I watch in horror as her body goes limp. I catch her and pull her to me. “Belle?”
There’s a flurry of activity around us, but all I can focus on is my world. Fear claws through my body at the real possibility that something is wrong with her. I’ve been noticing that she’s been…off. Any time I’ve mentioned it, she’s chalked it up to stress from work or getting over the stomach bug.
Gathering every bit of my strength, I push to my feet with her in my arms. I ignore the throbbing pain in my leg and see the concerned faces of the crowd that’s formed. I take one step and then another until I’m rushing through the group.
When I place Belle in my car, I notice how clammy her skin has become. Little puffs of air escape her parted lips. After shutting the door, I step back into someone.
“What did you do to her, Prinz?” Toby snarls.
“Nothing!” I roar and shove the man aside and rush to the driver’s door.
“What’s wrong with her?” His words plague me as I haul ass to the emergency room.
It’s been almost an hour and a half after leaving the Christmas party and I still have no idea what happened to Belle. Once I rushed her into the emergency room, they took her from me and forced me into the waiting area.
I hate hospitals. The smell… the cold… the memories. I’m losing my mind with worry and trying to fight back the demons inside of me. The last time I was here, I lost my mother and my leg. If I walk out of here without Belle—
I stop pacing and ignore the pain in my leg when a man walks into the waiting area. “Viktor Prinz?”
My fists at my side, I hurry to the man dressed in scrubs, all the while reminding myself I can’t hit him. Since I’ve arrived, I haven’t seen Belle. They took her from me, and without being considered family, they refused to let me follow.
She’s mine. How could they take her from me? She is my family, my everything.
“Yes?” I force the word through my dry throat. My body’s been shaking with anguish, wondering what happened to my beautiful Belle.
“Ms. Marchant is asking for you. Please follow me,” he says and moves back through the doors.
“Is she okay? What is wrong with her?” The questions fly out, but before I can get an answer, we are at her door. I would have snuck in a while ago had I known she was this close to me.
Inside the sterile room, I find her laying on the bed hooked up to an IV bag. Pure relief causes my knees to give out at her side. I grab her hand, kiss it, and lay my cheek to it.
Warm tears slip from my eyes. “Belle?”
“I’m so sorry, honey!”
“Are you okay?” My throat is hoarse with emotion, but I don’t care. I need to know she’s okay. I can’t lose this woman. Now that I have her, I intend to keep her in every possible way.
“Come up here. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m okay. And Viktor?”
I rise, and the tone in her words makes me pause before I can so much as sit. “What?”
Her radiant smile beams at me. “Yes!”
“YES? Is that some kind of syndrome?” I ask, wondering why she’s smiling.
“No, Viktor.” She laughs and tugs my arm so hard I fall to her side. “Yes, I will marry you. I love you!”
Releasing a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I hug her awkwardly around the wires she’s attached to. I breathe in her distinct smell, and some of the tension in my body eases.
“Let’s do it as soon as you’re out of here!” I need everyone to know she’s mine.
Her eyes light up with amusement, and she starts laughing. The sound is one of my favorites in the world.
“I’m being serious,” I tell her with a smile. It seems it’s all I do now with her in my life.
“I see you’ve told him?” a voice says, interrupting our private moment. “Congratulations! How are you feeling, Isabel?”
“Great,” she says, but something in her tone doesn’t sound right to me.
