𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆

~Viktor~

The whole night they sat in the waiting room, not speaking and not moving. They all had bags and dark circles. Luca's tan skin looked pale and drained. He hadn't eaten nor gotten up, he was just too worried and angry.

5 hours into the surgery, Dr. Salib came to update them.

She had a sad and grim expression on her face, making them worried and expecting the worse.

"She's in critical condition and there is a chance that she won't make it through the night," she sighed. Luca felt like his heart had been stabbed, and he found it hard to breathe.

"She had been injected with a rare poison. I have no idea where he got it from no one has ever been treated for it," she breathed as she took off her mask and gloves. Luca sucked in a harsh breath.

"Did anything else happen...did he touch her," Blade whispered. They all stood rigid, awaiting her answer. She shook her head no, and they all released a breath of relief.

She left the room after updating them, leaving them alone with their negative, plaguing thoughts.

After 3 more hours, she came back.

"She's alive. She'll be fine," she smiled. Their eyes lit up, and they felt as if all hope had blessed them.

"Due to her heart injury, the poison damaged the healing process and affected her heart rate. It only beats about 27 times per minute, making it temporarily damaged," she sighed.

It felt like their breaths were caught in their lungs. Luca saw a blur.

"We were able to drain it from her bloodstream. The poison put her in a state of shock as it forced her body to go into mock hypothermia. Her body thinks she has hypothermia because of the poison but she doesn't.

Since it was injected into her neck, it spread to her brain, which will make her have severe hallucinations. The cut she got on her abdomen went deep enough to damage her liver, making the poison seep into it," she informed.

Viktor would suffer greatly for this.

"The wounds should be okay in a month or two except her heart, which will take longer to heal. She should wake up sometime this week, but she shouldn't be walking for the next few weeks, and she shouldn't get her heart rate up too high or it will put stress on her heart make it permanently damaged," she finished.

"Can we see her?" Ida asked. Dr. Salib nodded and led them to her room. They waited a few seconds before opening the door.

When they finally did, Dr. Salib got paged to go see another patient.

So she wasn't there to see the hospital bed empty.

~

Luca followed the location to Manhattan. He assumed he could escape after what he had done.

He walked up the steps, each one more taunting than the last. He angrily kicked down the door as his fists balled. His pupils shrank, and his eyes silent and sterling. He was feeling murderous.

But he didn't expect to see his lifeless body on the ground. Dismembered and gory.

She wiped the blood that stained her hands with a rag and tossed it to the side with a ferocious look in her eyes. Her busted lip and stiched eyebrow made her look that much more lethal and dangerous, but incredibly arousing.

She looked over to where he stood, his eyes stormier than before. He stalked up to her slowly, making her uneasy. She knew that she wasn't supposed to be awake no less walking and killing. And he knew that the last time she had not taken care of herself, he had gotten furious with her.

But he had gotten really unpredictable lately.

As he came nearer, she walked further back, eventually backing up into the wall. He put his hands on the wall behind her and pressed his body against her, like the day at the club.

He inched closer to her neck, until his lips pressed against her, but not kissing.

His warm breath made a shiver go down her spine. He began to kiss her jaw gently and carefully as if she was porcelain and he was going to break her.

She relaxed into him, with her heart palpitating and her stomach doing flips. Since he was significantly taller than her, her head was perfectly level with his chest.

He moved his lips up to her ear and softly bit down on her earlobe.

"You're okay," he said more to himself than her. She closed her eyes enjoying the moment.

"I'm okay," she reassured. He looked down at her, lifting her chin slightly. Their lips were millimeters apart. She licked her lips slowly easing the dryness she suddenly felt. They looked so pink and plump. So inviting...

He closed his eyes to hold himself back and she did the same.

It was strictly business...but it had flown out the window the second he put his lips on her when they sparred.

But she wanted him...she wanted him so badly.

She was the reason he started laughing again. She was the reason why he couldn't sleep. He wanted her. He had realized something the moment she fell unconscious in his arms.

He cared about her. And she cared about him.

She was done going through the pain of holding her heart back. She wanted him, and she was going to have him even if she died trying.

So she leaned forward.

Pressing her lips to his.