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“Don’t touch me.”

He stopped immediately.

“I won’t.”

The calmness of his answer could not reach me. The walls drew closer, shrinking the room around us, while a crushing pressure tightened across my ribs.

“Look at me,” he ordered. “You’re here with me. No one else is in this room.”

I shook my head because the room was no longer the room. My father was still standing in front of me, terrified and sweating, pressing the beads into my palm as if they were the only thing keeping death outside our door.

My fingers went numb.

“I can’t breathe.”

“You’re breathing, but you’re taking in too much too quickly. Slow it down.”

Demitri’s voice sounded distant, buried beneath the pounding in my ears.

I bent forward, bracing my hands against my thighs as I fought for air that seemed to disappear before reaching my lungs.

Demitri called my name again.

The door opened behind him. Tone entered first, with Neve and Samira close behind her.

“What happened?” Tone demanded.

“I think she’s having a panic attack.”

I tried to move away. My knees gave beneath me.

Demitri reached me before I struck the floor. He caught me beneath the arms and lowered me carefully onto the rug, releasing me the moment I was steady.

Tone knelt in front of me.

“Everyone step back.”

Neve and Samira moved away without argument. Demitri retreated several paces, though every line of his body resisted the distance.

Tone held her hands out, waiting until I placed mine in them.

“Look at me, Adriana.”

I couldn’t lift my head.

“Don’t look around the room. Look at my face.”

I forced my gaze upward.

Her expression remained steady, untouched by the fear that had consumed mine.

“Breathe with me.”

She drew in a slow breath through her nose and released it through parted lips.

I tried to follow, but my chest locked before I could fill my lungs.

“That’s all right. We’ll try again.”