Pain. Darkness. The two had been her constant companions since she’d been here. Wherever here was.
Every breath she sucked in made her ache. Harper had no idea how long she’d been in this awful place, but judging from the sporadic food trays she’d been brought, it seemed like two, maybe three days had passed. The most recent meal had been shoved through the door just a few minutes before. She hadn’t even gone searching for it in the darkness, preferring to stay seated in the farthest corner from the entrance.
The last thing she remembered was seeing the stark fear on Rome’s shocked face after she’d tried to use her new power to help them escape the ambush at Bobby’s house. Then she’d passed out.
And awakened to an experience beyond her worst nightmare. Alone.
She’d opened her eyes to inky blackness and immobilization, her body secured and bound upright to the wall. She couldn’t see a thing. Panicked and confused, she’d attempted to focus on the special force in her mind, knowing full well she had no real control over it. But it wouldn’t work. Somehow she’d been able to summon the power at Bobby’s house, but she couldn’t do it here in the totally dark room.
After a while, they’d come for her-burly men dressed all in black and carrying guns and thick clubs. They’d already yanked her out of her dark prison and dragged her to a small, badly lit room with twisted contraptions and threatening devices.
Cruel medical tools and wicked-looking equipment had gleamed ominously on chrome tables, complete with rough, padded restraints straight out of the nastiest horror movies ever made. Again she’d tried to beckon her mind to do its thing, but nothing happened.
Though she’d struggled with all her might, her larger captors had forced her onto one of the platforms and latched the restraints onto her. A shot like a dart had pricked her arm and after that, her vision blurred and she’d felt nothing but pain. Sheer unadulterated pain. Then someone in a harsh white lab coat began to go to work on her.
They’d asked her countless questions for which she had no answers. That hadn’t made the person in the lab coat happy. She couldn’t remember even saying anything, which had made them even more furious.
Harper had alternately been drugged with who knows what, and they’d drawn what seemed like gallons of blood. Again, she’d been questioned beyond reason. And still she hadn’t been able to give them what they wanted.
Then the brutes had lugged her back to this dark room and left her here for hours. Food had come, but she didn’t eat it. She couldn’t eat it. Even if she had been able to see it in the complete darkness, she didn’t think her groggy and battered body could stomach it. The water bottles they threw in were all she dared to handle.
After that they had come for her again, and it had started all over. She’d lost count of how many cycles of the same treatment she’d endured.
Between the interminable bouts of interrogation, she had nothing but barren time to think. Think about everything.
Just a few days ago, she was finishing up her last spirited swimming practice in Palo Alto. Drying off from a great workout. Two hours in the pool and she’d broken some of her personal-best times. Her coach had been ecstatic, and pleaded with her to keep going. But she’d said no. Though her times were better than they’d ever been, she’d needed a break. Mentally she had become exhausted thinking about what the Olympic trials would mean to her. Her coach had wanted her to stay sharp, but she needed to step back before the sharpness nicked her. Time with Bobby would have unwound her tight thoughts and kept her focus on track with her impressive output in the pool.
How quickly things had derailed. Now she had some kind of mysterious mind power from a serum Bobby had created. Her brother had been killed for trying to make sure it didn’t fall into the hands of the very people keeping her captive, testing her like some interminable lab experiment and treating her like she was the world’s worst enemy.
And she was alone.
Rubbing her arms, then instantly regretting it as her skin prickled from the drugs she had been given, Harper thought about Rome. Had he been subdued after she passed out? Or had he brought her into this hideous hole? She desperately preferred to believe the former, but knew deep in her exhausted gut it had to be the latter. The fright on his face had been obvious. Rome believed she was a threat. Which was precisely the reason he was sent to detain her and bring her here in the first place.
He’d promised he wouldn’t, but that all had changed when she used her strange power to save them. It had been difficult, and she hadn’t even been sure she’d be able to do it, but she didn’t see any other way out of Bobby’s house. So she’d done it. And it worked. The only problem was, it had turned Rome against her.
She’d deliberately kept her power from him, hoping she’d be able to somehow explain it once they’d learned more about what was going on. She’d put her faith in him, having no one else to trust, and he’d betrayed her. One moment, the man had held her close while her grief overflowed, and the next, he’d pushed her back into her worst nightmare.
Could she really blame him? Honestly, she herself was frightened by the power surging through her mind and body. But he’d asked her to trust him. She had, and look where it had gotten her.
