Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 317

Chapter 317

Elena’s POV

I interrupted. “I don’t know; it wasn’t until after Victoria kidnapped me last time that I found out she hired someone to hit me with a car and knock me off the bridge. I paused, glancing toward the surgical doors. I ended up in London. Found my biological family there.*

I deliberately left out Alexander’s role. That was too complicated to explain right now.

“That fucking bitch!” Sophia repeated, shaking her head. ‘All this time, you were in London. Julian thought you were dead, Elena. We all did. There was a funeral and everything.”

The thought of Julian at my funeral made my chest ache. “I didn’t know,” I whispered. “I didn’t know any of it until recently when my memories started coming back.”

Sophia was quiet, processing. Then she asked gently, “So what now? Are you going to give him a second chance?”

I looked up sharply. “What?”

*Julian,” she clarified. “He obviously still loves you. But Elena, he hurt you. Badly. I was there. I saw what that relationship did to you.” She paused. “Even though he’s been hurt trying to save you, I just… I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“I know,” I said quietly, my eyes drifting back to the surgical doors. “I remember all of it now-every cruel word, every time he chose her over me, every moment I felt like I was dying inside.”

“I want to give him the chance to prove he has. For myself, yes, but also for Lila. She deserves to grow up in a complete family. And if there’s even a chance that Julian and I could make this work, that we could be a real family…”

Sophia studied

me,

then sighed and squeezed my hand. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will,” I promised.

Time crawled by. Lila eventually grew restless, wandering around under Sophia’s watchful eye while I sat frozen, unable to think about anything except those closed doors.

Every time they opened, my heart would leap, only to sink when it was just a nurse beading somewhere else.

Finally-after what felt like hours-the doctor emerged, his scrubs stained with blood I knew was Julian’s. I was on my feet before he’d taken two steps.

“Is he okay?” I asked, barely above a whisper, terrified of the answer.

The doctor looked tired but relieved. “He’s stable. It was close-very close. The chest wound had torn open completely, and he’d lost a dangerous amount of blood. We had to repair the damage and give him two units of blood.” He paused. “If you hadn’t gotten him here when you did. Mrs. Sterling, we would be having a very different conversation right now.”

Julian had almost died Again. Because of me.

“Can I see him?” I asked.

‘He’s in recovery now. Still unconscious from anesthesia, but his vitals are stable. You can see him once we get him settled in a room-probably another

10:51 am PTO.

Chapter 317

Thirty minutes. His pager beeped. I have to go, but the nurses will come get you when he’s ready.”

He disappeared, leaving me standing there, trying to process that Julian was alive, that he was going to be okay,

I sank back into my chair, suddenly boneless with relief. The shaking finally started to ease, replaced by bone-deep exhaustion.

I looked at Lila, who had stopped wandering and was watching me with worried eyes. “Daddy’s okay, baby,” I told her, and watched her whole fare light up.

“Can we see him?” she asked, bouncing with renewed energy.

“Soon,” I promised, pulling her into my lap. “Very soon.”

I turned to Sophia. “What about you? How have these four years been?”

Sophia’s expression darkened. “Complicated,” she said simply, but there was pain packed into that word.

I remembered suddenly-Lucas Reynolds. “You and Lucas,” I said carefully. “Did you ever resolve that situation?”

Sophia let out a bitter laugh. “Resolve? That’s a nice way to put it. No, Elena. Some things don’t get resolved. They just… continue.”

Before I could ask what she meant, a familiar voice cut through the waiting room. “There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

I turned to see Lucas Reynolds striding toward us, his expression irritated and something darker. He went straight to Sophia, his arm sliding around her waist in a gesture both protective and proprietary. I watched as her entire body went rigid before she forced herself to relax.

“I’m taking my Sophia back now,” he said, something possessive in his voice. “She keeps running over here, and it’s making me jealous. But I’m sure my friend Julian won’t be taken down so easily.”

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