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The next morning, she was still asleep when the door to her hospital room was kicked in.
She was hauled upright on the bed.
"Where is she? What did you do with Vivienne?"
Seraphina blinked, disoriented.
Damien's face was murderous. He slapped a bloody necklace onto her face.
"Sera." The words ground out of his teeth. "I want to see you try and talk your way out of this."
She peeled the chain off her cheek.
It was hers.
The necklace she'd lost the night the man in the hoodie beat her senseless.
She didn't understand what he was getting at.
"This yours? Vivienne texted me last night. Two words. Help me. By the time I got to the hospital, she was gone. Just this left on the bed."
She numbly held the chain out to him.
"Nothing to do with me."
"Nothing to do with you?" His hand closed around her throat. "Last night you tried to pin it on her. This morning she's gone. You did this. To get back at her."
She couldn't breathe. Her eyes didn't back down.
"I told you. I didn't. I don't know anything —"
He didn't believe her.
He had decided, locked-in, that she'd arranged it. So to force her to give Vivienne back, he'd had her brother dragged out of his cell and dumped in the middle of a private drive, spread-eagled and tied.
A car sat in front of her. Its headlights were flashing.
Before she could think —
The engine roared. The car accelerated straight over her brother's legs.
"Ngh —"
Blood rushed to her head. Her eyes went red.
"Julian —"
"What are you doing to my brother? I said I don't know. I don't know. Why can't you believe me for once? Why?"
She hadn't thought Damien had gotten this far gone. For Vivienne, he would use her brother as leverage.
He was insane.
"Sera. Countdown starts now. The car moves one minute at a time. It starts with his legs. In three minutes, if you haven't told me where Vivienne is, the last pass goes over his head."
"Tell me where she is. Your brother lives."
She was shaking. Her brother was limp on the asphalt. She was about to come apart.
"I don't know. I don't know anything. Damien, please, please — you already put him in prison. Why can't you just leave him alone?"
He laughed. Cold.
A minute passed. The car moved again.
This time, over her brother's hands.
"No — no —"
She collapsed to her knees.
"Damien — please — please — I'll swear it on anything, I had nothing to do with this. If I did, let me die. Right here. Is that enough?"
"Believe me. Just believe me —"
Begging didn't move him.
He waved his hand. The headlights came up again.
Her pupils shook. Her voice shook.
"No — no —"
The car surged forward.
She broke out of the men holding her. She didn't hesitate. She threw herself in front of Julian, kneeling on the ground.
"Sera —"
Panic flashed across Damien's face.
Too late.
Impact. Her waist took it. She was thrown into the air.
Her organs shifted inside her. Something tore loose. Her stomach spasmed. Red came up her throat and out her mouth.
"Sera!"
Damien sprinted to her, gathered her up, his fingers shaking as he wiped blood from her mouth.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I —"
His assistant came running.
"Mr. Thorne. We found her. She's at a safehouse in the Hamptons. She's hurt and in shock. No one can get near her. She's only calling for you."
His whole body went rigid.
He looked down at the broken woman in his arms. He heard Vivienne screaming on the other end of the phone.
The second the ambulance pulled up, he made his choice.
"Take Mrs. Thorne in. Get her the best trauma team. Nothing happens to her."
"I — I'll be there soon."