Taylor loosened his bow tie as they stepped inside. “You should sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
Maya took three steps toward the living room.
The floor tilted.
It was not dramatic at first. Just a sudden absence beneath her. Her vision narrowed at the edges, the lights thinning into streaks. She put out a hand for the back of the sofa and found only air. Then the pressure in her chest became pain, hot and wrong, and the room rushed sideways.
She heard Taylor say her name before she hit the floor.
He caught her badly and beautifully—too late to stop the fall completely, but early enough that her shoulder met his arm instead of marble. They went down in a tangle, her cheek against the front of his shirt, his hand braced behind her head.
“Maya.”
She tried to answer. No sound came.
The penthouse ceiling was a white blur. Her breath snagged. Somewhere above her Taylor’s voice turned sharper, stripped of polish. “Maya, look at me.”
She forced her eyes open. His face hovered over hers, pale beneath tan skin, every line in it suddenly human. Not composed. Not controlled. Frightened.
That frightened her more than the pain.
“Don’t move.” His hand shook once against her jaw. “Just breathe.”
I am breathing, she wanted to say. But it felt like inhaling through a fist.
He grabbed his phone. She heard the emergency operator answer, heard him give the address with clipped precision, heard the word wife come out of his mouth like something torn loose. Then he was back, kneeling on the floor beside her, one hand on her shoulder, one counting at her wrist because he could not seem to stop touching her, as if contact might keep her anchored.
The next minutes dissolved into sensory fragments. The cold hardness of the stone beneath the rug. The metallic taste at the back of her throat. Taylor’s voice, close and relentless. Stay with me. Breathe. You’re okay. Ambulance is coming. Stay with me. The elevator opening. Footsteps. A medical bag unzipping. Velcro tearing. Bright lights in her eyes. Questions asked too fast. Pain scale? Medications? Known conditions? Is she conscious?
