Julian's POV
I should've told her sooner.
Watching Elena sit quietly beside Anna's hospital bed—eyes distant, heart full—I kept replaying the moment I confessed. The moment I said the words:
Sebastian is alive.
She didn't scream. She didn't cry. She just… froze.
And somehow, that hurt more.
He'd taken that bullet for her. No hesitation. No second thoughts. He dropped everything to help her the moment Damian turned on her—even after she left him at the altar.
When the ambulance took his body away, we thought it was over. The medics zipped him up, called it—until one of them felt a faint heartbeat. They rushed him into surgery, desperate. He flatlined twice. He came back twice.
And then… coma.
I stayed by his side for weeks. No cameras. No press. Just silence. When he finally opened his eyes, his first words were, "Is she safe?"
That's Sebastian. Always thinking of her.
