Luca hit the ground harder than he expected.
The impact knocked the breath clean out of his lungs, pain exploding up his leg as his body rolled awkwardly against the dirt. A sharp, ugly crack echoed in his head, or maybe it was real. For a split second, the world spun, lights bursting behind his eyes.
"Fuck..."
He clenched his teeth, pressing his palms into the ground as he tried to move. His leg screamed in protest, the pain so intense it nearly brought him back down to his knees.
Broken. Or close enough.
He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth and forced himself upright, leaning heavily against the wall he had just climbed over. Sweat dampened his hairline, his chest rising and falling unevenly.
Then he heard it.
"Grigor!"
Her voice. Raya's voice.
It cut through the night like a blade, sharp and desperate, filled with a kind of fear Luca hadn't heard from her before.
His head snapped up.
For one dangerous moment, instinct screamed at him to go back.
