Chapter 5 No.5

Kimberly Graves POV:

The cold of the marble floor was seeping into my bones. Each breath was a fresh agony, a sharp reminder of a cracked rib scraping against something it shouldn't. My vision swam, the ornate patterns of the ceiling blurring into a meaningless swirl.

The phone lay beside my head, dropped from numb fingers. A faint, electric hiss crackled from the speaker, a sound I barely registered until it was replaced by a voice. A man's voice, impossibly calm, warm like the sun on a winter day.

"Kim?"

My entire body, coiled tight with pain and terror, went slack for a single, miraculous second. It was a name I hadn't heard spoken in that tone in years. A lifeline I had prayed I would never need to use. I tried to answer, to form his name, but all that escaped my lips was a choked, pathetic whimper.

He didn't press. There was a pause, two seconds of silence where I could almost feel him listening, not just to me, but to the dead air of the room around me.

"You're in the master bedroom," he said, his voice as steady as a surgeon's hand. "Graves left five minutes ago. Don't move. Just breathe."

My pupils constricted. Shock, cold and sharp, cut through the fog of pain. How? How could he possibly know that?

I clawed for strength, for air, for words. My throat felt like it was full of crushed glass. "...he... will come back..."

"He won't," Helios stated, a simple fact. "I've had his assistant summon him to an emergency board meeting. He has at least three hours before he can return."

The dam of my composure broke. The relief was so absolute it was a new kind of pain, crashing over me and dragging the physical agony back to the surface. A wave of blackness threatened to pull me under.

"Kimberly, listen to me," Helios's voice was firm, pulling me back from the edge. "Stay awake. Talk to me."

I bit down on my lip, the coppery taste of blood a welcome, grounding sting. It was an anchor in the storm of pain. "...I'm here."

"Good. Rescue One has already taken control of the estate's perimeter security. None of Graves's men will receive an alert."

My gaze drifted to the crystal chandelier overhead, the one I'd picked out myself. It had seemed so beautiful then. Now, its glittering light felt like a mockery of the gilded cage I'd lived in.

"Rescue Two, our doctor, is estimated to arrive in seven minutes," Helios continued, his tone as even as if he were reading a stock ticker. "He'll enter through the east-wing private access."

The word 'doctor' sent a spike of fresh panic through me. "...no... no hospital..." I gasped. "He'll find me..."

"I understand," he said, his voice softening just a fraction. "The man coming is 'our guy.' He will treat you on-site. It's safer than any hospital in the country."

My clenched fingers loosened their grip on the silk of my ruined dress. I trusted him. In a world of lies, Helios was the one truth I had left. A trust forged years ago, in a different life, a trust he had never once betrayed.

A fresh wave of nausea roiled in my stomach. The room tilted violently. Concussion.

"Turn onto your side," Helios instructed, as if he could see me. "Slowly. So you don't choke."

I did as he said, my body screaming with every millimeter of movement. It felt like being flayed alive. As I shifted, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the polished marble. A broken doll, hair matted with sweat, gown torn, face already beginning to swell.

The sight didn't bring tears. It brought rage. A white-hot, cleansing fire that burned away the pain and fear. I would not be erased. I would not be a broken thing left on the floor.

Helios must have heard the change in my breathing, the ragged gasp that was not from pain but from fury. "What do you need me to do?" he asked quietly. "To him."

My eyes fixed on the distorted image of my face on the floor. A stranger stared back, her eyes glittering with a terrifying new light.

"...I want him..." I whispered, my voice raw but steady, "...to have nothing."

There was a moment of silence on the line. Then, his voice came back, a low and binding promise. "As you wish."

In the distance, I heard it. The faint sound of an engine, growing closer, then cutting out abruptly. The doctor. He was here. The relief was absolute, and my consciousness began to fray, the tension finally leaving my battered body.

Just before the world went dark, I heard Helios's final words, clear and cold and sharp as a shard of ice.

"The doctor is on his way. He will handle everything, including the 'evidence'."