Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 188

Chapter 188

Elena: POV

I stared into Julian’s eyes, feeling his thumb brush against my temple with maddening gentleness. The same hands that had forced me against a bathroom mirror last night. The same man who had thrown himself in front of a bullet meant for me this afternoon.

Can you really do it?

The question hung between us like a blade. Behind me, I could hear my mother’s labored breathing, could feel the weight of her expectant silence. Julian’s other hand remained possessively curved around my hip, holding me in place while he waited for my answer. I noticed the slight tremor in his grip-the way his fingers tightened involuntarily as pain shot through his wounded shoulder.

He nearly died for you today.

That thought had been circling my mind like a vulture since the rooftop. No matter how hard I tried to dismiss it, to catalog all the ways he’d hurt me, I kept seeing that moment when the gun swung toward me.

The way he’d moved without thinking. The way he’d looked at me as blood pooled beneath him, more concerned about my safety than his own wounds.

上

“Elena?” My mother’s weak voice cut through my spiral. “Sweetheart?”

I looked over Julian’s shoulder at her-really looked. The way her cheekbones jutted out sharp and hollow beneath translucent skin.

How the hospital gown hung loose on her shrinking frame. The yellow tinge around her eyes that spoke of failing organs and borrowed time.

Another bleed could kill her.

His words echoed in my mind like a death sentence. If I took her back to Florida/now, refused his medical team, denied her the care that could buy us more

time together…

You’ll never forgive yourself.

“I…” My voice cracked. Julian’s grip tightened slightly, not threatening but anchoring, like he was trying to hold me together before I shattered completely. The movement made him wince almost imperceptibly-a flash of white-hot pain crossing is features before he forced his expression back to controlled

determination.

Three years of pain. But thirty seconds of him taking a bullet.

I closed my eyes, feeling the room spin around me. When I opened them again, I met his gaze directly.

୮

‘I want to try,” I whispered. “One more time. I want to… trust you again.”

The words felt like glass in my throat. Like I was betraying every survival instinct that screamed at me to run. But somewhere underneath all the fear and anger, a tiny voice whispered: He bled for you. Maybe that means something.

Julian’s entire body went still. “Elena-”

“But there have to be rules,” I rushed on before I could lose my nerve. “Boundaries. If I do this-if I give you another chance-things have to be different.

1/2

1:30 pm

Chapter 188

PPM

His n was immediate, desperate. “Anything. Name it.”

“No more Victoria. The words came out harder than I intended. “I don’t care if she calls crying I don’t care if she claims to be dying. She doesn’t exist in

our lives anymore.”

‘Done.”

And you have to tell me things. No more making decisions about us without me. I thought of our lost baby, the ultrasound photos he’d hidden, the way he’d suggested termination. “We’re partners, or we’re nothing.”

‘Partners,” he agreed, his voice rough with emotion.

From the hospital bed, my mother made a soft sound-half sob, half sigh. When I turned to look at her, tears were streaming down her hollow cheeks.

“Are you disappointed in me?” I asked, hating how young and uncertain my voice sounded.

She shook her head slowly. “Baby girl, I’ve watched you love that boy for sixteen years. If you think there’s still something worth saving between you…” She reached out with a trembling hand to touch my face. “Then I trust your judgment.”

Her fingers were so cold against my cheek.

2

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify