Shades of Sins (New York Sinner Series Book 2)

43| Life

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓

Life

┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

Chapter 43: Life (Dante's POV)

Have you ever wondered what death feels like? 

Not knowing if I was alive or dead, if I was even breathing anymore... I was certain this was it. I couldn't remember a moment in my life when the pain and misery were so strong that I couldn't beat them, but that was until I took that bullet and watched Anastasia suffer more than I did. 

I was the one bleeding out, it should have been me in a world of pain... then how come she was hurting? 

It wasn't an impulsive reaction, it wasn't a thoughtless move. I took that bullet for her, knowing how lethal it was for me. I took that bullet for her, knowing it could kill me, and I was fucking ready for it. I was ready to die for her. 

I would rather that bullet have killed me than watch her break down the way she did as she held me in her arms. 

At some point, despite still being unconscious, I'd realized I was very much fucking alive, and I wasn't dangling between the realms of life and death. This wasn't the fucking afterlife. I was breathing and conscious. 

I slowly returned to my senses. The hearing came first. The steady beeps came from the hospital machinery, soft whispers around me, and the doctors and nurses discussing my surgery. 

I had no idea how long I'd been knocked out, and I had no memory of anything after I lost consciousness in front of the gallery. I didn't know how I was brought to the hospital, who was with me... or who saved me. 

It took several attempts for me to finally open my eyes despite them constantly fluttering shut under the blinding fluorescent lights. The beeps from the heart rate monitor grew louder, and that was when I felt her touch. 

Squinting my eyes open, I looked at where Anastasia's hand lay over mine and where she rested her head at the edge of my hospital bed, facing me while she had dozed off. 

I stayed utterly still for the next several minutes, conscious of my breathing, of every little tremor in my body so I wouldn't alert or awaken her. All I did was watch her. 

Her hair was half-heartedly pulled back into a braid, which I was certain Amara or Rose had done for her. She had changed out of the dress stained in my blood and wore jeans and a full-sleeve t-shirt instead. Her skin looked paler than usual without its natural flush, and pure exhaustion was written all over her. 

Cautiously, I retreated my hand from beneath hers and, with trembling fingers, reached forward to brush her hair behind her ear from where it had fallen over her eyes. That tiny action was enough to startle her awake. 

Her eyes snapped open, desperately seeking mine as she jumped upright. A beat passed of her simply staring at me with a mixture of shock and relief in her eyes. "You're awake," she whispered. 

I took her free hand in mine again as I cleared my throat. My mouth and throat felt dry, and my tongue wouldn't unstick from the roof of my mouth until I forced myself to swallow and talk despite the roughness in my voice. "How long was I out?" I asked.