Never again. She would do this on her own. Just as she’d vowed that night in the forest. She was truly alone.
Sitting in the cold darkness now, Harper realized that it didn’t matter. For whatever reason, they were keeping her alive. Only taking her to the edge of her limits, allowing her to look over the cliff, see the valley of death, but never plummeting into the merciful void.
They needed her. Whatever this serum was that Bobby had been working on, they wanted it. That meant Bobby didn’t want them to have it. That he wasn’t involved in all of this trouble.
That would keep her going. Keep her believing that she would somehow survive this and get the revenge she was beginning to crave. The only thing she wanted now was to make everyone involved pay for it.
It wasn’t just for Bobby anymore. It was for what they were doing to her. For Rome bringing her here. For being accidentally injected with that serum and having a destructive energy surging through her mind. She didn’t ask for this, never expected it. But she would finish it. Find her answers and find vengeance.
A clank and a grinding noise diverted her attention. They were here again. A bright artificial light cut through the pitch-black, shining directly in her eyes, blinding her as she squinted against the sudden beams. She raised her hand to shade the light until she could adjust her vision.
Footsteps clomped grimly against the solid concrete floor. Two sets of arms grabbed her on each side and secured her hands with cold metal clamps, then dragged her upright and out into the cool, dimly lit hallway. Harper’s sight cleared and she noticed the usual fourman posse had been joined by six more black-clad goons. These guys looked a little unusual somehow, but it was hard to say what was different about them. The normal four passed her off to the big six.
Leading her roughly down the corridor, they surprisingly turned right instead of the dreaded left that had become her customary routine. Was that good or bad? Of course, bad was relative. How much worse could it get?
After climbing countless flights of uneven stairs, they reached a level area and turned down yet another eerie hallway. At the far end, a sliver of natural light poked through the bottom of a thick metal door.
Harper was a touch curious. Was she not coming back this time? Fine with her. Again, how much worse could it get? Unless they were taking her away to kill her. That could definitely be worse. She hazily hoped she was wrong and they were just going outside. One modest breath of fresh air would sure make her day. Although there wasn’t much that wouldn’t make her day right now.
The closer they came to the door, the more it looked like they were going outside. Her mind faintly rejoiced. Sunlight at last.
“What are you doing here?” Jeff Donovan’s distracted question hit Rome the second he walked in his boss’s office. Jeff hadn’t even looked at Rome, his attention on the papers in his hand.
What indeed? Rome had asked himself the same question nearly every second since he’d arrived at the isolated government facility. Located just outside of downtown Portland, only those who needed to know were aware the site existed. Underground and hidden from the unassuming world. Though not many up on the surface would want to know what went on down there. Lucky bastards.
Which was the real reason he couldn’t stop himself from coming. Rome didn’t sit down, instead leaning against the unadorned wall just inside the door. “Just checking in,” he answered with cool but fake nonchalance. Since the moment he dropped off the unconscious Harper Kane three days ago, he’d been restless. Edgy and unable to sleep, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. About the cold despair in her fascinating green eyes and the barren tone of her husky voice as she rasped an apology for the horrific act she’d committed.
“Checking on what?” Jeff asked curtly, resting a page facedown on his desk, continuing on to peruse the next. Jeff’s abruptness had that same anxious tone he’d tasted when the man had given him the job.
Most of the time, Rome highly appreciated Jeff’s nononsense brusqueness. And even more of the time, he didn’t much care what happened past the completion of the job.
But not this time.
“Just curious.” Rome tried to inject an appropriate amount of casualness in his attitude. “What happened to the woman?”
“We’re taking care of her,” Jeff answered in his normal cold monotone as he read.
Not good. Not good at all. Rome knew exactly how they took care of people where there were no prying eyes of official intelligence and even less accountability. Down here you did what you had to do to get what you needed from your captives and your methods were your own.
It was what he’d been afraid of since an hour after he’d left her here three days ago. And really, what had he expected? He’d washed his hands of her once he saw what she was capable of. As confident in his skills as he was, Rome knew he couldn’t handle anything with that kind of power. He’d watched her kill eight men with it. He knew in that intense moment why Jeff had wanted her dead or alive. She was dangerous.
