Chapter 21

Ryan's POV I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt frozen as I watched Serena's body crumple at the bottom of the staircase, her hair splayed across the marble floor like spilled ink. Everything around me blurred into meaningless shapes—the restaurant, the gawking patrons, everything except her still form. "SERENA!" My voice sounded foreign to my own ears as I lunged forward, taking the stairs two at a time. But Julian was already there, kneeling beside her, his fingers pressed against her neck. "She's breathing," he announced, his voice tight with controlled panic. "Call an ambulance, now!" Someone—a waiter maybe—was already on the phone, rattling off the restaurant's address. "Don't move her," I ordered, crouching down beside them, my hand hovering over her pale face. "She could have spinal injuries." The words tasted like acid in my mouth. Serena lay unconscious, a thin trickle of blood running from somewhere beneath her head. Her skin had taken on an ashen quality that made my stomach tw