Elena's POV
My heart was filled with warmth, Justin was right her with me and that gave me a flicker of hope.
The room stank of sweat, blood, and rust. Every sound scraped against my nerves, the drip of water from some leaky pipe, the groan of metal as the wind pressed against the warehouse walls. But what broke me most was the sound of Justin's breathing.
It was ragged, uneven. Each inhale seemed to cost him pieces of himself.
I forced myself to look at him. My chest tightened at what I saw. His face was battered beyond recognition, purple bruises, swelling, cuts that still oozed. His lip was split, his eyes bloodshot from both exhaustion , and the torture from Dante.. And yet… yet when his gaze found mine, there was still fire there. Still him.
He smiled. Somehow, impossibly, he smiled. "Don't cry. I'm right here. I've got you."
The tears I'd been holding back spilled free. God, he was bleeding, broken, barely holding himself up, and he was comforting me.
