ETHAN'S POV
Everything hurt.
Ethan's eyes opened slowly to a blur of white and beeping sounds. His ribs screamed. His left arm felt like it was wrapped in concrete. There was something in his mouth that tasted like metal and plastic. A tube. He was hooked up to machines that beeped and monitored every breath he took.
The last thing he remembered was rage and Rebecca's voice and the decision to drive too fast. Everything after that was blank. Gone.
He tried to move and pain exploded through his body like lightning. He made a sound that wasn't quite a word, wasn't quite a scream. Just confusion and hurt mixed into something raw.
A nurse appeared. Young, blonde, efficient. She adjusted something on one of his machines and his pain eased slightly.
"Welcome back, Mr. Blackwell," she said gently. "You're in City General Hospital. You were in a car accident. Do you remember what happened?"
Ethan tried to speak but his throat felt like someone had dragged sandpaper through it. The nurse gave him a sip of water through a straw. It tasted like heaven and ash.
"Where's..." His voice came out hoarse and broken. He couldn't even finish the question because his brain was still fogged, still confused about what he needed. But his instinct knew. His body knew before his mind caught up. "Where's Lily?"
The nurse's expression softened. "Someone went to get her. She should be here soon."
Relief tried to pour through him but it got tangled up in the pain. Lily was coming. His wife was coming. That was the only thing that mattered. Everything else could wait. His injuries, the hospital, the doctors, none of it meant anything as long as Lily was on her way.
The door opened and there she was.
Time stopped.
Lily Hart, his wife, the woman who'd walked through every moment of his life, stepped into his hospital room and Ethan forgot how to breathe. Not because of the broken ribs or the tubes or the machines keeping him alive. But because she was here. She was actually here.
Relief crashed through him so hard it brought tears to his eyes. Hot tears that burned as they rolled down his face.
"Lily," he said, and her name was a prayer and a plea and a thank you all at once. "Thank God. Come here. Please."
She moved toward him slowly, like she was walking through water. Her brown eyes were wide and scared and he hated that he was scaring her. He was the one in the hospital bed, barely able to move, but all he cared about was that look on her face.
He reached for her with his good arm, his fingers trembling. She took his hand and her touch was like electricity and medicine and everything good all at once.
"I had the worst dream," he said, his voice breaking. "I thought I lost you. I thought something happened and I couldn't find you and you were just gone."
"I'm here." Her voice was soft. Careful. Like she was handling something fragile. "I'm right here with you."
He pulled her hand gently to his lips and kissed her knuckles. She smelled like rain and coffee and paint. She smelled like home. Like the one good thing in a world that had just tried to kill him.
"Don't let go," he whispered against her hand. "Promise me you won't let go."
"I won't," she said, but something in her voice cracked. Something that sounded like sadness trying to hide itself.
Ethan looked at her properly then. Really looked. She had dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept in days. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun. She wore an old denim jacket that he'd never seen before. She looked exhausted and scared and like she was carrying something too heavy for her shoulders.
"What happened to you?" he asked. "Did something happen while I was asleep?"
"I was just worried," she said quietly. "I was so worried you wouldn't wake up."
He wanted to pull her close but his body wouldn't cooperate. So instead he held onto her hand like it was a lifeline. Like as long as he was touching her, she couldn't disappear.
"I love you," he said, the words coming out raw and desperate. "God, I love you so much, Lily. Whatever I was dreaming, whatever scared me so badly, all that matters is that you're here. You're real."
She was quiet for a long moment. Long enough that he started to worry he'd said something wrong. Then she leaned down and kissed his forehead softly.
"I love you too," she whispered, and something in her voice made it sound like goodbye instead of hello.
But then her hand tightened around his and she pulled a chair close to his bed and sat down like she wasn't going anywhere. Like she was going to stay right here with him through whatever came next.
Ethan closed his eyes and let himself believe that everything was okay. That whatever had scared him, whatever his damaged brain couldn't remember, it all disappeared when she was holding his hand.
He didn't know that she was lying.
He didn't know that the sadness in her eyes was guilt.
He didn't know that three words he'd just spoken would become the weapon that destroyed them both.
But as he held her hand and drifted back to sleep, Ethan Blackwell made a silent promise. When he got out of this hospital, when his body healed and his brain stopped playing tricks on him, he would spend the rest of his life making sure Lily Hart never had to worry about losing him again.
He had no idea how wrong he was.