But she was also a vulnerable and broken woman. And alone. He could not forget how the doubtful look on her lovely face changed into hesitant belief at his condo. Belief in him. He’d asked her to trust him and she had. In return, he’d brought her to this hellacious place. He’d had to once he’d seen what she could do. Even if his instincts screamed otherwise.
It was the worst damn no-win situation he’d ever been in. There was no good choice for him. No lesser of two evils because both choices were equally nasty in their own hideous ways.
Yet he couldn’t stay away for another minute. He needed to see her. To be sure he’d done the right thing.
“Can I observe?” Rome added a detached note of interest to his voice.
That got Jeff’s attention. His boss didn’t look up, but he stopped reading. Rome knew it was unusual that he was even here, let alone wanting to take a peek, but he had to make sure Harper was okay. She brought out his protective instinct. She touched something deep inside him and he needed to find out what it was and why.
“No.” Jeff’s reply was definite. No room for negotiation. But that had never stopped Rome before.
“C’mon, Jeff.” Rome chuckled, adding a smirk for good measure. “It’s been a while.” True. He hadn’t been down there for some time, with the exception of the order to find Harper a few days ago.
“We’re taking care of her,” Jeff repeated with a stern and direct stare, leaning back in his chair, his full concentration on Rome now. Finally.
“Fine.” Rome returned the chilled stare with one of his own, treading carefully, not wanting to give Jeff any reason to be suspicious. He wasn’t sure at all that Jeff was being straight with him, either. Something in the way he was responding was prickling Rome’s instincts. And not in a good way. “Any more jobs?”
“No,” Jeff replied, giving Rome a narrowed look and straightening his navy striped tie before turning his attention back to his all-important papers, ending their brief discussion.
Brief but informative. Jeff fully believed in letting you know only what he thought you needed to know. Working with him over the years had taught Rome a great deal about learning to figure out what wasn’t being said by what little was said.
The repeated “we’re taking care of her” meant she was still in the facility. The adamant refusal to let him observe meant they were still working on her. And the firm disinclination to even discuss it with Rome meant Jeff was having a hard time getting what he wanted from her.
So Harper was out-toughing Jeff. Rome had to fight to keep a smile off his face, thinking about her gumption and strength. He could count on one hand the number of people who were able to outlast Jeff’s “care.” Being aware of Jeff’s methods, Rome knew that was an extraordinarily impressive feat. And the same knowledge also made him cringe deep down.
But now he could do something about it. Now, through Jeff’s noninformation, Rome knew the level of security he’d have to go through to get to her.
And he would get to her. Otherwise he’d go crazy. Well, crazier than he’d been without her.
“Later, boss,” Rome said with a wave, halfway out the door. Jeff grunted without looking up from his reading. Yes, the man was definitely on edge. Rome shook his head and ambled down the hallway that looked like every other drab hallway in the place.
His destination was the bottom floor, which housed the idiotically dubbed “romper rooms.” Also known as the rooms decorated wall to wall with torture and experimental equipment. Rome quickened his steps at the thought of Harper down there.
And he’d put her there.
The cool halls were empty, as were the rough stairwells. There were no elevators and very little electronics. Basically it was a cross between a crude basement and a rustic cave. No surveillance, either. No one could get in or out of the facility unless you knew how, so once inside you were trapped. Besides, they didn’t want any superfluous accounts of what went on inside.
Finally reaching the last step, Rome took a right turn and faced a solid gray door. He stuck his master key in the dead bolt, turned the knob, and walked in. The lighting was very sparse and very synthetic. He couldn’t understand the handful of folks who worked here every day and night. He’d go crazy without fresh air and sunlight, even if it was watery northwest sunlight.
After a few long steps down the corridor, he stopped at a good-sized room. The light was brighter here, and he easily found the person he needed peering at the screen attached to a bulky machine. The display cast a bluish tint to Dr. Andy’s face.
Dr. Andy-a doctor of what, Rome wasn’t sure-managed everything in the romper room. Read all the data that was extracted. Processed any samples taken. Administered who knew what. Made decisions about methods. Jeff was the boss and directed everything that happened. But down there, Dr. Andy saw that the orders were carried out.
“Hey, Doc.” Rome’s voice boomed across the open space, and he held back a smile when the startled Dr. Andy jolted forward face-first into the monitor.
