Chapter 27
“Thank you,” I say quietly, my voice slightly wobbling.
“I didn’t do it for you,” Nathan replies–as if I would ever expect him to do anything for me. He nods to June. “She’s just a little girl; I would never let any harm come to her.”
Warmth spreads through my chest at his words. That reason is even better than if he did it for me.
“Still,” I say. “Thank you.”
Nathan nods once, his eyes piercing me. “You’re welcome.”
I break the overwhelming eye contact and move towards the bed. There’s a small stool by it, and I sit, leaning over my little sister.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, more for my benefit than hers. “You’re okay.”
I watch her small chest rise and fall–stronger than it had been earlier–and I reassure myself over again that she’s okay. She’ll be fine.
But she almost wasn’t.
Now calmer, the suspicious circumstances replay in my mind, and I try to comb through them.
I look up at Nathan to find him watching me and June, his expression characteristically blank. Before I can stop myself–before I can remind myself that he owes me nothing, I say, “I have…suspicions.”
He raises a perfect dark brow. “Suspicions?”
I nod. “Remember how I told you about her allergy?”
Nathan nods, his eyes darkening. “Yes. I’m going to have a long, unpleasant conversation with Anna about how garlic got into her meal.”
“It’s not just that. Jessica said she went back to look for her left–overs and they had been disposed of as if ”
“As if they were destroying evidence.” Nathan’s body tenses.
“And then the doctors…” I shake my head. “They didn’t seem to care. They did the bare minimum and were going to just leave her like that. They even asked me to leave the estate and take her to a proper hospital.”
“The Ashford estate has top–of–the–line medical facilities,” he says, his eyebrows knitting together. “Everything they would have needed is here.”
“And just before you sent for me, I saw someone suspicious. I didn’t see her face, but now that I think about it, she was probably leaving my room. She headed down the staircase at the end of the hall–my room is closest to it.”
Nathan doesn’t say anything, but I can see on his face that he’s thinking everything over.
“Nathan, June means the world to me. If there’s something up, if my sister isn’t safe here-”
“She’s safe,” he cuts me off, his voice sharp.
He moves from his position by the wall, throwing the book back into the floating shelf. He stands on the other side of the hospital bed opposite me. “She’s safe here, April. I promise.”
I swallow, my chest tightening at his words–his promise.
“But-”
“I’ll sort this out,” he says, his voice taking on an earnest quality that stuns me. “I’ll find out what happened and if anyone did this intentionally, they’ll be punished accordingly.”
I look back at June, feeling heavily conflicted. My first instinct is to take my sister far away from here and anyone who wants to harm her. But I find myself believing Nathan; it’s stupid and dangerous, but-
1/3
12:41 PM P P.
Chapter 27
“Doctor Penny’s been taking care of me since I was eleven,” he says, drawing my attention back to him. “She’ll take good care of June, and your sister will recover in no time.” His eyes bore into mine and I see an emotion I have never seen before on Nathan Ashford’s face–desperation. However mild, the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice are desperate when he says, “Don’t leave, April.”
Stunned, I blink. “I-”
“Spring?”
My gaze snaps to June. She blinks up at me sleepily, her gaze a little unfocused.
“Summer!” Her pet name comes out as a sob as I lean towards her, taking her face in my hands.
“Baby, how do you feel?”
She sighs. “Weird. Where am I? What happened?”
I shake my head, forcing back tears. “None of that matters, you’re okay, baby.”
She turns slightly, her eyes falling on Nathan. A smile spreads across her face. “Hi.”
glance at Nathan, and my eyes widen slightly when Nathan smiles–no, that’s not a smile. He beams at June before crouching down next to her.
“Hi, June,” he says,
his voice slightly animated. “You’re quite the fighter.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t fight; I’m too weak to fight. I can bite though.”
Nathan laughs–like an actual belly laugh. I just sit there, stunned beyond words. Since I came to the Ashford mansion, tonight is the most emotion I’ve ever seen from him. Earlier, with all the tension and angst and desperation, and now… he’s actually laughing and smiling.
He shocks me again by reaching out and tenderly stroking June’s hair. “The doctor said you might be a little groggy when you woke up.” He holds two fingers up in the air. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
Before June can answer, he adds a finger, then another, then drops three, and then starts to wiggle them so she can’t give a definite answer.
June starts to giggle and Nathan chuckles, shaking his head. “You can’t give me an answer; we’re going to have to send you in for further investigation.
My sister shakes her head, still giggling. “You’re the one that needs further investigation.”
Nathan laughs again and ruffles her hair. “You might be right about that.”
Neither of them notices that I’m just sitting there, stunned. This Nathan–he’s the one went to high school with, the one I fell in love with.
Watching him now is like unlocking memories of the days I would watch him in the halls, laughing with his friends and wishing it was me making him laugh.
And when he tickles June and she lets out a hysterical giggle, an unbidden image flashes in my mind–of him surrounded by little children, playing and laughing.
And the children have his gorgeous green eyes and my curly blonde hair. The image disappears before I can unpack it, leaving behind a fuzzy feeling in my chest.
And I feel the hope–the one I stuffed down before–poke its little head out as if testing the waters.
I don’t have the energy to suffocate it again, and I let it hover as I watch Nathan, remembering all the reasons I once loved him.
Don’t leave, April.
And despite what I saw earlier with Lucas and Sarah, despite Nathan’s threats and the fact that someone tried to hurt my little sister, even though I still don’t have a chance in hell at winning this competition, I realize that I don’t want to leave.
Something I don’t know what–has switched tonight. And I can’t leave before I see how it all unfolds.
