The blood oozing down my hand only served to frighten me more. At the rate Eric was losing blood, he wouldn’t last long.

“I need you to trust me like you’ve never done before,” Yanni said in an usually soft tone. “Can you do that?”

She reached out and massaged my shoulders, but it didn’t help. Nobody could help me, especially if Eric died.

The whole day had become a fiasco in a matter of minutes. I didn’t know why I was here, and I couldn’t fathom Yanni knowing what the real deal was and not letting anyone in on it. Not with all that had transpired.

“Let him go, Starlet. I want to help. Let him go,” a male voice said through the fog that had become my mind.

“If you don’t let him go, he might die,” the voice continued.

His final words snapped me out of my haze. I looked up to find Yanni’s beloved Rain pleading with me.

“The men drew back,” he said, glancing from me to Yanni. He turned back to me and gently removed my hand from Eric’s wound. “Let me try and help him.”

Just then Eric began coughing and blood oozed from his mouth. My body broke into an uncontrollable shiver.

“Yanni, take Starlet into another room. I’m going to need some space. Also, bring me back some boiling water, whiskey if you can find some and a knife.”

“Why do you need a knife?” I asked, already fearing the answer.

“To cut off the rest of his clothes,” he replied, in a useless attempt to comfort me. I watched as he returned to Eric, who seemed to be barely moving, the blood spilling from his lips at a faster rate.

Yanni took me by the arm and began to guide me out of the room. I jerked away from her and ran back to Eric’s side. “I’m not leaving this room until Eric speaks to me—until he tells me he’s okay.”

“Star, don’t—let Rain do his job. Come on, I’ll get you something to calm your nerves.”

“Is he going to live?” I asked, looking at her pointedly.

She straightened her shoulders before speaking. “When the rainmaker goes to work, everybody lives.”

Despite her words of bravado, her eyes told me the real story. She didn’t think he stood a chance. I sighed heavily, exhaustion and tension threatening to shut down my system. This time, as she took me by the arm, I allowed her to lead me away.

We’d just walked into the hallway when Alex’s voice stopped me. Yanni yanked my arm, but I refused to budge. “Damn, is he okay?” I heard Alex ask.

“No, he’s not,” Rain replied. “I think he’s already lost too much blood, and his pulse has went from faint to undetectable.”

“Man! How’s Starlet—please tell me she didn’t take a hit.”

“She’s pretty shaken, but other than that, she’s fine. Yanni took her into the kitchen, I believe.”

“Yanni, hurry up with the supplies,” Rain called.

Yanni dropped her grasp and darted into the kitchen. Rain and Alex had fell silent—too silent.

I crept to the doorway and peeked into the living room. Rain sat on his hunches, his face over Eric. It took a moment for me to realize he and Alex were administering CPR.

From out of nowhere a scream loud enough to break glass sounded throughout the house. Were it not for the startled gazes of Rain and Alex staring back at me, I wouldn’t have known the scream had come from me.