“Agent Lucian,” she murmured, pushing up the thick-rimmed glasses that had fallen down her diminutive nose. Dr. Andrea “Andy” O’Brien pulled herself to her full height, which was still a good foot shorter than his, as he sidled up next to her, trying to look at anything that would clue him in about Harper. “What can I do for you?”
“Just checking in.” Rome glanced around, but didn’t see anything except Dr. Andy’s myriad of scattered Diet Dr Pepper cans and a bag of Oreos, half of which were gone, the crumbs left everywhere. “How’s my favorite gal?”
Blushing and mumbling something, she swung away from him and grabbed one of the aluminum cans. She took a long swallow, refusing to meet his eyes. She was always a little nervous around him, which surprised him, considering her chilling job. He rarely visited and even more rarely stopped to chat with the doctor when he did. Truth be told, she creeped him out a little, but he’d never let on.
“So, what’s with the woman I brought in the other day?” He turned on the charm, but knew not to underestimate her. Dr. Andy appeared as a shy mouse, but underneath she was a cunning predator. Her intelligence was limitless and she knew how to get what Jeff wanted, one way or another, no matter how long it took.
She gave him an inquiring look, raising her reddish eyebrows. He knew it was unlike him to ask, but not unheard of. He had followed up a time or two.
“She has something inside her,” Dr. Andy answered vaguely. “Something giving her an unusual power.”
He already knew that. He also knew that she wasn’t telling him the whole story. “Really.” Rome feigned casualness. “Any idea what it is or how she got it?”
“Not yet,” she answered, and stacked some papers mechanically. Then she smiled that eerie smile she got when she encountered a particularly difficult challenge. One she loved to conquer. “But soon.”
“Well, you mind if I take a peek?” He gestured to the row of small flat-screen monitors that showed video of each holding cell for observation.
“Go ahead.” She waved her hand and then brushed it through her short red curls, bouncing them around like a nine-year-old.
“Thanks, doll.” Rome winked and gave her a sexy grin as he sauntered over to the monitor bank. He watched her return to the big machine she’d been viewing when he’d first walked in, her face reddening even more.
The screens were on, yet all completely dark. No shadows or anything. Adjusting them to infrared, the pictures revealed two ethereal red-hued figures. Two captives today.
“She’s in B, monitor two,” Dr. Andy supplied from across the room. Giving her a sideways glance, he saw she wasn’t even looking at him. Creepy.
Rome peered at monitor two, disregarding the larger figure on monitor six who was lying flat on the floor. The specter of Harper was hunched, unmoving, in the far right corner of the square room. She couldn’t have looked more alone. He tweaked the monitor controls a tad, morphing the shimmering infrared visual to a sharper night-vision display. Ghostly green and gray instead of red, but now he was able to focus in on her closely.
He gritted his teeth in anger at seeing the raw anguish in every short breath Harper took. Still wearing her jeans and T-shirt, she had undoubtedly been subjected to some of Dr. Andy’s most creative “treatments.” Seldom was the damage visible on the flesh, but the signs were in the tentative angle in which Harper held her arms as they hugged her body close, and the slight, intermittent twitching of her body. She probably didn’t even know she was doing it.
Balling his fists, knuckles white, he suppressed his rage and resentment. He’d done this. He’d brought her here. But he thought he’d been doing the right thing.
She was dangerous; that was a hard fact. But what happened to make her that way? What was she caught up in? She’d purposefully killed those men, but then she’d apologized for it as though she couldn’t help herself. Remorseful, as if she really was a victim. Rome wanted to kick his own ass. He cursed himself every way and sideways for bringing her in. Even if it was his damned duty.
“She’s a toughie.” Dr. Andy’s impassive voice floated from across the room. He looked over his shoulder to see her fiddling with some glass tubes of blood from a little wooden rack. Yuck. He’d spilled more than his share of blood, but to see it sitting there like a thin glass of runny tomato juice…yuck.
“Yeah, I bet.” He forced his voice to sound controlled, when all he wanted to do was tear apart the office. He had to see Harper. To tell her…what?
What exactly would he say? Sorry I brought you in to be tortured and experimented on even though I promised I wouldn’t. But hey, you freaked me out.
Damn it all. He had to get her out of there.
“When’s her next session?” He almost choked on the word, but kept his tone light.
“One hour and thirty-three minutes,” the doc replied after consulting her giant analog watch.
“Taking her to the rumble seat?” he asked. The torture chair was usually only for the most reticent of their captives.
