Page 178 of Lessons In Grey

“Matthew and Jeremy are both there?” Jack asked.

I nodded, my heart slamming against my ribs. “Louis killed them and came for us.”

“Emily, breathe. Listen to me, you’ve been training for months, you know how to disarm, how to bring a 6’, 200-pound man down without trying. You need to breathe. You’re going to be just fine.”

“He killed Grey,” I whispered, my eyes widening. “He killed Malachi and Azrael. How can you say I’ll be fine? They’re dead.”

“They are not dead.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I know my family.”

The elevator dinged.

My breath caught. “I wasn’t made for this world, I can’t fight. All the training in the world, and I’m freezing. What do I do? Jack, what do I do, tell me what to do,” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face.

“You’re going to be okay, I promise,” he said confidently.

“You can’t possibly know that.”

The doors started to open.

“I do know that, Emily, you’re strong. If you can’t fight, then hide. There is nothing wrong with running away.”

But the fear slammed to a halt when I took in what was before us.

“Emily?”

Malachi opened the gate with ease and stepped into the room, smiling brightly. “Oh, it is so lovely to see all of you again,” he beamed, taking in the guns. “Although, I wasn’t expecting to be met with such hostility.”

“Emily, you have to keep talking to me.”

My eyes shifted back towards the elevator, falling to the man on one knee.

The phone slipped from my grasp as Jeremy and Matthew lowered their guns. “Holy shit,” Jeremy breathed out.

“Emily,” Malachi began, making his way over. He offered me a hand, his blue eyes bright, his smile warm. “Join me.”

The bottom of the elevator was covered in paper roses mixed with real roses. Grey was wearing a dark gray suit and a green and red silk tie, hair disheveled, his eyes warm, worried, filled with love and anxiousness.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. They were alive.

“Hello!” Jack shouted.

Matthew walked over and picked up the phone. “Take his hand,” he told me, still in his protective mode.

Without thinking, I took Malachi’s hand, my own shaking.

They were alive.

Malachi folded it into his arm and led me towards the elevator, my steps far too heavy and far too light at the exact same time. “We had to bribe Jerry not to let anyone else in during this little adventure. I do have to say, I amveryhonored to be a part of this. Although I’m so sorry, Ash and Syn couldn’t join, he wasn’t being very patient with me, you see.”

My skin was buzzing, the adrenaline pulsing through me with nowhere to go. I felt as if I were suddenly floating through space, and I still couldn’t breathe.

Malachi led me up to the open gate and lifted my knuckles to his lips. “I apologize, but we will explain soon, I promise.”

He stepped back, leaving me completely alone as I stood before Grey. Was I breathing? My heart was certainly not beating anymore. I couldn’t feel it.