“Well?” Nathan’s voice booms in the room.
“Mr. Montague, like I said several times before when you asked, there is a possibility that Mia might suffer a brain injury but there is no way of telling right now with her state of unconsciousness. She is responding to stimuli, her cerebral cortex seems to be functioning. When she wakes up, we’ll run some tests and see from there.”
“But amnesia is not a possibility, isn’t it?”
I hold my breath, listening intently, clutching the bed sheets to my body as much as I can without showing that I’m awake. I hold on to them for dear life as a tremor of what happened to me on that warehouse flashes in my head.
“Maybe, maybe not. A form of amnesia is possible, among other things, or she could be hundred percent physically fine. Anything is possible.”
“But you can stop it right?” Nathan demands, his voice panicked all over again. “You can cure the amnesia.”
Well holy fuck. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he doesn’t want me to forget anything. Well, then…
“Mr. Montague, please understand, we have to wait until she wakes up and work from there.”
I hear grumbling, but I don’t care. This changes everything. Especially if they all think I’m not aware of what they’re saying.
“Physically?” Nicky whispers. “What do you mean by that?”
“It means we have to take into account every facet of her well-being. Physically, mentally and emotionally… you must prepare for all possibilities for when she wakes.”
“Oh Mia, if you can hear me baby, everything’s going to be just fine,” Nicky whispers close to my ear, her voice hoarse and strained. Then she presses another soft kiss on my forehead and whispers in my ear, “Whatever it is I have to do, I promise you this, no one will hurt you ever again.”
Oh Nicky… my… my mother. Yes, that sounds right. Nicky is my mother. Though that doesn’t extinguish or replace how Nancy raised me as her own.
“Thank you, doctor, that will be all,” Nathan declares suddenly, breaking the melancholy that has fallen over me.
I feel Nicky tense up beside me and I hold my breath, waiting for what’s about to happen as the door shuts. But there’s just silence.
A heavy, tense silence so oppressive, I feel like I might actually slip into a coma from the violence that hangs in the room.
“You have a mouth on you,” Nathan says, his voice deceptively soft and eerie.
“What the hell are you planning?” Nicky demands, letting go off my hand in a rush, stepping away from my bed.
“What makes you think I’m planning anything?”
“Because I know you, you shady piece of shit!” Nicky seethes, her words shaky as she cries. “I know you caused this, now look at her! Look at her face! Look at the bandages wrapped all over her frail body! You did this.”
“Ooh, what unfounded accusations. I could never hurt my own child.”
“No, you’d do so much worse!”
“You don’t have any proof of that”
“Proof?” Nicky seethes. “Why were you asking about the possibility of amnesia? Are you hoping she remembers so you can use her again? Yeah, that’s right, I know you forced her into some kind of deal, you asshole!”
There’s a low, humorless chuckle that makes the blood in my veins freeze.
“Well, Courtney did warn me that you know,” Nathan says, not even bothered by those words. In fact, he sounds amused. “Here’s the thing your pea-sized brain doesn’t know, Nicky. Mia has her own role to fulfill in all of this. She agreed and then she broke that agreement. I already told her what would happen if she did that and so what happens now is all on her shoulders. Either way, I win.”
My father has already messed with Julian and me in the cruelest way possible. I won’t let him touch Liam or Cole.
But one thing is clear. Nathan has a sinister plan in place if he thinks I remember everything. But if I don’t though, I wonder what will happen.
“You’re unbelievable! You caused her amnesia years ago and now you want a repeat? What kind of monster are you?”
“Hey! I never meant for that to happen but hey, the results were spectacularly good for me,” Nathan says joyfully. “That was until your stupid sister and the man you both spread your legs for, my jerk of a stepbrother, John stepped in and messed everything up! All of you will pay! Every single one of you!”
“You won’t get away with this!”
Nathan laughs at that. “You think so?” I hear footsteps, then a door being opened, then, “Detectives, please come in. We’re ready.”
Detectives?
“What did you do?” I hear Nicky whisper, like everything depends on that one question.
“Well, it just so happens that the police know I’m a concerned father who doesn’t trust that boy, Julian, thanks to you and your failed attempt at trying to hide Mia from me. So now, they want to hear my statement.”
“Your statement?”
“That he really did kidnap my daughter when she was on her way to school, Nicky, keep up.” Jesus Christ. “I’m about to bury one of John’s heirs forever. The poor boy tried escaping, but not again. Steps were taken to ensure that this time, he’ll go away for a fucking long time.”
The steps he’s talking about, could it be the death of one of the Matthews bastards?
“You’re despicable. He’s just a boy! Pick someone your own size, unless you know you can’t beat John!”
Silence.
“He is not better than me,” Nathan lashes out. “I’m better and I’m going to prove it! I made a deal with Courtney, but that bitch is in this for herself, so as always, I will be two steps ahead every time. Don’t forget that, Nicky.”
“You disgust me.”
Panic is a strange thing, it brings out the worst in people and for me, it has brought out a side of me that has attracted trouble and danger to me like a freaking magnet.
Now, what do I do?
I need to do something.
I need to make a decision on how to deal with this.
I can’t have that man speak to the police on my behalf! Who knows what he’ll say? I need to find a way to get ahead of this and fuck up whatever plan he has.
So, as I hear the door opening and the sound of commotion, I choose that moment to start ‘awakening’ from my slumber as slowly as I can without making it see, dramatic.
Blinking slowly, my gaze immediately snags on to the one person I’d know from anywhere. The one who’s looking at me with a dark longing and worry that slams right into my chest.
He’s bruised and banged up, his right arm is in a cast and… he’s in a wheelchair.
My God, how badly was he hurt?
John is behind him, and I can see Liam and Cole peering in from the doorway, but they don’t come in.
All eyes turn to me, but I can’t look away from Julian.
Or the cops. And the pleased look on Nathan’s face.
Oh God, what do I do now?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Julian
The moment I meet Mia’s gaze, our eyes connect and hold instantly and a sort of alarm goes off almost in the same exact moment.