Page 124 of Ashes

I shook my head.

“She’ll be okay, Jamal,” he started, clamping a handover my shoulder and squeezing. “Call me when she wakes up, okay?”

“I will,” I replied, placing my opposite palm over his hand.

After he left, I braced myself and pushed the door open. I walked into the room and my throat immediately closed up at the sight of her lying in the bed.

She was hooked to a myriad of machines and an IV was connected to her arm. She was asleep, her curly hair fanned across her pillow. Her dark long lashes were resting against her bruised face, black soot streaks still marking her face.

I moved to her bedside and grabbed her hand, then brought it to my mouth and pressed a soft kiss on top of it.

My eyes zeroed in on the slow rise and fall of her chest, and it infused my lungs with the air they had been deprived of since I’d found out her heart had stopped beating.

I hesitantly left her side, grabbed a small cloth from the stack on the bedside table, and headed to the bathroom to wet it. Once out, I went back to her side and gently sat on the edge of her bed.

I brushed some of her hair out of the way and lightly dabbed her face clean, careful around the large bruise.

The steady sound of her heart monitor beeping in the background and the soft sounds of her breathing gave me comfort that she was really here.

That her heart was beating this time.

I watched her unconscious body through a clouded vision and all I thought was that I should have told her. Ishould have done a better job of protecting her. It killed me. Seeing her like this and knowing I was responsible for it broke something in me.

I transferred to the chair next to her bed and brought it closer, never letting her hand go, the steady pulse there reassuring.

A collection of accusing words echoed in my skull incessantly, letting one thought come to the forefront.

Elle mérite mieux que moi.

I forced her to marry me and fell head over heels in love with her, more than I ever thought possible. She was the only one for me and I had to tell her. Even if she would never hear it.

I’d waited too long to say it and I couldn’t waste another moment.

“I love you,” I said in a barely audible whisper. I closed my eyes and buried my face against her knuckles. “I love you so fucking much.”

But I had to set her free despite how gut-wrenching the simple thought was.

CHAPTER 34

NOAH

FUCK.

CHAPTER 35

SIENNA

I wokeup to the soft beep and whir of machines.

My heavy eyes opened to a blurry sight of a dimly lit room and my chest felt sore. I brought my hand up to rub against it, only to find cords curled around my arm and the feel of electrodes poking through the stiff fabric I was wearing.

I blinked to rid myself of the hazy sight and followed the cords’ trajectory until my eyes landed on an infusion pump and a cardiac monitor.

What the hell…

Disoriented, I scanned my surroundings further, only to realize that I was lying in a hospital bed. My mouth felt extremely dry and I tried to swallow to lubricate it but ended up wincing at the movement.

Slowly, images of what had happened barreled into my memory.