That time in the tower was to hurt me. Humiliate me. This was completely different. He wanted to wipe me off the face of the Earth.
I would not have survived that attack.
His eyes never waiver as he prepares to strike again, and I let out a sob. Remiel will protect me so I don’t move.
“Constantine…” I wail, shaking my head, all of my trust for him evaporating in the second he fires off another shot at me.
Remiel, once again, stops it as Delinda launches herself at him.
She flies over his head as his face goes stricken, and his eyes return to normal. For a split second, I see what I think is regret in his amber-flecked eyes, before he collapses to the floor, several feet from me.
Time slows down.
Sound goes fuzzy.
All I can hear is myself shouting his name and pushing Remiel out of the way.
He grabs me by the arm, jarring me forcefully to a halt, before he pushes me behind him.
“Do not,” he warns me and takes a step forward himself.
He peers down at Constantine and then prods him with his foot.
“He appears to be unconscious,” he states after what seems like forever.
“What?” I ask, shaking my head to clear it. The last few seconds have been surreal, and I can’t quite believe they happened.
He tried to kill me.
Not once, but twice.
My husband, the love of my long life, my savior, tried to kill me. Kill me.
Kill. Me.
“Fuck!” I shriek as Frederick takes my hand and squeezes it tightly.
I pull my hand out of his and sink to my knees, struggling to catch my breath as my sobs come thick and fast. I can’t see for the tears pouring down my cheeks. I can’t breathe for the wracking sobs. I can’t hear for the roaring in my ears.
Only a shrill ringing breaks through the fog.
It goes on and on as I wail, my heart breaking at my husband’s actions. I knew he would be pissed, but I didn’t think he would ever truly try to physically hurt me. Not anymore anyway.
How wrong I was. He hasn’t changed a bit.
It causes my heart to break even more and I can feel the love seeping out of me, along with my tears. My trust in him is gone completely.
The ringing suddenly stops and then Devon is at my side, shoving an object at me roughly. “Take it,” he demands, when I push it and him away.
I need to be alone right now. I don’t want witnesses to my absolute grief and sorrow. I need to figure out what happened to Constantine before he wakes up and tries to murder me again. Maybe he exerted too much power and it got the better of him?
“Take it,” he says again, this time more gently. “It’s Tatiana.”
That jars me out of my stupor. “What?” I mumble and take the phone from him.
“Aefre! What happened?” she yells at me before I can even say hello.
“Con…Cons… He–he tried…” I can’t even form a thought, never mind a word, or worse, a sentence.