Chapter 34

Ryan’s POV I stumble through the doorway of the Blackwood mansion, my head spinning with alcohol and rejection. The grand foyer seems to tilt around me, marble floors gleaming mockingly under the chandelier light. Simon rushes forward to steady me, his concerned face blurring before my eyes. "Mr. Blackwood, you're burning up," he says, pressing a hand to my forehead. I push him away, swaying dangerously. "I'm fine." But I'm not fine. The cold night air after leaving Serena's apartment has seeped into my bones, mingling with the whiskey in my system. My thoughts are a jumbled mess of her defiant eyes, her trembling lips after our kiss, and the wall she's built between us. "Sir, please let me call the doctor," Simon insists, hovering nearby as I drag myself toward the staircase. The grand staircase suddenly looks impossibly steep. My legs give way beneath me, and the world goes dark. --- Voices float around me in fragments. A needle prick in my arm. Cool cloth on my forehead. The clinica