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“She can’t swim. Atlas, she can’t fucking?—”

The sound of his voice cuts off as I sink beneath the cold water. My bound hands make everything ten times harder. I kick and try to get back to the surface, but the rope is still around my ankle, pulling me down farther and farther.

This is it. I’m going to die.

But Hudson won’t. And if there’s ever a blessing to come from this, it’s that. I stop fighting and let go.

That’s when a set of arms wrap around my body and yank me close to them. I don’t fight them. I just let them drag me up through the icy water to the surface. Then there are hands grabbing me and pulling me into a small boat. When I open my eyes, Atlas is looking down at me, smoothing the hair from my face.

Kenzo appears over me seconds later, his wet hair dripping in my face. “Sorry, kitten, I need to borrow this.” He yanks the knife from my shoulder, making Atlas curse as I choke back tears. Then the weight of the rope is gone, and I’m in Kenzo’s lap as he rocks me gently.

“I know this is a lot, but we’ve gotta move fast. Hudson’s bleeding out. I need to get you both to the hospital. You understand?”

I nod.

“Good girl. Everything’s going to be okay now. We’ve got you.”

I nod again and pass out.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Hudson

For some, when they wake up in the hospital, it takes a moment for the realization to set in. For memories to trickle through the fragile cracks and make themselves known.

Not for me, though. The second I open my eyes, I know exactly where I am and what happened.

I sit up, ignoring the pain that feels like I’m being torn apart and the band that tightens across my chest, making it hard to breathe. But I push through it because I need to get to Starling.

I yank the tubes from my hand and the wires from my chest, ignoring the sudden blaring from the machines beside me as the door swings open and a nurse rushes in, followed by Atlas.

She fusses around me, but I don’t hear a word she says; my focus is purely on Atlas.

“Tell me.” I hiss out as blackness blurs my vision.

“She’s fine. She’s in much better shape than you are.”

“I need to?—”

“You need to lie the fuck back down, because I’m not telling your wife that you’re dead.”

My head feels woozy, and when I look at the now quiet nurse, I realize the bitch injected something into my IV—an IV I swear I just yanked out.

I try to fight the effects of whatever she gave me, needing to see Starling with my own two eyes, but I’m fading fast.

I swing my arm out to grab her, but I’m out cold before I can.

When I wake up again, I manage to swing my legs over the side of the bed before the same nurse runs in, this time with an amused Kenzo.

“You know she’s just going to keep knocking you out,” Kenzo says.

“She touches me again, and I’ll return the favor.”

“Sir, I will strap you to the bed if necessary. You’ve just had surgery. You need to rest.”

“What I need is my wife,” I yell at her, grabbing a bedpan and swinging it like a bat.

She hits a button on the wall, and an alarm starts blaring.