The ER is loud, bright, and suffocating but tonight, it feels wrong.
Not chaotic.
Not busy.
Different.
Like the whole city is holding its breath, patiently waiting for something to break.
I'm rinsing dried blood off my arms when that wave of dizziness hits again sharp, frigid, crawling up the back of my neck. Not from exhaustion.
A warning.
"Sorry, Aria!" A nurse bumps into me, rushing past with a chart. "It's insane out there!"
Yeah. Insane.
But beneath all the noise, the monitors, the shouting and the hum of fluorescent lights there's a strange kind of quiet.
A quiet that feels like the atmosphere just tensed.
I shake it off and reach for a towel simultaneously as the elevator doors slam open.
Two paramedics rush in with a stretcher.
Another stabbing victim.
But before I even see the patient,
before I even smell the blood,
My skin prickles.
The temperature in the room shifts.
Everything slows, like the world is inhaling.
And then I heard footsteps.
Slow.
Purposeful.
Too controlled.
My chest tightens.
No.
No, not him. Not tonight.
But when I turn, he's already walking through the ER doors like he possesses the building.
Caspian Leone.
His presence hits the room like gravity. Dark suit immaculate, grey eyes scanning everything with lethal calm. He walks like a man who's seen hell and walked out because hell wasn't enough to kill him.
Patients stare. Nurses freeze.
Even the paramedics cut a glance at him.
Men like Caspian don't belong in hospitals.
They erase the need for them.
He shouldn't be here.
And by the way his eyes lock onto mine…
intense, intentional, unblinking.
I know he didn't come for the wounded man.
He came for me.
I move toward the stretcher anyway, snapping into nurse mode.
"Vitals?" I ask.
The paramedic starts to answer, but Caspian steps closer, so close his suit brushes my scrubs and places a steadying hand on the railing beside mine.
My pulse skips, traitorous.
"You again," I mutter.
A ghost of a smile touches his mouth. "You sound disappointed."
"I'm surprised you're not at some board meeting," I shot back.
His eyes glint. "Some things are more important."
He doesn't look at the patient when he says it.
He looks at me.
Before I can respond, the patient on the stretcher groans, blood flooding out faster than we can control.
"He was found in an alley," the paramedic explains. "Multiple stab wounds. He was muttering a name before he blacked out."
Caspian's jaw strain. "What name?"
The air gets heavy.
Like even the lights are waiting.
"C… Carter," the paramedic says finally. "He kept saying Carter."
My heart hits my ribs.
Caspian snaps his eyes to me. "Any relation?"
"No," I say too fast. "I don't know him."
It's the truth.
But Caspian steps closer, invading my space completely, searching my face like he can peel the truth straight from my bones.
"Aria," he murmurs, low and dangerous, "tell me everything."
But before I can breathe, the patient's hand shoots up,
and grabs my wrist.
His eyes snap open, pupils blown wide with terror.
"…Run."
The word tears out of his throat like it's killing him.
Then his body collapses.
The monitors flatline.
Doctors swarm.
"Aria, step back!" someone yells.
But the world is already shrinking,
the alarms distant,
the shouting muffled,
all drowned out by the echo of that single word.
Run.
Run from what?
From who?
The ER doors at the entrance suddenly…
CRACK.
Not shatter.
Crack.
Like someone hit them with a bullet just to test the glass.
Security radios explode with noise.
Nurses scream.
Someone drags a patient out of the hallway.
And Caspian…
moves.
One second he's beside me.
The next, he's in front of me, shielding me with his entire body, hand gripping my arm hard enough to bruise.
"Stay behind me," he growls.
My voice shakes. "Caspian, what is happening ?"
He doesn't answer.
His eyes are locked on the doors, cold and lethal.
Like he was expecting this.
Like he knew this was coming.
But the terror in his voice when he finally speaks?
That is new.
"Aria," he murmurs, not looking back at me, "they didn't come for him."
His fingers tighten around my arm.
"They came for you."