CLAUDE
I WOKE UP choking on nothing.
Air that was too thick caught in my throat like I’d swallowed glass in my sleep. I sat up too fast, chest heaving like I’d been drowning and only just remembered how to breathe.
Nikolai.
My hand reached out before I could stop it—searching for the space beside me. Cold. Always cold. He wasn’t there. I wasn’t there. I didn’t know if he was alive.
I couldn’t get to him.
Couldn’t reach anyone. Couldn’t get out. Couldn’t do a f*****g thing but exist inside this rotting silence. This feeling that gutted me from the inside out.
A growl sound crawled out of my throat. I shoved the sheets off like they burned, like I could shake it all off my skin too fast. Three months and nothing. Not a word. Not a whisper. Just the memory of his blood on my hands and
