Nurses are everywhere, trying to hold Mac down. She’s thrashing, face streaked with tears, voice cracking from screaming. My heart fractures with every sound she makes.
“Mac!” I shout, stepping closer. “Angel… I’m here.” My voice barely cuts through the storm, but I know she hears me. Feels me. “Angel,” I say again, softer now. She stills.
Her eyes snap to mine. Wide. Wild. Haunted. But there’s something there. A flicker. Recognition? Memory? God, please let it be.
I reach for her, hand outstretched. Just to touch her. To anchor her. To bring her back.
But just before our hands connect—she goes limp. They sedated her. My heart stops.
“No. No, no, no.” A hand grips my shoulder. Gentle. Firm.
“Come on, hon,” a nurse murmurs. “Let us help her. She needs to rest.”
But I can’t move. Can’t breathe.
She’s in bed with her demons.
And I’m stood here with mine.
We’re both alone.
But somehow, her silence screams louder than mine ever could.
“I’m here for you, angel,” I whisper, even though she can’t hear me. I press my hand to hers, steady even as everything inside me shakes. She’s unconscious now, lashes still wet, breath shallow—but I won’t stop talking to her. Not now. Not ever.
Another nurse steps closer, sharper this time. “Sir, if you don’t step back, we’ll have to remove you.”
I don’t budge. Don’t even look at her.
All I see is Mac. The curve of her cheek. The way her fingers twitch like maybe—just maybe—she still feels me.
Then a shadow falls over me.
I turn slowly.
A man. Stern eyes. Crossed arms. The doctor.
“You can’t be in here,” he says. “Family and next of kin only.”
“I am her next of kin,” I grind out, my voice steel. “She has no one else.” My fists clench at my sides. My jaw aches from holding everything in. Because it’s true. There’s no one else left. No parents. No brother. No bloodline to claim her.
Just me.
I’ve loved her for more years than I can count. Carried her pain like it was mine. She’s in every lyric I’ve ever written, every note I’ve ever sung.
And now she’s lying here—lost, broken.
And they want me to walk away?
Not a fucking chance.
She owns me.
Heart. Body. Soul.
And I will not leave her.
Not now.
