Page 116 of Hard Bargain

He hadn’t heard Dominic move, but suddenly he was there, dropping down close beside him. His hand moved to her face, tilting her head back, lifting her chin to open the airway. He leaned in, eyes on her chest, listening. “She’s not breathing,” he said.

The words hit like a punch.

“Did you feel a pulse?” Dominic asked. Already moving.

“Barely. It’s there. It’s just…”

“Good.” Dominic’s gaze locked on him. “Can you do CPR?”

Knox swallowed. His hands were shaking. “Yes.”

“Help me get her on the floor.” Dominic was already hooking an arm under her, pulling her off the mattress. “Grab her legs.”

Knox scrambled to catch her legs, and together they lowered her to the floor. He dropped to his knees at her side, positioning his hand over her chest the way he’d been taught. The way he remembered. His arms locked, shoulders over his hands, and he pushed down.

Push.

Push.

Push.

Behind him, Dominic’s voice cut through the room, steady in a way that felt almost unreal against everything coming apart in Knox’s chest. “I need an ambulance. Adult female, unconscious, not breathing. She has a pulse, but it’s weak. We’ve started CPR.”

There was no hesitation, just a clean stream of information, like nothing about this was shaking him. Knox clung to the sound of it without meaning to. Something solid to cut through the panic he couldn’t get a grip on.

Push.

Push.

Push.

Dominic’s voice kept going. Something about a possible overdose. Pills. An empty bottle on the nightstand. Knox heard it, but it didn't register at first. They were just more words being handled somewhere behind him.

Then it caught—pills. So that’s what it was this time. The realization landed in a strange, muted way. Almost matter-of-fact. It wasn’t new; this had happened before. He knew this version.

Better than last time.

The thought slipped in before he could stop it. Last time it had been her wrists. Blood everywhere. So much red. His jaw tightened, cutting off the image before it could take shape.

Push.

Push.

Push.

His arms were burning now, a shaking ache setting in that he couldn’t hide. The rhythm was slipping, his breathing out of sync, numbers half-formed and useless in his head. Was he doing this right? Did it matter if he wasn’t?

He kept going.

Air. He needed to give her air. He leaned down, breath unsteady as he forced it into her lungs and watched for her chest to rise. Please. He didn’t know if it was working. He just knew he couldn't stop.

Push.

Push.

Push.

Dominic was back beside him, close enough to feel without looking. “Let me take over.”