“You are staying here where it is safe.”

“Then let me listen,” I pleaded, my fingers tightening on the rough hospital sheet.

“Dial my number and keep the line open in your pocket.”

He stared at me for a long second, his jaw tight and a muscle twitching in his cheek.

The rain tapped a steady, relentless rhythm against the thick glass of the hospital window.

“Fine,” he said.

He tapped his screen, and a moment later, my own phone vibrated on the bedside table.

I pressed the answer button and slid the speaker icon on, placing the device on the pillow beside my ear.

“Do not make a sound, Elena,” Luke warned.

“I won’t,” I whispered.

He turned and strode out of the room, Marco following close behind his heels.

The heavy wooden door clicked shut, leaving me alone in the sterile silence.

Nadia sat in the vinyl corner chair, her eyes wide as she watched me.

She didn’t speak, but she reached out and took my free hand, her palm warm and dry.

The antiseptic smell of the hospital seemed to grow stronger in the quiet.