Page 4 of Tragic Empire

Jade looks at them. “Dmitri, it’s fine, we don’t have time?—”

“I’m not leaving you without him, don’t try to convince me. Not now.”

Jade swallows, wincing.

Apollo glances between the two of them. “What do you mean not now?”

“She’s on new medication. It’s not important right now,” Dmitri explains sharply and Jade groans, burying her face in her cupped hand. “I won’t leave her without Ivan here.”

“Medication?” Matteo blurts out. “I thought I was the family dispensary, why haven’t I heard about this?”

I’m not surprised to hear the youngest Moretti brother trying to make a joke at a time like this. Matteo thrives on humor and chaos, especially when everything else seems bleak. He makes himself the light.

“Go,” Jade snaps at them. “Leave Ivan and Anatoly so Dmitri can focus and go. If they have any chance, their clocks are ticking!”

When the men surrounding us leave without another word—save for Dmitri who whispers something into Jade’s hair before kissing her head in goodbye—I silently thank my friend by reaching up and squeezing her arm.

“Come on, honey,” Jade whispers, threading my arm through the crook of her elbow to help me off the floor. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

I don’t have the words to tell her that I don’t want to clean up. It’s Cole’s blood I’m covered in, and I know it’s the last of him. Maybe there’s still a sliver of hope for Killian’s life, but Cole is gone.

I can still see the lifelessness in his eyes when I shut mine.

ChapterTwo

Ana

Hours Before

My head is pounding. It feels like water is swimming in my ears, whooshing around to the beat of my heart. Confusion fills my every fuzzy thought as my eyes try to crack open, wincing as my skull throbs in response.

“Don’t move,” Cole’s familiar voice instructs. His whispered command brushes against the shell of my ear, and I cease all movement. “They think you’re still asleep, keep it that way, love.”

Fear creeps down my spine and tumbles around in my stomach. Memories try to float to the surface, fighting back the fuzzy confusion consuming my muddied thoughts.

The only clear picture I can paint is a flash that doesn’t quite seem real. Riding in the car… Cole, Killian, and me.

Everything was so normal. Cole was being grumbly about something. Killian was ignoring him and I was ignoring them both, trying to read the latest society chatter in my text messages.

Everything was fine.

And then there was a crash.

I can hear a faint echo of Cole yelling in the memory before it all goes blank. A rush of nausea hits me, and I nearly whimper at the sick feeling.

“In a minute, they’re going to come in here,” his silky voice warns in a hushed tone. “It’s going to be bad, Ana. I don’t know who they are and the fact that they haven’t said what they want…”

I barely withhold a flinch at his implication.

We’ve been taken by a group of people, and they aren’t the friendly kind.

“I’m so sorry, love,” Cole whispers. “We both are.”

My heart drops. Killian is here too.

He can’t save us if he’s here too.

This isn’t Cole’s fault—it isn’t anyone’s fault—but I understand why he apologizes. He knows I wouldn’t be here if my mother never married his father. I would be back in London, probably helping her plan her next gallery show or studying in some stuffy university. My whole life would be entirely different if Bron never fell for her.