Page 244 of Breaking Rosalind
The euphoria from the last dose is replaced by a violent, all-consuming agony. Every muscle in my body tenses and spasms, making my eyes roll back into my head. I try to scream, but my voice is trapped in my throat with an iron fist of pain. Every inch of my body feels like it’s being shredded from the inside out, and I can do nothing but endure the torture.
“Bitch sent us poison,” Tommy roars.
Somewhere on the edge of my consciousness, I’m vaguely aware of something crashing against the wall. I think it’s the contents of the courier box.
“Let’s go,” he snaps.
Footsteps thunder out of the room and the door slams shut.
Cesare rushes to my side and cradles me in her arms. “Get me some fucking water.”
I can’t even relax in his touch. Whatever they injected into me is so overwhelming, it feels like this is the end.
“We did it,” he whispers in my ear, the sound barely audible above my noisy breaths. “Dr. Cortese sent you Christian’s antidote.”
NINETY-EIGHT
CESARE
I crouch beside the mattress, dabbing sweat off Rosalind’s brow. It’s been hours since Tommy hurled the courier package against the wall, leaving us with a large supply of antidotes. Dr. Cortese’s drug has plunged Rosalind into a state of accelerated withdrawal, giving her a low-grade fever. In her brief moments of consciousness, she alternates from having convulsions to being barely responsive.
Tommy thinks she’s been poisoned and has allowed us bottled water. I picked up Dr. Cortese’s box and found strips of ibuprofen glued to its base, along with chewable ginger tablets to help with nausea. As soon as Rosalind was stable enough to swallow, I crushed the tablets between my teeth and fed them to her, mixed with water.
Telling myself to concentrate on helping Rosalind through her withdrawal is futile, I know there’s no way I can escape a mafia stronghold with an unconscious woman. No matter how much I try to stay in the moment, my mind keeps drifting to Miranda.
My little sister.
Everything I’ve learned so far about life in the Moirai has been terrible, and knowing the man who made Rosalind’s life hell is still alive and has taken Miranda for revenge….
It’s unthinkable.
She’s an innocent child.
Rosalind groans, pulling me back to the present. Her eyes flutter open, revealing dull irises set within bloodshot whites. The drugs have sapped her strength, and I’ve never seen her look so weakened, not even when she was my captive. She tries to push herself up on her elbows, but I ease her back down on the mattress.
“Take it easy.” I run my fingers through her hair.
“Miri,” she croaks. “You have to convince Tommaso to do the swap.”
Even in her weakened state, she’s determined to save Miranda. I grit my teeth, forcing back a surge of fury. Tommy refuses to set aside his thirst for power to save his own niece.
Leaning into Rosalind, I whisper, “I’m working on something, love. If my plan goes right, we’ll restore you to health and get Miranda back ourselves.”
Her pained whimper is a knife to the chest. I can’t believe I once wanted to see this woman break. Now, all I want to do is protect her from any more pain.
“You’re going through withdrawal, love,” I whisper into her ear.
She grimaces, seeming to understand.
“I went through something similar. You’ll come out of it, just like I did.”
“Rehab?” she whispers back.
“Benito and Gil locked me in a room like this for a month and forced me to go cold turkey.”
She shudders.
“It wasn’t as bad as this,” I add with a chuckle. “Sofia brought me different soups every day and Gil kept me entertained with horror movies.”