“No, off-site today,” she answered with a spinechilling smile, pulling out some clean test tubes and a couple of long syringes.
Off-site? That could mean only one thing: Harper was being given one last chance to come clean and produce the results Jeff expected. Off-site could be anywhere, but the subjects never came back.
Rome decided he’d nab her then. He’d be at the door when the transport occurred and somehow break her out. Otherwise, she was dead.
“Great.” Rome drew the word out and gave Dr. Andy a big toothy grin. She matched it with one of her own. Creepy. “Later.” He gave her a pat on her skinny shoulder and walked to the door. Waving back to her as he stepped out into the dim hallway, he started to plan how he’d save Harper and where to take her.
He could swipe Harper-of that he had no doubt. But then what? If he did this, he would really be at war with Jeff. Somehow, his boss would find out Rome was responsible. He always did. Was Harper really worth going against Jeff? Going against his job? His duty?
Rome was no closer to finding out what her story was. In fact, it was even more convoluted than when he’d asked her to trust him. Double damn. He was going crazy. Over a damn woman he knew next to nothing about.
But that wasn’t completely true. He knew Harper was full of courage and incredibly loyal. Smart and resilient with unwavering conviction. She also possessed a natural athletic strength and an innate confidence that he found amazingly attractive for some reason he couldn’t fathom.
And her eyes. The emerald color of the greenest sea he’d ever seen complemented that sun-kissed hair.
He had to get her out. To help her figure out what was happening to her. What had happened to her brother. And how this all related to Jeff.
Because he couldn’t shake the thought that his boss was up to no good. Even if Harper never trusted him again, she could help him get to the bottom of this.
His job was to fight evil. To protect those who couldn’t help themselves. It was his duty to do the right thing for the greater good. He just needed to figure out exactly what that was. And at the moment, he felt a deep and inexplicable pull toward Harper.
He’d told her he had an instinct about her, and that was the truth. An instinct that told him she needed his help. Two years ago, he hadn’t listened to his gut, and people had died because of it. He’d sworn never to let that happen again.
And yet, he’d once again gone against his instincts. This time, with Harper. He’d been afraid of what he saw and brought her here, maybe at the cost of her life.
No, he would not pay that price. Not again. Not with Harper. She was worth it. He knew it. He felt it deep down in his soul.
Glancing at his watch, Rome reached the door that led to the safe outside. He had a little over an hour to figure out how to snatch Harper during transport and remain anonymous in the process.
No problem. He’d been in tighter positions before. He’d find a way to get it done. He’d find a way to make it right with Harper. And this time he would help her find answers. No matter what.
The thick, solid door opened, momentarily blinding Harper as she was pulled through it. Her instinct was to shield her eyes, but she was unable to move her bound hands in their cold clamps.
Squeezing her eyes shut against the bright sunlight, she couldn’t hold back the smile that broke across her face at the wash of natural light bathing her weary body.
Opening her eyes a fraction, Harper glanced at the open area they were walking across. The wide blacktop space was surrounded by tall gray concrete walls with high girders slicing through the sky. The sun beat through the concrete beams, creating a natural stripe of welcome rays.
The huge rectangular parking lot was nearly empty. At the far end was a black vehicle, similar to a UPS delivery truck. Only she was sure no promising packages waited inside. She took several deep breaths of the cleansing air.
Just a minute before, when climbing the stairs to the outside, each step she’d taken radiated agony through every corner of her body. But now each pass through the sunshine rejuvenated her, like a dormant flower tasting the first kiss of spring. Wherever the sun traced her skin, her body tingled as if her blood was awakening. Stirring to life again. Rousing her mind.
The pain receded when they moved into the full sunlight. Her mind reveled in the glorious feeling of the natural radiance. A surge of electrifying energy pulsed through her veins, leaving invigorating trails in every fiber.
Approaching the truck, Harper tested her hunger for the power she’d missed the last few days while confined in the cold darkness.
She concentrated on her bindings, closed her eyes, and in her mind saw the clamps break apart. Her head whirled with the rush of ice and heat. A shiver of burning energy passed from her brain through her shoulders, and then shot down her arms to her wrists. She looked down and saw the clamps fracture and fall to the ground with a heavy clank.
Harper raised her hands, full of awe and surprise at her success. She’d controlled it. She had actually controlled it. And she hadn’t passed out.
