Chapter 3

Elena POV

I needed to feel something-anything-other than this suffocating emotional agony.

Desperate for a distraction, I went to the gym.

It was a massive facility located on the west wing of the estate, filled with state-of-the-art equipment that rivaled professional training centers.

Mechanically, I changed into my workout gear.

My hands were shaking, but I forced them to grip the rough ropes of the obstacle course. I needed to burn the frustration out of my blood.

I started to climb.

Physical pain was simpler, cleaner, easier to handle.

If my muscles burned, I didn't have to think about Dante carrying Livia away.

I reached the top of the rope and transitioned to the high-wire walk.

It was twenty feet above the mats-a dangerous drop, but I craved the focus it required.

I balanced carefully.

Then, below me, across the gym, I saw them.

Dante and Livia were at the archery range.

He was standing behind her, his large frame eclipsing hers as he adjusted her stance.

His chest was pressed firmly against her back.

He whispered something in her ear, and she giggled-a light, tinkling sound that echoed in the cavernous room.

Nausea rolled in my stomach, acidic and sharp.

I grit my teeth and focused on the wire.

One foot in front of the other.

I was halfway across when I heard it.

Snap.

It wasn't a gradual tearing sound.

It was sudden, violent, like a gunshot.

The main support cable gave way.

The wire dropped out from under me.

Gravity took over.

I fell.

Twenty feet is a long way down when you aren't expecting it.

I hit the mat.

Crack.

The sound of my own bone snapping was louder than the impact.

Agony exploded in my leg.

It blinded me, robbing the air from my lungs.

White hot pain shot up my spine.

I screamed.

It was a raw, animalistic sound that tore through my throat.

Through my blurred vision, I looked toward the archery range.

I expected Dante to be running toward me.

I expected him to be terrified.

But he wasn't looking at me.

He had turned to Livia.

Livia had dropped her bow and was clutching her chest, pretending to be startled by the noise of the cable snapping.

"Oh my god!" she shrieked. "That noise scared me!"

Dante wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay," he soothed her. "It's just an accident. You're safe."

He was comforting her.

I was lying on the floor with a shattered leg, possibly bleeding internally, and he was comforting the woman who wasn't even scratched.

"Dante..." I choked out.

He finally looked over his shoulder.

He saw me on the floor.

He didn't run.

He walked.

He walked slowly, his face twisted with annoyance.

"Clumsy," he muttered as he got closer.

My spirit broke.

It wasn't the bone.

It was the indifference.

The Family Doctor rushed in a moment later.

He knelt beside me, cutting away my pant leg.

He looked up at the cable.

He frowned.

"This is a clean cut," the doctor whispered, his voice low so only I could hear. "This cable was sawed halfway through with a blade."

I froze.

I looked at Livia.

She was watching from a distance, a small smile playing on her lips.

She did this.

Darkness swarmed my vision, and I passed out from the pain.

When I woke up, I was in the infirmary.

My leg was in a cast.

I was groggy from the morphine, my head swimming in a heavy fog.

I heard voices.

Dante was standing by the window.

Livia was with him.

"Is she going to die?" Livia asked. She didn't sound worried. She sounded hopeful.

"No," Dante said.

He sounded cold.

"She won't die," he whispered. "This just reminds her who holds the real power. Pain is a good teacher."

I closed my eyes.

He knew.

He knew she had cut the cable.

He knew she had tried to kill me, or at least maim me.

And he was protecting her.

He was letting her get away with it.

The last ember of love I had for Dante turned to ice.

My heart didn't feel like flesh anymore.

It felt like a stone.

I lay there in the dark, listening to them leave.

I didn't cry.

I was done crying.

I made a promise to myself in that hospital bed.

I would heal.

And then I would hunt.