Page 404 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2

"Tell Porter exactly what happened. Exactly when you saw Snape come, okay?"

Porter gave me an odd look.

"Okay, Daddy," she sniffled.

Twitch.

I ignored the twitch, just like I had the pain in my arm. "I'm going to the hospital. Make sure the police are there to meet me." I ran back out into the hall and down the staircase.

Three years ago, I had changed my life. I had started teaching again. I had stopped eating steak. And God, I fucking loved a good steak. I had started appreciating the little things more. My wife's laugh. My daughter's smile. With those changes, I had been able to lower my stress levels. I had been able to lower my blood pressure. I was healthy now. My last checkup verified that.

But I was tired. I told Daphne I wasn't drunk. But I wasn't exactly sober. The stress of the day had piled up. I felt physically sick with grief. With betrayal. I was angry. And heartbroken. And hopeful. It was too much.

So I shouldn't have been surprised by the sharp pain in my chest. I shouldn't have been surprised that my legs collapsed from underneath of me.

My shoulder landed hard on the step beneath me. My body continued to fall, and I couldn't seem to stop it. Finally the backof my head hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs. And it felt like all the life had just been sucked out of me. For a moment, I had the eerie feeling that Penny had just taken her last breath.

I tried to gasp for mine, sprawled at the bottom of the staircase. I tried to feel anything but the pain in my chest. My heart was failing. I had been so worried about Penny's that I had forgotten about the stress on my own.

I thought I was suffering from withdrawal, when in reality the twitch on the side of my face had been a sign of my body being attacked. The poison was killing me. And my heart was breaking because I was losing the love of my life.

Darkness. That was life without my light. Complete and utter darkness.

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