SAVE HIM.

Chapter 22

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Roman's POV:

My breath caught in my throat. He was curled in on himself, his body trembling like a wire stretched too tight. His breaths came in short, uneven gasps, each one sounding more like a battle than a necessity. The air of the prison smelled of rust and damp stone, thick with the metallic tang of blood. The flickering light overhead cast long, eerie shadows that stretched and twisted like specters. Every sound—the shuffle of footsteps, the ragged breaths—felt magnified in the suffocating silence.

His fingers clawed at the cold prison floor, knuckles pale and rigid, as if holding on was the only thing keeping him tethered to this world. His shoulders jerked with each shaky inhale, the rise and fall of his chest erratic, strained. Then came the sound—a low, broken groan that barely left his lips. It was quiet, but it tore through me like a jagged blade.