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)
“Honey! What’s up? You know, I just met Jenny after tennis and she asked me why my skin looked dull. I thought, ‘Of course, it’s gonna look different from someone who has Botox as often as I get my facials.’”
My earlier worries lift, even for just a few moments. Talking to Mom always does that to me. She helps lighten my load even if all she does is gossip about her love-hate relationship with our next-door neighbor. “You should’ve told her.”
“I should have, but then we won’t get invited to those fancy yacht parties anymore.”
“You never go.”
“Yeah, but we get invites. That’s all that matters.” Mom’s spidey senses must be tingling because her tone changes. “Honey, is something wrong? Do you miss Alec?”
“Oh, Mom.” I promised myself earlier that I’d stop crying. But it takes Mom approximately two minutes to make me start bawling my eyes out again.
“Honey, what happened?”
“M-mom, someone stabbed him,” I choke out between sniffles.
“What?! Oh God. Where is he? What—”
“He’s still in surgery. His brothers asked me to rest, so I’m at home. I’m heading back to the hospital in an hour.”
“Honey…”
“I can’t lose him, Mom.”
“Do you need us there with you?”
“No, no. It’s okay. I’ll be with his brothers when I get to the hospital. I just needed someone to talk to right now.”
“Honey, you know what I think? That for some people, there are invisible threads connecting them, so wherever they are, whatever they do, they will end up finding each other.” She sighs. “You associate him with that traumatic event in your life, but even if none of you actively searched for the other, you found each other, fell in love. That’s not a bad thing.”
“I thought … I thought I wanted to stay away because I didn’t need the reminder, but Mom. If something happens to him, I don’t know if I can take it. It’s so stupid that it took something like this to make me realize that.”
“Don’t be too harsh on yourself, honey. I’m sure Alec understands. The important thing is you now know where he stands in your life.”
“I’m not even sure he’s gonna forgive me when he wakes up.”
“He doesn’t have anything to forgive, honey. It’s a normal reaction. You had a normal reaction. I believe he thinks the same way.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Remember what your therapist told you about things beyond your control?”
“Yes. How people react, how people think, what people would do.”
“Hmm.”
“Guess I better go, then.”
“You call me and tell me how he is, okay? Love you, honey. We’re always here for you.”
“Love you, Mom.”
I’ve just ended the call when an unregistered number calls me. Without hesitation, I answer, “Hello?”
“Zara? It’s Jasper. He’s awake.”
It takes me no more than fifteen minutes to end the call, stuff the cupcakes in the box sans icing, and hurry to the hospital. By the time I get there, Alec is out of the post-anesthesia care unit and in his suite.
I open the door a fraction when I hear their voices. I’m not sure if I should barge in because their voices are low and serious. Maybe this isn’t a conversation I should be a part of.
“What happened? Did you see who it was?” Justin asks, sounding dangerously menacing.
“Someone just came at me,” Alec answers, his voice weak.
“You didn’t see the face?”
“No. I was barely watching where I was going.”
“Wait, the Chief texted. They found a note in your jacket pocket,” Jameson says.
“What does it say?” Jasper asks.
“That fucker. That fucker. I swear I’d kill him with my bare hands.” Jameson’s voice shakes with fury. I have never heard him like this. He’s always soft-spoken and polite.
“What does it say, Jameson?” Justin’s voice is sharp.
“Mind your own business, nephews.”
Jameson’s answer is met with silence, but it’s broken by a palm slamming against the wall.
Justin snarls, “If I get my hands on that bastard…”
“Let’s all calm down. This is good news, right? It means we’ve hit something critical in his operation. Maybe the last warehouse? We’re closer. I can tell. We just need to find him before he strikes us again,” Jasper says.
My heart drums hard enough to hurt as I make my presence known. Alec lies on the bed, pale beneath the white sheets. His eyes flicker with something before he wipes the expression on his face.
I cross the room and square my shoulders. I can’t bury my past anymore. “I think I can help you with that. I think I know where the chateau is.”
Justin offers his seat to me, which is closest to Alec. I still can’t look him right in the eye, but I let my fingers brush his and he responds by hooking his pinkie with mine. The relief is instantaneous.
I take a deep, calming breath because I know I’m gonna need all the ‘grounding’ I can get. I have never talked about it to anyone except my parents. My therapist only knows the general stuff, nothing too specific. “I asked my parents where they found me … or more accurately, where I found them. I remember a small town filled with tourists. They said it was in Lundy.”