Page 207 of A Second Dawn

The clock in the room ticks on minute after excruciating minute. The doctor maintains a steady tempo, beads of sweat forming on his brow.

Still, the line on the heart monitor doesn’t change.

Please God, please. Don’t take him away from me.

The nurse beside the doctor wipes his forehead as he keeps fighting for Tiero’s life.

Then it happens.

I watch in horror as the doctor’s head sinks to his chest. His hands stop moving.

An eery silence falls over the room when the nurse turns off the audio on the monitors.

I look from one medic to the next, their eyes downcast and dejected.

The solemn voice of the doctor reaches my ear.

“Time of death five twenty-two am.”

Chapter Sixty-One

Aiden

“Timeofdeathfivetwenty-two am,” the doctor announces.

Beside me, Ella trembles uncontrollably. Shock and disbelief engulf her face.

“No.”

While earlier she screamed that one word full of anguish and despair, as if willing the machines to stop lying to her, now it’s a whispered plea.

“No,” she repeats, her voice barely audible.

She sways on her feet, and I’m quick to band my arm around her waist. Just in time too. Her legs give out, and I catch her just before she goes tumbling over.

Her eyes squeeze shut as she gasps for air. Wheezing sounds escape her, and she’s pressing her palm against her chest.

I scoop her up and carry her away from this gruesome scene. Crossing the corridor, I find an empty waiting room and sit down with her on my lap. Antonio, of course, follows.

Now more than ever, he needs to keep an eye on Ella. After all, she’s carrying the heir apparent of the De Marcos.

Claudette kneels in front of her, taking Ella’s hand in hers, and throwing me a worried look.

Fuck, it’s killing me seeing my Sunshine so despondent.

I wish I could take this agony away from her, wipe the sadness from her eyes… hell, her whole life, and have her smile again.

I hold her closer to me, rocking us slowly back and forth as if comforting a child. If it works for them, surely it will work on a grown woman too.

She buries her face deeper into my chest and lets her sobs run free. We sit like this for long moments, Claudette rubbing soothing circles on Ella’s back.

“Shhh… shhh,” she soothes.

When Ella registers Claudette’s voice, she lifts her head, staring at her friend. The stream of tears slows, but her breathing remains heavy.

She shrugs Claudette’s hand off her back, flinching when Claudette touches her again.

“You… you said… it would… all be… alright,” Ella hiccups, her eyes clouding over.

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