THE LULLABY KEY : THE FALL

CHAPTER 51: The Final Vault

The surgery lasted twelve hours.

Lena sat in the waiting room, her arm in a cast, her head bandaged, her eyes fixed on the door.

Every time it opened, her heart stopped.

Every time it was someone else, her heart broke a little more.

Finally, a doctor emerged.

“Ms. Ashford?”

Lena stood up. “Is he alive?”

“He’s alive. The surgery was successful. But there was significant damage to his spinal cord. He’s paralyzed from the waist down.”

Lena’s legs gave way. She sat down heavily.

“Will he walk again?”

“We don’t know. It’s too early to say. He’ll need months of rehabilitation. Maybe years. But he’s alive. That’s what matters.”

Lena nodded.

She walked to Marcus’s room.

He was lying in the bed, surrounded by machines, his face still pale. But his eyes were open.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey yourself.”

She sat down next to him. She took his hand.

“You scared me.”

“I scare myself sometimes.”

She laughed. It was a wet, broken sound.

“The doctor said you might not walk again.”

“I know.”

“Does that scare you?”

He looked at her. “Lena, I’ve been running from my past for fifteen years. I’ve been hiding from my feelings for even longer. I’ve been shot, stabbed, blown up, and now paralyzed. But none of that scares me as much as the thought of losing you.”

She leaned down and kissed him.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I. I can’t. I’m paralyzed.”

She laughed again. This time, it was real.

They sat in silence, holding hands, watching the machines beep.

Outside, the sun was rising.

A new day.

A new beginning.

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