Miranda's consciousness returned with an overwhelming sense of pain.
The second thing she registered was someone calling her name with a terrifying urgency she'd never heard before.
"Miranda! Jesus Christ, Miranda, open your fucking eyes!"
Nolan. That was definitely Nolan's voice, filled with something she'd never heard from him before: fear. Nolan—CEO, billionaire, perpetual control freak—sounded absolutely terrified.
She struggled to lift her eyelids, which felt impossibly heavy. Everything around her seemed to spin, and the metallic taste coating her tongue was unmistakably blood.
"Miranda, sweetheart, I need you to look at me."
The unexpected gentleness in his tone gave her the strength to force her eyes open. The world blurred and shifted before gradually focusing on Nolan's face hovering above her. Blood trickled from a nasty cut on his forehead, and his shoulder was soaked in red.
