A single tear streaks down my cheek, splashing onto her arm. "I can't survive without you. And if you come back to me, I'll give you everything. Anything your heart desires, so long as you stay."

The machines continue to drone on, the stillness of her body untethering me in a way nothing else ever has.

"I can't do this without you." I move my fingers to her belly, where our unborn child still grows against all odds. "You have to stay with us. Because I don't want to be here if you aren't. I... I care about you, Ivy. I care about you more than I could ever put into words, and I never knew how to tell you. How to admit it. I didn't even realize until I nearly lost you... and I can't... you just can't leave me."

A knock on the door jars me from my rambling confession, and when I look up, Eli is standing there. Our eyes lock, and he dips his head.

“You really do love her, don’t you?”

He sounds both shocked and relieved by the idea. And I won’t deny it any longer.

I turn back to Ivy, nodding solemnly. I want her to hear the words from my own lips. I want her to see how true they are.

“Excuse us.” A ruckus in the hallway catches my attention, and Eli turns just as two IVI guards shove past him, entering the room.

"What are you doing?" I growl at them.

"You've been summoned by The Tribunal, Mr. De La Rosa," the man on the right answers. "We're going to need you to come with us. Right away."

33

Santiago

"What is the meaning of this?" I shrug the guards off me with a snarl as they usher me into The Tribunal, Marco trailing us. "How dare you summon me away from my wife at a time like this—"

"There has been a serious accusation brought against you," Councilor Hildebrand interrupts my tirade. "And it is the duty of this Tribunal to investigate accordingly."

"What accusation?" I glower at the three Councilors as they peer down on me in judgment.

"We have been presented with evidence that you have altered or falsified your statements against Abel Moreno in an effort to disgrace his reputation and remove him from The Society."

An invisible shockwave moves through me as I glance around the darkened edges of the vast room. "Abel fucking Moreno?" I clip out. "The man who just tried to murder my wife?"

"I think it was the other way around." He steps out of the shadows, a serpent who just won't fucking die.

Instinct has me lunging for him, and I manage to land one solid blow to his face before the guards yank me back again.

"You see?" Abel hisses. "He wants me dead by any means possible."