I release a breath and stand up.
The fucker tortured her. He beat her up until he erased her features and turned her unrecognizable.
Ivan is still fighting off Rai as Kyle holds him with both his hands locked behind him. The moment Rai sees Reina, she abandons Ivan and runs toward me. I don’t think twice. I don’t even count as Kyle told me to.
I aim my gun, cock it, and then shoot straight into the fucker’s chest. Kyle glares at me as Ivan falls limp in his hold. I ignore him and focus back on Reina.
Rai kneels beside her, begging her to open her eyes, demanding she keeps her promise.
Reina always said shit about wanting to leave, and this better not be the time she decides to do that.
I can’t possibly live in a world without her anymore.
The end is a weird feeling.
It just…happens. Or maybe it doesn’t happen and you’re stuck somewhere in the unknown.
That’s how it feels the moment I open my eyes. It’s too quiet, too white, too full of nothingness. I think I’m in an afterlife of sorts. Everything ended in Ivan’s torture chamber, and now I get to meet Mom and Dad.
But then the pain kicks in. It snaps from the back of my head to my temples. My eyes, which I thought I opened a second ago, are now half-open, drooping and…are they swollen?
I stick my tongue out to wet my dry lips and wince when it connects with tender, injured skin.
Then the smells register, strong and potent. Antiseptic and the cleanness of a hospital swallow my senses.
The sounds come into focus, too, as the blurriness slowly fades away. A familiar face stares down at me. She’s calling my name, tears welling in her eyes.
It’s…me.
No, it’s not me. It’s Reina.
Oh, God. My heart picks up speed and the machines go mad with the beeping.
She can’t be here. If she is, it could mean she’s in the afterlife with me. She’s—
“Doctor—call the doctor!”
A hand wraps around mine, warm and familiar, like Mom’s. It feels just like Mom’s.
The doctor shoves that light in front of my eyes and tells me to follow it. At first, I don’t comply because I don’t want to break eye contact with Reina. What if she disappears?
She nods at me, squeezing my hand encouragingly, so I follow the doctor’s instructions. He asks me to talk and say my name.
“Reina,” I whisper in a hoarse voice. “Reina Ellis.”
A few people may know the fact that I’m not, but we promised I’d be Reina Ellis and she’d be Rai Sokolov. Until she takes back her life, I’ll protect it. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep it afloat.
Reina’s face fills with so many emotions. My own would be similar if I could move it.
The doctor and the nurses fuss around Reina and me follows their every move, listening to the doctor and occasionally squeezing my hand to support it. The motions and the questions are al
most a déjà vu of the last time I woke up in a similar bed with my memories wiped clean.
Only this time, it hurts more.
And this time…I slowly move my head around, but there’s no trace of Asher. A funny type of emptiness grips the center of my chest.
The doctor prescribes me some meds for the pain, and the nurse injects them into my IV. Then they leave, the door hissing closed behind them.