The Last Time I Cried Your Name novel Chapter 472

Gasping for air from the exertion, Laura shrieked again, "I asked you who the hell is getting a bone marrow transplant?!"

A sickening wave of dread washed over her.

Franco had tolerated her endless demands for months. She had assumed it was solely for his own survival, but now she realized the transplant was for someone else.

Given how far Franco had gone to protect her life, whoever needed that marrow had to be the most important person in his universe.

Maybe not more important than Petty, but absolutely someone he would trade his own life for.

Who could it be?

Who meant that much to him?

He barely had anyone left. His parents were dead, his grandmother was dead. The only person he cared about was Petty.

And she had never heard of anyone in his inner circle needing a transplant.

Laura's heart hammered frantically against her ribs. She began slamming her fists against the bed rails in pure frustration. Just then, Jay finally spoke.

"The Boss and his wife's child."

Laura had braced herself for any name, but as his lips moved and the words registered, a deafening ring pierced her ears. Her brain completely short-circuited, wiping away all rational thought.

"What... what did you say?" she whispered.

Jay shot her one last, frosty glare and turned toward the door.

"Stop!" Laura shrieked, her voice tearing. "Jay, you get back here! Tell me the truth! What do you mean, child?!"

It was absolutely impossible!

That baby had died in the womb over a year ago. She had literally popped a bottle of champagne on the day Petty was forced into labor to deliver the stillborn.

How could it possibly be alive?!

"Jay, get back here right now!"

Jackson let out a heavy sigh. "The night before last, when she was delirious with a high fever, she kept mumbling in her sleep, begging you not to smoke. It reminded me of the year you lost your sight, when she did the exact same thing. It was a wake-up call for me. I know that if you destroy your health, it will only torture her more. I took them because it broke my heart to see her suffer, and because I care about your recovery."

He paused, his voice trembling with a desperate plea. "Boss, she is in so much agony. Are you really going to hold on to her forever?"

Franco stared down at Petty's peaceful face, a dangerous, obsessive darkness swirling in his eyes. "Except for the two years I was in the military, she has been by my side since we were children. I don't even know what a world without her looks like."

"I am never letting her go."

"But torturing each other like this isn't going to bring either of you any happiness," Jackson pleaded softly. "She loves you. Deep down, you know that better than anyone. But staying with you is driving her to the brink of insanity. How can you bear to watch her suffer?"

A suffocating silence stretched across the room before Franco finally spoke. "Get out. I need a moment alone with her."

Jackson sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping as he left the room.

A single tear slipped from the corner of the unconscious Petty's eye. Franco gently wiped it away with his thumb.

A suppressed, broken whimper slipped from her lips. Even in sleep, the nightmare refused to let her go.