Chapter 33
Call it a sixth sense or something else altogether, but the initial joy I felt upon running up the stairs died the moment I reached the upper landing.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was other than pure and utter silence.
Even during those times when Aurora would be pissed off at me for one thing or another, I’d still hear her when she was inside her room.
Usually, it was her cursing me to the moon and back, but it was at least something.
Now, there was nothing. When I coupled that with her demeanor in the shower, a frisson of something passed through me. Something was wrong, and it snapped me back to the present. I moved to her door, then knocked first.
The silence was so deafening that the rapping echoed. “Aurora,” I said carefully. “Bellezza,” I added. But still silence. The same chorus of nothingness.
Turning the knob, I opened the door, but I didn’t see her inside. She had a suitcase on top of the bed, and her others on the floor in front of the queen-sized bed. I walked to the closet, flinging the door open to find nothing inside, literally.
There were just a few solitary hangers lying on the floor.
The clothes she’d had were now gone, and I could barely even detect her scent in the space anymore.
If what just happened downstairs hadn’t happened, I might feel differently about it.
As it stood, I could now imprint her anywhere and everywhere in this place.
I’ll never have to miss you again. You’re never leaving me in this lifetime.
Thinking that maybe she had left the room, I started toward the hallway, then turned suddenly and stared ahead at the bathroom door. My name floated out from beneath the door, but so softly as if she had whispered it.
Rushing to it, I turned the knob, and unlike the bedroom, this one didn’t open. I heard a thud, and knowing what a body sounded like when hitting stone, I frantically began to shake the door, rattling the damn thing but getting no response.
“Aurora, baby. Answer me.” Still nothing. “Bellezza.” Again, not a damn sound. “Aurora!” I said more forcefully.
“Where’s the girl? Are you two coming down here?” I heard Cillian say.
I knew what he was likely thinking. My uncles needed to talk to us both about what happened now that the plans had changed, so it wasn’t surprising that Cill was wondering what the hell we were doing. I knocked on the door again. I wasn’t above picking a lock, and would.
As I determined it would be what I needed to do, I went to turn, but something warm, wet, and thick touched my toe. I knew the feel of blood, and looking down at the red liquid seeping out from under the crack of the door and staining my bare foot, something snapped in me.
Stepping back, I put all my weight into it and slammed against the door. It rattled, but it didn’t budge. Not deterred, especially as actual fear crept up inside of me, I kept slamming my side into the door.
Once... Twice... Three times...
Finally, it gave way, and as soon as it did, my legs went out from under me. Aurora was lying in a pool of blood with her wrists as the culprits.
“Bellezza,” I cried out in anguish.
Precious seconds ticked by as I stared at my entire world in ruins around my knees.
I’d wanted to break her, but not in this way.
God no, never in this way. I lifted one of her arms, quickly trying to locate a pulse.
I couldn’t even be relieved upon finding one because it was so faint, and blood continued to pool at her wound.
“Don’t leave me, Bellezza. I won’t live without you,” I swore vehemently as I pulled her into my arms. Her body was growing so cold, and she was so still. “Help,” I screamed, hoping my uncles could hear me.
At the thundering sound of footsteps, I knew they had. By the time they reached the bedroom, I was already back on my feet, holding my unconscious woman in my arms.
“Holy fuck, Z. What happened?” Cillian asked me while Kingston quickly grabbed two hand towels.
“We need to elevate her wrists above her heart, then apply pressure on the wounds. Cillian, go get Nolan. He’s a former medic,” my uncle told me when I looked over at him, then continued barking out orders showing a calmness I didn’t feel. “And tell him we’ve got a bleeder in here.”
I opened my mouth once or twice to speak, but no words came out. Cillian hurried downstairs while Kingston helped me bring her to the bed. We raised her arms up to her shoulders, then he took one wrist while I took the other, and we wrapped the towels around them, then applied pressure.
“What happened?” Kingston mouthed to me.
I shook my head, then returned my focus to Aurora. Her skin was even more pale than usual, and her gorgeous lips were starting to turn blue. “Please don’t leave me, Bellezza. Don’t go.”
“We’re going to help her, Z. Just—”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up. It’s yours and Cillian’s fault that she did this. If she dies, I’ll never forgive—”
“Whoa, Z. Don’t say something you can’t take back. Nolan’s here,” Cillian said from the doorway. “Let him look at her.”
My uncle’s right-hand man looked at me dismissively before moving to Kingston’s side. I saw Kingston whisper something to him while never taking his eyes off me. The man gave a nod, then bent down to examine the wound.
The next several minutes passed by in a blur as he was able to finally get the bleeding stopped and both wrists stitched and bandaged up. “This one narrowly escaped death. She struck veins on both instead of an artery. If it had been the other way around, you’d be calling the morgue right now.”
“S-so she’s going to be okay?” I asked, scared to latch onto the smallest glimmer of hope just yet.
“Yes. Kingston, Cillian, and I will stay in Boston overnight and I’ll be back to check on her in a few hours.”
“We need to take care of the Bocharov situation. We’ll be back, though,” Kingston said to me.
I just nodded at them as they filed out of the room. On his way out, Cillian stopped and clapped my shoulder. “Keep the faith, Z.”
“How?” I asked him. “How can I go on without her?”
“It’s hard. I know. I’d spent too many years at the bottom of a bottle, whether alcohol or pills.
I’d try to end the pain, but fate wouldn’t let me.
