Page 64 of Bound to the Crime Lord

The gentle beeping of the heart monitor filled the room. The afternoon rays filtered into the room, warming the tiled hospital room.

I sat by her bedside with my hand in hers as I had done for the last two days. I had remained rooted in this position from the moment she came out of surgery.

I stared down at her body that had been hooked up to all sorts of wires and machines. Her face was so pale, and her eyes had dark circles under them. The doctor had assured them that the surgery had gone well, and she would wake when she was ready to, but it had been two days and she was still in a comatose state.

I brushed my thumb on the back of her hand and willed her to wake up. But no matter how much begging and pleading I did, her eyes remained closed.

I was losing hope.

It had only been two days. But that was the thing. It had beentwodays. She should have opened her eyes by now, and yet she’d kept them shut.

“Come on,amor. I need to see those beautiful eyes of yours. I need to hear you yell at me for the most mundane things.”

I wondered if she could hear me. The doctor had said that all patients were different, and some had said they could hear everything around them while others just stayed sleeping.

“You promised to stay safe, Juliette. You have to wake up now.” I had never done so much pleading in my life before. She was the only person that I had ever begged to. But I felt powerless.

There was nothing that I could do to remedy her state. All I could do was hope and pray.

A knock came at the door.

“Come in,” I muttered under my breath.

My mother walked in with a lunchbox and a coffee mug. As she had promised this morning, she was back again with more food.

“Mama,” I groaned, already knowing that she was going to try and force-feed me the food. “I told you I’m not hungry. I will eat when she wakes.”

She walked into the room quietly, as if she were afraid to wake Juliette. She placed the lunchbox of homemade food on the side table and kissed the top of my head. Even sitting down, she was barely taller than me.

“Mijo, you need your strength. You have to eat.” She gave me a pointed look before she looked at Juliette. A somberness came over her, and whatever joy she had entered in with, vanished. “How is she?”

“The same since you last saw her.” She wasn’t getting worse, but she also wasn’t getting any better. She was just the same. I didn’t know if this was any better than her getting worse.

It was like she was caught in the in-between. Not dead, but also not living.

“She’ll pull through, she’s a fighter.” Mama offered me a small smile, but that did nothing to ease my pain. The only thing that would soothe the turmoil ravaging my system would be seeing her blue eyes open.

Silence washed over us, taking up the entirety of the space.

I had often reveled in the silence, but as of the past two days, I hated it. Memories of the forest would filter into my mind, and I would analyze all the things that I could have done better. All the ways I hadn’t protected and saved her.

She had been my responsibility, and I had promised her when she agreed to our deal that I would keep her safe. Now here she was, lying in a hospital bed, fighting to stay alive.

Her last words would haunt me for the rest of my life. The way her eyes had stared into mine with so much resolution and peace.

She had accepted death for herself, but I refused to accept it for her. I refused for life to rob me of her.

If I could trade in my life for hers, I would do so in a heartbeat.

“I didn’t tell her, mama,” I finally spoke after the prolonged silence. “She told me she loved me, and I didn’t say it back. I didn’t want her to tell me yet. I wanted to…fuck!”

I was a blubbering mess.

I wanted to tell her that I loved her. Of course, I loved her. I had loved her from the moment I had laid eyes on her. She had been mine from that very night. And still, I had stopped her.

“And now she may not make it, and she won’t know that I—" I couldn’t even bring myself to finish that sentence. There was no world I would have been okay living in where she wouldn’t be with me in it.

“Mijo.” _My mother pulled me into her side and kissed the side of my head. “She will live, and you will get to tell her that you love her, too. Okay? Don’t cry, my love. She’ll be okay.”

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