He exhales and kisses my hair again, resting his lips there like a promise.
“Start her off with crackers and electrolytes,” Dr. Anderson says. “We’ll use an IV to start hydration. Food too fast could shock her system. She’ll gain the weight back in four to six weeks. Patience, it’s a slow road.”
“I understand. Leave the list with Dotty,” Matty says.
“You’ll be okay, dear,” Dr. Anderson tells me after he hooks up the IV. Matty flinched when the needle was inserted in me. “Call me if you need anything.” Then he leaves.
I let myself drift off again, but Matty gently shakes me.
“Sweetheart, do you think you can eat some crackers before you doze off?”
I shake my head. Even the thought of food makes me nauseous.
“Okay, but next time you wake up, you need to eat a little something. You’ll feel better after the fluids replenish you.”
“Please don’t leave,” I murmur.
“Never. I swear to you, Margot. Never again.”
His arms wrap tighter around me.
And I fall asleep in the safest place in the world.
Chapter 83
Matthias
My phone vibrates, pulling my attention from Margot curled next to me in our bed.
I’ve been watching her sleep for hours. She looks so serene, so peaceful, like none of it ever happened. I’m beyond relieved she can even sleep after the week she’s had.
Since I got her back, I haven’t been able to tear my eyes from her. I can’t put space between us, and I know she feels the same. She hasn’t let me leave her side. This shared need, this tether between us… it gives me hope. Maybe she doesn’t hate me. Maybe she’ll forgive me. I don’t deserve her love anymore, I don’t deserveher, but I’ll spend every second proving how sorry I am. Proving how much I love her.
When she told the doctor she wasn’t safe without me in the room, it broke me.
Because I want to be that for her, be her safety. Her sanctuary.
But it also gutted me.
Because she only felt safe with me after a week of hell without me.
The phone buzzes again. I grab it quickly, not wanting to wake her.
Dom.
I answer but stay silent. My sweet girl is asleep. I’m not breaking the quiet for him.
“Matthias, we’re in your office. We figured you wouldn’t want to leave your house for this meeting. Come downstairs.” Dom says it like he’s doing me a favor
He’s lost his goddamn mind if he thinks I’m leaving this bed.
“No. Go away. I’m not leaving her side,” I whisper-yell.
“Matthias, get your ass down here. We need to debrief. I’m meeting with Viktor tomorrow.”
That’s the only thing he could’ve said to make me move.
“Go get Benny and meet me upstairs.”
