Page 187 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8
She had made him acknowledge all of his misdeeds. Brought them back into his present, and he had faced them. And now he would pay for what he’d done.
She had woken him from a deep, dark slumber of self-pity.
But now he was always awake. Would always be aware of what he’d done.
What he had almost done to her too. Locked her away, like he’d locked himself away. Kept her in the dark with him. But she deserved the light. So much of it.
He deserved the dark. He did not know how to live amongst other people with her.
His back pocket pulsed, vibrated furiously.
Again and again.
Sebastian pulled his phone free of his pocket.
‘Esther,’ he said, holding the phone to his ear.
‘Don’t panic,’ she said.
‘Why would I panic?’ he replied. ‘I do not panic.’
‘She’s okay,’ she said, ignoring him. ‘Or she will be. She was bleeding heavily. She’s at the hospital. I’m on my way now.’
His blood roared. ‘Where is she?’
‘Cirencester. Private Hospital.’
He stood, his body moving on instinct to get to her. To be with her.
‘I am on my way,’ he said, and his voice was tight, weak.
He had been too weak, hadn’t he?
Too afraid to fight for her.
Forherlove.
And now…
His throat squeezed. Threatening to crush his airways.
He burst through the entrance doors. They banged open. And he left them that way. Wide open as ran down the stone steps.
‘The helicopter should be landing now,’ Esther said. ‘Can you see it?’
He could.
He could see it all.
His fear. Her strength. Their love. Rare and divine. She was everything he’d ever wanted.
And now he could lose it all.
He could lose her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SEBASTIAN BURST THROUGHthe hospital doors in his long brown fur coat and big black boots.
