“You could stop this,” I say. There’s a hint of pleading in my tone.Please.
Please don’t make me live through this.
He blows out a breath. “Not like that, Ava.”
He keeps saying my name. I drink it in, making the most of it. This moment of feeling like a little more than an empty shell.
“Thank you, Max,” I whisper.
He leans forward. His hand tentatively strokes a strand of hair away from my face, and for once, I don’t flinch away from it, leaning into the warmth. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs.
“Me too.”
And we wait.
A few minutes later, there’s a commotion outside. Max stands, his face paling enough to let me know that this is it.
It’s enough to break down my walls a little more.
“Max,” I say quietly. “Max,please.”
His face is agonized as he looks down at me. He leans in, closer than he normally does, and I close my eyes. His apple pie scent envelops me as he whispers directly into my ear.
“Trust me.”
My eyes fly open and I stare at him as he takes a few steps back, just as the door slides open. Stone enters along with two men.
“This is Dr. Morgan,” he says, introducing Max with a wave of his hand. “He stabilized 864 but unfortunately is unable to continue with her care.”
Something twists in my chest. They asked him, and he said no?
One of the doctors approaches my bed, and I turn back to the ceiling, counting desperately as my breathing starts to stagger. He ignores me, instead taking my paperwork from the bottom of the bed and looking through it.
Max remains silent.
“Everything seems in order,” the new doctor says. He’s much older than I expected.
Another doctor, this one younger, moves forward, and a tremor slides up my limbs. Too close. They’re too close.
“We can move forward with the transport now. Everything seems to be in order. Thank you, Dr. Morgan,” the young one says dismissively.
I turn my head to look at Max. He stares at me before Stone moves between us, blocking him from view.
“That will be all, Dr. Morgan,” he says coldly.
The wall breaks. My tremors become fully fledged shakes. Max is leaving. These men are going to take me.
“Please,” I whisper. A whimper slides from my throat. There are too many scents in this room. “Please, Max. Please.”
He doesn’t respond, and my shaking increases. One of the doctors reaches out to me and I rip myself away from him. My restraints pull tight against my ankle, making me hiss.
“No,” I say, my voice shaking. “I don’t want to go.”
“I’m sorry,” the older doctor says quietly. “But the law is the law.”
I see a flash of Max’s face behind him. There’s a tic in his jaw, and his eyes are fixed on the younger doctor. He looks…desperate.
“Leave, Dr. Morgan,” Stone orders.
