through me and my next step is stronger. And the one after that. And the next.
I hurry down the steps and stumble through a puddle in the driveway but just as I make it a few steps toward the winding road that will take me away from here, a car suddenly pulls into the parking lot and screeches to a stop.
“B-Bruno?” I whisper.
Not Bruno. The door opens and none other than Domenico Del Prete glides out of the car. My racing heart plummets down into my aching gut and I fall to my knees.
But he’s not alone.
As he glides out of the car, he has his fist wrapped firmly around the arm of someone and it’s not until he throws her to the ground in front of the vehicle that I recognize her.
“Sarah?”
“Fucking hell, Saoirse!” She scrambles toward me but doesn’t make it far as blood pours from a deep wound on her shoulder. She slumps toward me and I use the last of my energy to reach her.
