Page 53 of Fall into Savagery

Tears started streaming down my face, wetting his shirt, no matter how badly I wished that wasn’t the case or how hard I tried to rein it in for his sake.

I couldn’t—

I gulped in a huge breath of air, but it got lodged in my throat, and suddenly, it was just hard to breathe.

My hands clawed at his shirt, and I knew I was on the verge of a panic attack.

Distantly, I heard Damien utter a string of curse words before he yelled out for Mikhail and Nikolay.

He turned on the lights just as his door was pushed open, and then, I was surrounded by all of my men, their eyes shrouded in concern.

“Princess. Oh, fuck. Please stop. Baby, you’re killing me.”

“Just breathe,kotyonok.Just breathe for me. Come on. That’s it. That’s a good girl. Breathe for me.”

“Look at me, pet. I’m okay. And you’re okay. And we will not let anything happen to you. Look at me.”

My eyes landed on Damien, and I held it there, trying to do what Mikhail asked and—

Breathe.

Why was it so hard?

I grabbed a fistful of Mikhail’s shirt when he came into view.

“Mikhail,” I cried.

He grabbed my hand. “Yes, baby?”

“C-Can I stop being strong now?”

He closed his eyes as if he was in pain.

“Yes,” he croaked out. “Yes, baby. You don’t have to be strong anymore. You can break down as hard as you need, and we’ll be here to pick up the pieces. I promise.”

A dam broke with his words.

I didn’t have to be strong anymore.

I could break down over all that had happened in recent days. From the moment Luca cut my arm open to put in the bomb, to Leo’s betrayal and even his death. To when Damien was taken from me, and it had felt like a huge chunk of my heart was missing, and I didn’t know what to do about that. I thought about it all. Even when my father—myactualfather told me he loved me, and I never thought I could have that, to now, when everything felt so unbalanced, and I didn’t know how to be strong anymore.

I broke, and I broke, and I broke.

Damien sat up and pulled into his lap as Nikolay moved behind me, and Mikhail on my side, protecting me.

I buried my face in the crook of Damien’s neck.

Damien cupped the back of my head.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he said.

He said it like it was true.

Could we ever be okay?

I didn’t know. I just knew I would rather die than have anything like this happen again.

I couldn’t handle it if it were the case.

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