Page 260 of Blackwood

I nod, barely. “This has to work.”

There’s a knock at the door. Nate opens it and he walks in.

Roman Russo.

Impeccably dressed.

Calm and fucking alive.

“You shouldn’t be here.” My voice comes out low. Too calm. Too even. A warning before the detonation.

He just stands there, looking past me and at her. At Bella. Still curled on the couch. Still broken.

I lunge forward and slam him into the wall so hard the pictures rattle off the nails. “You shouldn’t fucking be here!” I shout, fists bunching in his suit jacket. “She didn’t deserve this!”

He grunts but doesn’t fight back.

“It should’ve been you,” I snarl. “Not her father. Not Henry. It should’ve been your fucking head in that box!”

“Lex!” Cade shouts.

Khoza’s already moving. Rez crosses the room in three strides.

Dad’s behind me in a flash, “Lex. Son, breathe. Stand down.”

I don’t hear him. I can’t. My vision’s gone red, hands shaking, pulse roaring.

“Let me go!” I bellow, trying to shove free.

Rez pins my left arm. Khoza grabs my shoulder. Dad wraps me in a brutal hold from behind.

“Get off me!” I roar, body straining. “She’s broken because of him!”

Sabine steps forward and presses a hand to my cheek and somehow, everyone goes still. “Your rage won’t heal her,” she says. “Your fury will not sew her soul.”

I freeze.

“She does not need your fire right now,l’ombre,” she murmurs, fingers still warm on my skin. “She needs your tether. The part of you that wraps around her and holds her to this world. That is your offering. That is your gift.”

I’m breathing hard. Glaring over her shoulder at Roman. But I stop fighting.

She nods and drops her hand. Dad lets go first. Then Rez. Then Khoza. No one speaks. Roman straightens his jacket but doesn’t say a word.

“Balcony,” Sabine says tilting her head toward the door.

Cade is already there, sliding the door open. We step outside. I lean on the railing, fingers digging into it. I can’t fix this. I can’t fight this. And for the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do.

Cade shuts the balcony door behind us, sealing off the silence. Cold night air cuts through my shirt, but I barely feel it. I’m burning from the inside out. Cade stands a few feet away, staring out at the city like it might offer answers.

It won’t.

Not tonight.

I press my palms flat to the stone ledge. Try to steady my breathing. Try to find a rhythm. I can’t.

Sabine steps forward. The hem of her dress whispers against the floor as she moves toward us, like she’s walking onto sacred ground. “You’re both breaking,” she says simply.

Cade turns to her. “Because we’re losing her.”