Chapter 4

I could feel the sedatives taking hold, a heavy fog descending over my mind. Each blink lasted longer than the one before, my eyelids growing impossibly heavy. No. I couldn't surrender now. Not when Maria had risked everything to help me.

My fingers fumbled across the dinner tray, searching desperately for something, anything to keep me conscious. They closed around the silver dessert fork—small but sharp. Without hesitation, I drove the tines deep into the back of my hand.

The pain shot through me like electricity, momentarily clearing the haze. Blood welled from the puncture wounds, warm and sticky against…