I was meant to reunite with my Anamchara and meet my daughter.
I’m not sure if it was a guardian angel, but someone was looking out for me.
They’ll look out for you, too. And for her.
I see the way you look at her, and it’s no less obsessive than how I look at Reagan or King at Ekaterina.
We’ve endured so much in our lifetimes, and you maybe more than all of us.
Trust that what you have is truly love, and if it is, you’re never out of the game. ”
“Thanks, Cill,” I said, and he wrapped one arm around me.
“Since the day I first met you, I’ve been waiting for that fire to reach your eyes.
Over the years, you’ve always just gone along with whatever as if you were on autopilot.
You were alive, but never truly seemed to be living.
Today, I saw a man who would burn the entire fucking world down for the one he loves.
Just know that I love you as well, Z. You’re a Brannington, and nothing will ever change that.
It’s probably not even the right time to say this, but I’m fucking proud of you. ”
I turned and hugged my uncle for what was likely the first time. Seconds later, I stepped back. “If she doesn’t make—”
“Hey, none of that defeatist behavior. Understand that?”
“Sure, Cill.” I looked at Aurora, who looked so peaceful, even though there was still so much blood on her from all that had soaked into her clothes and now the bedding. “I’ll see you later.”
“Absolutely.” And with that, Cillian left.
Minutes later, the only ones left were Conor and Liam.
“Is there anything we can do?” Liam asked from the doorway.
“I’ve got this. Just stay nearby, though, just in case.”
“Will do,” Conor answered for them both, and they returned downstairs.
Once I was alone with Aurora, I looked at the open suitcase we had tossed to the floor just minutes ago, and I quickly found a T-shirt of mine. I carefully tore and removed the soiled clothing from her, then tossed it, along with the dirty bedding, to the floor.
A short while later, I had put her in the T-shirt, then carried her into my bedroom and bed. Hers still had so much red, and I couldn’t look at it any longer. The more I had, the angrier I became as I saw nothing but red.
Instead of rushing off half-cocked and doing something both stupid and violent, I lay there holding her in my arms. Her coloring was starting to come back, and that put me more at ease. But nothing would fill me with relief until she awakened.
Still, I softly stroked her cheeks, neck, collarbone, and her arms. “You need to come back to me so I can tell you that we’re not going to have to be apart after all, Bellezza.
Call it rewriting the stars or whatever you want to call it, but you’re mine.
In this lifetime, and any others you try to escape to. ”
The minutes ticked away, eventually turning into hours. As her pulse grew more steady, I knew she would wake up soon. It was the reason I had tried my best to stay awake. All the adrenaline from last night to finding her on the floor had kept me going, but it was quickly dissipating.
Despite my best attempts, I did end up falling asleep, only awakening when I heard a groan that wasn’t mine.
My eyes flew open, and I turned in the bed to see Aurora starting to stir beside me.
I didn’t rush her back because Cillian was right.
Fate had stepped in and brought her back to me.
What were a few more minutes when I intended to spend the rest of my life with her.
The moment her body tensed, and she held up her bandaged wrists, I knew she was awake. Before I could even fix my lips to say a thing, she bolted upright in bed and turned her frantic gaze to me.
“Welcome back, Bellezza,” I said with a smile.
Her lips quivered, and thankfully, they had returned to their usual pink hue, and not that goddamn blue I could go the rest of my life without seeing again.
“I-I don’t understand,” she stammered.
“I’m the one who doesn’t understand. I’ve told you that there is no escape from me, yet you tried to prove me wrong anyway.”
She swallowed rapidly, and her fear was building until I reached out and stroked the side of her face. Aurora slightly turned into it before she realized what she was doing. “Why did you save me? You should’ve let me die.”
I swallowed back the urge to growl and chuckled instead. It made her head snap back. “You can’t use my words against me either, Bellezza.”
“I’ll do it again. Once I get to Russia, I promise I’ll—”
“You won’t be going to Russia or anywhere else without me.”
“What are you talking about, Zarren?”
Fuck! Hearing my name coming off her lips now felt even better than yesterday when I’d been balls deep inside of her.
Maybe because it meant so much more right now than it had then.
I had wanted to punish her... Or maybe torture myself.
.. But now, I only wanted to claim her, and in every way possible.
“I did it, Aurora. I told my uncles that I wouldn’t let you go.”
“Y-you did?”
“And I was coming upstairs to tell you that the Bocharov deal was off, and you could stay with—”
“So, everything’s really over?” So much hope in her voice, but her words cut me deep, a lot like that fucking glass had cut her.
“Going to Russia to marry Mikhail is over, but we are far from it. In fact, this between us is just starting.” I growled.
King and Cill had already told me that this failed deal had essentially created another rival to the Brannington empire.
The Bocharovs were going to be out for blood.
If they dared to touch what belonged to me.
.. who belonged to me... I’d end their entire bloodline.
And anyone else who dared to come for her.
“I told you that you were mine, and as such, you’ll never be free of me.”
“Even in death?” she asked me.
I growled. “Especially in death. There’s nowhere you can go to free yourself of me. If you want to die, we’ll do so together. If you want to live, we’ll do it together as well.”
“And if I want my old life back... My family, friends, career?”
“As long as there is room for me in that life, then yes.”
“And if I don’t want that?”
The very thought hadn’t even occurred to me, but she had thought about it enough to voice it. The cut just got deeper. “Then I’ll cuff your goddamn ankles to this bed and keep you here forever with me.”