Forbidden - Page 157

The nurse backed away, and I moved closer, reaching for her hands.

“She has broken nails.” He started. “Internal bruising from their fists.” He sucked in a hard breath and moved to the bottom of the bed before he gently lifted one leg, easing it to the side. “Easy now.” He murmured. “I just need to look, baby, that’s all.”

It was pointless to speak. She couldn’t hear us. She barely existed.

“She can hear you, you know.” He said carefully. “Talk to her.”

“And what the fuck am I supposed to say?” I snapped.

He met my stare. “You can start with the truth. But know this, whatever you do and say will write the course of your relationship. Hell, it’ll write the course of ours. She’ll remember these words forever…or until they destroy her.”

I jerked my gaze to hers.

Destroy her?

Rage punched all the way through me. If I could murder those bastards all over again, I would. I would murder them all. “It’s too much.” I croaked, shaking my head. “It’s too much for her to bear.”

“It is.” He answered. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

What was I going to do about it? I took a step closer and reached out, carefully taking her hand in mine. “Whatever she needs me to do.”

Kane said nothing, just worked quietly, checking her over as softly as he could. “There’s tearing, but it’s minimal, considering.”

I swallowed the revulsion that rose. “At least that’s something.”

I gazed at her wide, staring eyes. “I’m right here, trouble. I’m right here whenever you’re ready.”

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and raced down her temple. But I was there to capture it, smoothing the wetness with the brush of my thumb.

“I will make them pay for what they did to you. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.” I whispered, staring into those dark brown eyes.

She turned her head. Her eyes bored into mine. “And what about what you’ve done? What revenge will you enact for yourself?”

I couldn’t answer.

I couldn’t breathe.

Because I was shattering on the inside.

Shredding my soul apart in a million little slivers.

“I will stay.” I croaked. “I will look you in the eyes every step of the way. I’ll hold your bruised hands. I’ll tend to your wounds. I’ll love you as much as you’ll let me.”

I waited for her to say something that’d ease the gaping hole inside me. But she didn’t. Instead, she closed her eyes and her breaths slowed.

She slept.

While I waited.

Her hold eased around mine.

Still, I held on, not moving from her bedside.

When she woke screaming an hour later, I was there, smoothing her hair. Telling her how much I loved her, and after an hour of rocking her against me, she fell back to sleep…

Only to wake fighting for her life once more.

She cried.