I swallowed and took Sasha’s uninjured hand in mine and gently pressed my lips to her knuckles.
“Sasha,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “I know I’m an asshole and that I’ve hurt you. I-I just need you to know that I’m so fucking sorry. That I-I love you. I love you so fucking much that it’s eating me alive. I can’t live without you. Sophia can’t be without you. I’m a supreme fuck-up, but please, baby… I am begging you to come back to us so I can prove to you that I’m worth it. That we’re worth it.” I cried softly as I clung to her. “Don’t leave me, Sasha. Please. Come back to me. I’ll do anything if you just come back.” I placed her cold hand on the mattress before I stood and kissed her forehead gently, my tears slipping from my eyes and landing on her pale, bruised skin.
“I love you so much,” I whispered again before pulling away.
I turned to find myself face-to-face with her parents.
I blinked away my tears, knowing they’d heard everything I’d said to her.
“I-I’m sorry,” I whispered before pushing past them to give them a moment.
I stepped out into the hall to find Dr. Scott leaning against a wall, staring at a tablet in his hand. I assumed he was likely going over her notes.
“Do-Do patients often wake after accidents like this?” I asked. She’d been unconscious for two days now.
“A coma like this after an accident as she’s had is fairly normal,” he said with ease as he darkened his tablet screen. “With the type of brain injury, you can expect some minor memory issues that may improve over time. Most of this is all due to sedation anyway. I’m confident she’ll wake without issue.”
“Do the patients go on to have normal lives?”
He nodded. “Yes. Her bleed hasn’t progressed. It’s stable, and our scans this morning showed the size has decreased. Her body is responding to our testing, too, so it tells us everything is likely on the way to recovery. These are all good things.”
I nodded and wiped at my eyes again.
“On a more personal note,” he continued softly. “My girl was hurt once, too, and in a similar position. She needed help to breathe. So did my best friend after their… accident.” His blue eyes leveled on mine. “They both pulled through.”
“She’s OK now?” I ventured.
“She is,” he said gently. “So is my friend.”
“How long ago was it?” I asked.
“Several years,” he replied softly. “Enough time for me to finally get my shit together and realize what she meant to me.”
I exhaled. “I lost my wife a few years ago in a car accident. This is just really reminiscent of all that.”
“I understand. I promise we will do all we can to ensure she’s safe and healthy.” He made to walk away from me, but I called out to him, something I remembered from a newspaper not long ago flashing through my mind. In it, he stood beside Lorenzo De Luca.
“Do you know Lorenzo De Luca?”
He turned back at me and winked. “You should sign that contract when he sends it over. It’ll be good for you. Likely to make you enough money to buy your girl a really nice fucking ring. You know, get that happily ever after. Just a thought.” He smiled and went into her room as her parents came out.
Cole Scott.
He was Lorezno De Luca’s right-hand man.
What the hell was he doing working in an ICU?
I shook away my thoughts, grateful that he seemed to know what he was doing. Dr. Winkle was a top doctor here in the city, and if he trusted Dr. Cole Scott, then I suppose I’d better, too.
FORTY
SASHA
Icouldn’t believe that Roman was sitting in front of me at the hospital.
I took in every inch of his face, noticing a few new lines around his dark eyes as he slept with his head on my mattress and my uninjured hand held gently in his.
He looked thinner, his cheeks hollow, and his skin didn’t have the natural glow it usually did. I figured with winter setting in, he was lacking in vitamin D. He was a sight for sore eyes, and as I studied him, I realized that my body missed him just as much as my eyes. Even though I was beaten up pretty badly by the accident, I still felt myself coming alive. Part of me hated myself for it, but the other part of me didn’t care. I just wanted him to touch me again, but I knew it was over between us.
