Page 84 of Fighting for Ella

No other way to describe how a woman like Ella could want a man like him.

“Miguel?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“I think I'm going to pass …”

Ella’s voice trailed off as she did indeed pass out, collapsing against him. Catching her weight as she fell, Miguel swung her up into his arms. His heart raced in his chest, head injuries could be tricky. Just because she’d been awake, talking, walking, and reacting, didn't mean that she was out of danger. Didn't mean she was going to be okay.

“Here, let’s get her out of here,” Rocco said with more calm than Miguel could muster as he guided them toward the hole.

Big enough now to easily pass Ella through into Phantom’s waiting arms, the seconds where someone else was holding what was his while he also climbed through to the other side felt far too long. There was no way he could go the rest of his life without Ella by his side.

As soon as he was on his feet on the other side of the remains of the wall of rubble Phantom handed Ella back to him. With a nod of thanks he took off toward the nearest door, desperate to get Ella the medical attention she needed.

Handing her off to the paramedics was hard. If it wasn't for Rocco informing them that Miguel would be riding with her, he was sure he would have been denied. If that had happened he would have lost it.

Just not holding her was enough to have his heart hammer painfully in his chest.

This woman consumed him, and it was both a blessing and a curse.

Staying by her side as she was treated in the emergency room, taken for tests and scans, then finally settled in a quiet, dark private room where she could rest, his mind was constantly running through scenarios, trying to figure out how he could keep Ella in his life but also ensure he would never be a threat to her.

In the end, the only answer he could come up with was one he didn't like.

One Ella might not be able to accept.

How was he going to convince her that this was the only way?

Being an addict was for life. It wasn't something you just got over, something that just went away on its own. It was a battle you would fight every single day.

It was a battle hewantedto fight.

Would fight the best way he knew how.

Which was why he knew that this was something he was going to have to do whether Ella could understand why or not.

Hurting her wasn't an option. Risking her safety and her happiness was not something he was prepared to do. This was the best way he could think of to make sure it didn't happen.

The problem was in doing it, he was going to risk losing his girl anyway.

No.

He had to believe that Ella would trust him to know what he had to do, that she would be willing to go along with this so they could have the future he was sure they both wanted.

Leaning over the bed where his girl was sleeping peacefully, Miguel brushed his knuckles across her cheek, then touched his lips to her forehead. “Please understand, honey. Please know I don’t want to do this, but I have to. Please forgive me.”

Then he touched his lips to hers in a soft kiss and prayed it wouldn't be the last one he ever got to give her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

March 1st

9:35 A.M.

Ella hated this.

It was perhaps one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do, and she was only one week into the month-long ordeal she was going to have to find a way to endure.

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