Page 52 of Thorns of Love

“If I find out she had anything to do with her husband’s agreement, I’m coming for her.” A light Italian accent. Deep voice. Another set of expensive shoes entered my vision. Prada.

“She knows nothing. If she does, I’ll handle it.” Another pair of expensive shoes. Art. 504 shoes. Even more expensive. Dark suit pants. Perfectly fit. Expensive material.

I shook my head. Snap out of it, Tatiana.

Smoke filled my lungs. Bile rose in my throat and I inhaled deeply to stop myself from retching. The one pair of shoes left. One remained. My heart raced. My vision swam. My ears buzzed. My lungs burned.

“D’accordo.” Definitely Italian. What the fuck did that mean? “Don’t make me regret it.”

Bu-bum. Bu-bum. Bu-bum.

I thought I heard Adrian’s voice, but the buzz in my ears was too loud, drowning out all the words.

The next words I heard were, “End him.”

Bang.

The last bullet. It felt like a final bullet before it was my turn.

A body hit the dirt with a loud thud. Adrian’s dead eyes met mine. The terror was still etched on his face. The last expression before he died. Staring back at me. Blood covered his clothes. A bullet hole in his chest was marred with gun powder, blood seeping out of it like tomato juice.

A gasp left me, and my heart stopped. “A-A-Adrian,” I choked out, my voice broken. He didn’t move. His stare blank, fixated on something I couldn’t reach. With each heartbeat my life slowly faded, following him.

Until something inside me snapped.

“Nooo!” I shrieked and my world as I’d known it ceased to exist.

A man, a familiar face, pulled me out of the car. He kept saying something but my ears rang too much to hear a single word that left his mouth. Our gazes locked, I held on to his strength as he pulled me out of the car.

My knees weakened, failing me. He caught me before they’d hit the gravel. I buried my face into his warm chest. The familiar scent of citrus and sandalwood soothed. Then it reminded me of my husband. My eyes darted back to Adrian. I couldn’t look away. Adrian’s dead eyes, staring somewhere I couldn’t follow.

“Nooo!” I shrieked, pushing the man away from me and falling to my knees.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, giving me just enough strength to crawl over to him.

“Adrian, please,” I cried, pressing my lips on his and tasting blood. “Please, please, please.”

Tears wet my face, tasting like the bittersweet goodbye.

My hands cupped his head. “Wake up,” I begged. “Wake up.” I shook his body, but it was all dead weight. He refused to budge. Images of our life together flashed through my mind. What we had. What we could have had. “No, no, no,” I muttered.

This couldn’t be the end.

CPR. I had to do CPR.

I leaned over and started pushing on his chest. My shoulder hurt so bad but I ignored the throbbing ache. I gritted my teeth, each move shooting a piercing pain through my shoulder blades.

“Breathe,” I shrieked. One. Two. Three. I prayed to God I did it right. I put my mouth on his, tasting copper, then blew air into his lungs. One. Two. Three. Again my lips on his.

“Please, help me,” I screamed, looking frantically at the men who took him away from me. “Please. Just one breath and then I can save him.”

A sob suffocated me as I pressed my palm onto Adrian’s wound, trying to stop the blood from seeping. It was pointless, but I couldn’t give up. I shook my head furiously. His skin was cold.

“Adrian, please wake up. Please wake up,” I murmured over and over again, pressing my forehead to his.

Blood lined his lips, his gaze lost in a space that I’d never reach. He left me.

A gasp left me and my heart stopped.