The ICU room was sterile and cold, filled with the steady beep of monitors and the mechanical breathing of machines keeping Liam alive.
Isabella stopped in the doorway, her breath catching at the sight of him.
Liam lay motionless in the hospital bed, his head wrapped in bandages, his face pale against the white pillow. Tubes and wires connected him to machines that beeped and hummed with mechanical precision. His chest rose and fell with steady, medicated breaths.
He looked vulnerable. Human. Breakable.
Everything Liam Black never allowed himself to be.
"The sedation will wear off soon," the doctor said quietly behind her. "He was conscious earlier, asking for you, but we had to sedate him for some additional scans. He should wake within the hour."
Isabella nodded, unable to speak, unable to look away from Liam's still form.