All six of the huge guys stared at her. Though not with the terrified shock everyone had before. Curiosity with a hint of challenge colored their expressions. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she wasn’t about to stay and find out.
This was her chance to bolt. Her power, or whatever it was, seemed to be working again. She wasn’t about to waste time questioning that or the lack of horror in these guys.
Summoning the energy force again, Harper spread her arms and focused on driving her captors back so she could escape. Prickles of power sparked under her skin as she called upon the energy force flowing eagerly through her body.
A cold rush, then a hot charge blazed within her and she forced a clear wave of energy to surge forward toward the waiting men, seeing the air ripple from the pulse. She watched, mesmerized as the two men in the forefront raised their hands and somehow halted her surge with a filmy current of their own.
Just like her.
A whoosh of displaced air rushed over them as their forces canceled each other out.
Well, that was a new one. The hulky men looked as stunned as she felt. They all stared at the empty space between them as if it would provide the answer.
Now a little drained, Harper caught their eyes and smiled at them with a shrug. And then ran as fast as she could.
She saw a gate just beyond the front of the truck and headed straight for it. Footsteps thundered. A tackle from behind knocked the air from her lungs just as she reached the gate. The momentum carried her and the men on top of her through the wired gateway.
Tumbling onto the ground, she kicked and punched wildly. She heard grunts and thuds as she was able to connect on some of the blows. A clinking noise caught her attention. They were trying to wrestle her into another pair of clamps.
Twisting in their grasp, Harper ended up facedown on the hard ground. Raising her head, she peeked at the surrounding area, checking it out. An alley. Squirming and striking, her darting gaze fell on an unforgettable face tucked behind a rusted green Dumpster.
Rome.
Fury consumed her. It was his fault she was here. She’d killed those men at Bobby’s to protect him, and he’d betrayed her.
Harper grasped on to her rage with her mind. Focused on it. Thirsted for it. Her body vibrated as power pulsed through every fiber. With a wail, she bucked with power and once again hurled a crushing wave from her mind. The heavy bodies pitched away from her through the air and she was free.
Harper’s vision blurred, and she felt a prickly detachment as she began to fade from consciousness. No. She was going to pass out again.
The Dumpster where she thought she’d spied Rome had been hurled against the graffiti-stained brick wall. Warped and creaking. Could she have crushed him? Her mind reeled.
Fiercely fighting the roiling of her mind and her heart, she struggled to scrape her exhausted body from the hard pavement. The sunlight beat down on her, seeping into her skin, charging her blood.
Feeling a boost of strength, she dragged herself up and staggered forward, shooting a look over her shoulder at the prone men. They were stunned, but beginning to get back up.
She hadn’t killed them? No, all six were standing now. They weren’t dead. And they had a power similar to hers. What the heck was going on here? Though, where her stronger power surges were clear and barely perceptible, theirs were tinged with a filmy coating, like pure water versus soapy water.
Stumbling away from them, Harper’s head began to swim. All she was finding were more and more questions instead of answers.
But right now, she was losing it. Not much longer and she’d pass out again. Fear encompassed her, blurring her sight. She didn’t know whether she could handle captivity again. She didn’t want to find out.
Shaking her head, she began to run, but stopped as a black streak filled her vision, accompanied by the screech of tires.
“Get in!” a deep voice commanded from the open passenger-side window.
She paused.
“Harper. Get in. Now!” Rome? He was alive? “Trust me.”
Hesitation. He was alive. Thank the stars. But he’d betrayed her and now he was here to help? Again? She glanced over her shoulder. Her tunneling vision showed fuzzy, bulky figures racing toward her. She swung back around to face Rome, both hands braced against the vehicle.
“Harper, please.” It was indeed Rome. That much she could tell.
At this point, she wasn’t above accepting his help without trusting him. So she hauled herself in the vehicle and clumsily pulled the door shut as the car sped away, tires squealing. Gunshots rang out, but sounded hollow and far away to her ears.
She tried to focus on the rugged profile of the man she’d trusted. The man who had let her down. The man who now reached over and grasped her clammy hand in his strong one. And she’d almost killed him.
“Don’t worry, Harper,” he was saying, but he sounded far off. “It’ll be all right.”
Would it? Would anything ever be all right? She sincerely doubted it. But it was nice anyway, given those were the last words she heard before embracing the darkness of an unconscious oblivion.