Chapter 97. Weight of Guilt

Leila’s POV

“Leila, you have to eat something,” the sound of Luca’s voice managed to cut through the haze in my head but I barely even registered him standing beside me, I was staring out of the window of the hospital room at nothing, the only thing anchoring me into the present, the beeping, beeping, beeping of Dominic’s heart monitor.

“I’m not hungry,” I whispered low, my voice hoarse from days of not sleeping or eating from constant crying.

“You haven’t eaten in hours.” A hand came into view, sitting gently on my shoulder, but I didn’t turn toward him. “This isn’t healthy, Leila. You can’t keep punishing yourself this way.”

“I’m not punishing myself,” I lied. The fact was, I couldn’t shake off this weight of crushing heavy feelings of guilt gnawing at me while watching Dominic waste away, my mind consistently betraying me with thoughts of Luca.

“You are,” he whispered, easing himself down beside me. “You think this is your fault, don’t you?”