Chapter 25
After tripping over my feet twice and getting tangled up in the tail of my dress, I kick off my
heels, hitch my dress up
and run.
I arrive at my room panting wildly, terror racing up and down my spine.
Jessica and Lucy are outside the door, whispering to themselves worriedly.
“What happened?” I pant. They both look terrified, and Lucy’s eyes are red, as if she’s been crying. I resist the urge to shake them. I left June in their care for one night, and something happened to my sister.
“What happened to my sister?” I all but scream.
“We don’t know,” Lucy sniffs. “She just—”
1 slam the door open, unable to take the suspense anymore.
My gaze zeros in on June–on my baby sister looking small and fragile in the middle of the large bed.
Two men I don’t recognize are in the room, their white coats identifying them as doctors.
Ignoring them, I race to June, falling to my knees beside the bed.
“Summer?” My voice is a pathetic whimper as I behold my sister. Her face is pale, and her chest is moving too slowly, her breathing shallow.
“What happened?” I ask the doctors. One is seated on the bed, and he was checking her pulse when I walked in. The other is standing by the window, looking at an iPad.
“We believe it was an allergic reaction,” the one on the bed says. “Luckily your maids were with her when it happened and we were able to get here on time. She’s stable now, though she’s running quite a fever.”
I shake my head. “That’s not possible, she couldn’t have had an allergic reaction.”
Jessica and Lucy enter the room, and I turn to them. “I informed Anna of her allergy; I informed Nathan. Nothing has happened before now, so how the hell did she get an allergic reaction?”
Jessica shakes her head, wringing her hands. “I don’t know, Miss. We confirmed before bringing the meal that it didn’t have garlic.”
“Evidently, you were wrong,” I snarl, standing up.
“We’re so sorry,” Lucy whispers, her voice trembling. My anger falters as I realize that Jessica and Lucy aren’t necessarily to blame.
“What did she eat?”
“She–she wanted spaghetti and meatballs, so-”
“So there must have been garlic in the sauce,” I say, remembering Anna’s words the other day. Garlic is a staple spice in our meals.
“Who cooked it?” I ask lowly, determined to tear limb from limb the person that endangered the only family I have left in the world.
My maids shake their heads. “We sent the order through and went to pick it up from the annex kitchen when it was ready.”
“And- Jessica starts but stops.
“And?” I press.
She leans forward and says lowly. “After June reacted, we went to get her leftovers to inspect but it had already been disposed of, like—”
Like they were destroying evidence.
A wave of emotions threatens to choke me as the realization settles on me that someone hurt my sister–intentionally, most likely.
But what matters now is June. So I shove the emotions down, down, down to that dark place within that is now threatening to overflow, and I
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12:41 PM P
Chapter 25
turn to the doctors.
I avoid looking at June because I feel like the sight of her will send me sobbing to the floor.
“What’s the next course of action?”
The doctors exchange a look, and the one sitting on the bed stands. The one by the window says, “Nothing. We’ve done all we can.”
“What?” I point to my frail sister on the bed. “She’s unconscious and has a fever.”
They look at each other again, and both of them shrug–fucking shrug.
“She’s diabetic, do you know that?” I add, my voice taking on a desperate intensity. “You need to check her blood sugar, run further tests, and make sure she-” I swallow against the growing terror in my throat. “She doesn’t look like she’s breathing well, what if the anaphylaxis hasn’t fully worn off? What if-”
The doctor with the iPad raises a hand, cutting me off. “She’s too risky. Like I said, we’ve done all we could.”
“You’ve barely done anything! You have to-”
“If we do anything further and something happens to her…” He shakes his head. “We won’t bear the responsibility.”
A tear slides down my cheek. “Please,” I whisper. “She’s my only family. You have to help her.
“She’ll be better off at a proper hospital, take her to one.”
“You’re Ashford doctors; you’re supposed to be the best!”
A shrug. “I’m sorry,” the other one says, not sounding the least bit sorry. And then both of them walk past me, out of my room.
I gape incredulously as the door closes, and another tear drips down my cheek. This–me staying in this place and suffering through all the lessons and scrutiny and primping–was supposed to be for June, so she could get the very best medical attention. So this very situation would never happen.
My feet move of their own accord, and before I realize what I’m doing, I’m racing out of the room.
I run down the hallway, down the stairs, and all the way to the kitchen. Anna is still there, overseeing the clean–up after the banquet.
“Please,” I pant, ignoring the usual look of disdain she gives me. “I need a doctor; my sister needs help.”
“Doctors have already seen to your sister,” she replies flatly.
I shake my head. “They won’t help her. I need someone to help her.”
She shrugs. “Whatever the doctors told you is what’s best for her. Now if you’ll excuse me…” She turns away and continues to bark orders.
I let out a frustrated groan and turn on my heels. I find myself running for the grand door. The guard positioned there raises a brow as I approach him.
“I need a doctor,” I pant.”
He frowns, eyeing my bare feet. “Doctors were here earlier.”
I shake my head. “Nof those ones; I need new doctors.”
He shakes his head. “Those are the doctors available. You should do whatever they said; that’s what’s best.”
“You don’t even know what they said!” I yell, feeling my frustration seep out of every pore on my skin. “How the fuck would you know if it’s best!”
I don’t give him a chance to give a stupid answer before turning on my heels and racing back to my sister, determined to get her out of this place.
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They did something to her, and now they won’t help her.
If I have to carry her on my back and run until I find someone to help her, then so be it.
Just as I arrive back at my door, I see a female figure disappear down the staircase at the other end of the hall. I don’t bother with whatever that is; my thoughts are consumed with getting back to June.
But then, my world that had been tethering precariously on the edge comes crashing down all around me when I rush back into my room–and find the bed empty, the rumpled sheets the only evidence that my sister was there to begin with.
