---- Chapter 5 Emily POV: The world dissolved into a cacophony of screeching metal and shattering glass. Killian wrenched the steering wheel, a curse ripping from his lips, but it was too late. The truck slammed into the passenger side of the Maybach with the force of a battering ram. Our car, a fortress of steel and engineering, crumpled like a tin can. We were thrown sideways, the impact so violent it knocked the air from my lungs. The airbags exploded in a cloud of white powder, a deafening boom that rattled my skull. My head snapped back, cracking against the headrest with a sickening thud. Stars burst behind my eyelids, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. My first thought, a stupid, ingrained instinct, was for him. "Killian?" | choked out, my voice barely a whisper. "Are you okay?" He didn't answer. He didn't even look at me. His entire focus was on the woman beside him. "Dallas!" His voice was ragged with terror. He had thrown his body over hers, shielding her from the impact with his own. ---- His arms were a protective cage around her as he frantically checked her for injuries. "Dallas, talk to me! Are you hurt?" She whimpered, burrowing into his chest. "I'm scared, Killy," she cried, her voice muffled against his shirt. | was in the backseat, alone and unprotected. The main force of the collision had struck my side of the car. My head was thrown against the window, which spiderwebbed and then shattered, showering me with tiny cubes of safety glass. A sharp, agonizing pain erupted from my temple as the metal frame of the door buckled inward, and | felt a warm, sticky wetness begin to trickle down my face. My old scar, the one Dallas gave me, felt like it was on fire. Killian finally seemed to remember | existed. His eyes, wide with panic, flickered to the rearview mirror and met mine. | saw a flash of something in his gaze-guilt? hesitation?-but it was gone as quickly as it came. Dallas let out another pathetic sob, and his attention snapped back to her instantly. The distant wail of sirens grew closer, a mournful song cutting through the chaos. People were gathering, their faces appearing as ghostly silhouettes in the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles. "Help! Over here!" Killian roared, his voice thick with desperation. He managed to force his door open and stumbled out, carefully extracting Dallas from the wreckage. "Get a paramedic! She needs help!" He held her in his arms, bridal style, completely ignoring the ---- medics who were trying to assess the scene. He didn't mention me. He didn't tell them there was another passenger, one who was bleeding and possibly seriously injured. My vision was starting to tunnel, the edges turning dark. | tried to call out, to say his name, but my throat was tight with unshed tears and my voice came out as a strangled croak. | could barely breathe. Please, | thought, the plea a silent scream in my mind. Please, just look back. See me. Like you used to. | remembered a time, years ago, when I'd slipped on some ice and twisted my ankle. He had carried me for two miles back to our apartment, refusing to put me down, his face etched with more concern than if he'd been injured himself. He had been my hero then. But that man was gone. The man now standing in the flashing red and blue lights held another woman in his arms, his back turned to me. He carried her towards the arriving ambulance without a single backward glance. The darkness was closing in fast. The sticky warmth on my face was blood, and | was losing too much of it. As my consciousness began to fade, one final, cruel memory surfaced. Killian, on one knee on that cliff in Ireland, slipping a simple, elegant diamond ring on my finger. "| will never leave you, Emily," he had vowed, his voice thick ---- with emotion. "In sickness and in health, in danger and in peace. | will always, always choose you." The lie was so profound, it was the last thing | felt before everything went black. When | woke up, the world was a blurry haze of white. The thythmic beeping of a heart monitor was a steady counterpoint to the dull throb in my head. | was in a hospital room. A cheerful-looking nurse bustled in, her smile widening when she saw my eyes were open. "Oh, you're awake! That's wonderful news. Your husband was so worried, he's been pacing the halls all night." She gestured around the room. "He had all this brought in for you. Said he wanted you to wake up to something beautiful. You're a very lucky woman. He must love you very much." My gaze followed hers, and a bitter laugh escaped my lips. The room was filled with flowers. Peonies. Hundreds of them. | am deathly allergic to peonies.