Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Alyssa, sensing something off, pulls me aside and looks me up and down. “Zara, what’s wrong? You’re white as a sheet. Let me take care of this.”
“O-okay.” I can only nod because seeing Alec like that has somehow rendered me unable to function.
I slump on the nearest seat, unable to move or speak, and watch helplessly from the sidelines. Tears sting the backs of my eyes, and I faintly hear the doctors and my fellow nurses working to prep him for an emergency laparotomy.
It all feels unreal, like I’m a spectator watching this unfold.
But it is Alec. And someone stabbed him.
Who? Why?
It’s been weeks since I saw him last, and every day has been hell. The yearning for him, his touch, his smile. It’s driving me crazy, and I often find myself clinging desperately to the fraying edges of my sanity.
Now, this.
The realization that I don’t want to lose him grips me. The thought of a life without him is unthinkable, unbearable, unacceptable. What was I thinking leaving him because I didn’t want a reminder of my past?
Oh God.
All he ever did was save me, risk himself for me, and what did I do in return? Hurt him.
I can’t hear anything else except the pounding of my heart.
I want to scream and rage because why must we suffer again after all these years? It’s not fair how that evil man continues to win, how he hasn’t suffered his karma, and how he continues to find us and crush us.
I stopped praying years ago when I realized no one was listening. But I pray now. I pray with desperation. I beg whatever higher power there is to spare Alec from harm and bring him back to me.
If he makes it, I will never ever leave him again. I will stay with him, and we will go through this together. I’ve never shared my past fully with anyone. My parents know something bad happened, know the basics—me taken from my family and brought to a cell in a basement, where a boy helped me escape—but they have no idea about so many things.
Alec does.
I was so selfish and so consumed by my own pain that I ignored his. He was the one who walked away with more than mental scars. He sees a reminder of his past every single day, touch it, feel it.
I can walk around and pretend none of those things happened. He can’t.
I should’ve thanked him with my life. It would’ve strengthened whatever we had. Instead, I chose the quick way out. Escaped. Ran away. All because I haven’t fully healed. I thought I had.
It’s not fair to him. It’s not fair to us.
“Zara?”
The voice pierces through the fog of my anguish, and I try to find who it belongs to.
Jasper rushes to me, sinks to his knees, and wraps his strong arms around me.
The dam breaks, and I release all the pent-up emotions I’ve buried for so long, tears streaming down my cheeks. I’m sobbing and probably soaking his suit, but I don’t care. Here’s another person who’ll understand.
I cling to him with all my strength, sobs racking my body. When at last, the tears begin to subside, embarrassment creeps in.
Does he know what I did to his brother? Do they all know how we’re connected?
With a deep breath, I pull back from him and wipe my face, not caring anymore that I look like a mess. I take another breath and glance up at him. “Alec’s in surgery. He won’t be out in a couple of hours.”
“How are you?”
I don’t deserve this kindness, especially not after what I did to their brother. “Don’t worry about me.”
He rests a hand on my shoulder, not an ounce of anger in his eyes. “I don’t know what happened between you and Alec, but I’m telling you as an outsider, you’re both all the worse for it. I hope you manage to fix whatever it is because I’ve never seen my brother as happy as he was with you.”
Affection crashes through me, but I shake it off. He should know. When I look at the two figures behind him, they don’t say anything, but they have the same look as Jasper. No judgment. No anger. Just kindness. “You don't know what happened.”
“No, I don’t. It’s fine, Zara. You don’t have to—”
“I’m the reason why Alec was burned.”
If I told them I was actually a mermaid, I wouldn’t have gotten a better reaction.
The sounds and chaos of the ER are distant. The silence from them is deafening and stretches on for what feels like eternity.
All I find are three stunned faces.
The truth is out, and there’s no going back.
If they’re gonna treat me differently, then so be it. We all remain suspended in this moment of silence until Jameson moves forward to sit on his haunches beside Jasper. “What do you mean, Zara? You’re Daisy? The girl he saved?”