Chapter 20: Brother, Lily Can Hear!

Lily reached out and took the complaint from Nathan's hand.

His mouth curved slightly.

She's compliant. She'll listen to reason.

The next instant

Lily gripped the document and slapped him across the face with it, hard.

A crisp, cutting crack.

It echoed clean down the empty hospital corridor.

Nathan's head snapped to the side.

For a long, frozen moment, neither of them moved.

Finally, he turned back to face her, disbelief written across his features. "You hit me?"

Her hand, still holding the folded pages, trembled slightly. The familiar taste of iron rose in her throat again she forced it down. "That was for Grandma. She raised you, difficult as it was. She was hurt defending me, nearly died for it, and you want to help the person responsible walk away clean?"

"I'm filing charges against Melissa. Everyone's going to know exactly who she is. She's going to answer for what she did. I want her behind bars."

Nathan exhaled hard. "You slapped me, you've said your piece can we talk about this rationally now?"

Lily stepped closer, chin lifted, expression ice-cold. "Didn't you used to hate her? I'm the one who talked you into treating her like family in the first place. Why the sudden loyalty?"

His brow furrowed. "Lily, that's not fair. You're fixated on how my attitude toward her has changed, and completely ignoring everything she's actually done for this family."

"Every drinking event you hate, she's the one drowning herself in liquor for the sake of the deal. Every social function you skip, she's the one working the room for me. Without her covering for you, you think your life would look anything like this?"

Lily turned and sat back down. "Should I be sending her a thank-you card, then?"

Nathan crouched in front of her. "That's not what I meant. Melissa handles critical work for me if she ends up tangled in legal trouble, I don't have time to replace her, and the company takes the hit."

"Here's what I'll do. Once Grandma's better, I'll have Melissa apologize to her personally, ask for forgiveness. And that equipment lease for Owen I'll cover three years up front, in a single payment."

A trade. An offering made on Melissa's behalf, dressed up as generosity.

Or maybe just a threat, dressed the same way.

Nathan knew exactly where her weak point was. Owen.

If she pushed this to the wall with Melissa, there was a real chance he'd let that equipment lease lapse the moment it mattered most.

She already had Beatrice's promise of twenty years' coverage tucked away as insurance. She wasn't actually afraid of that threat anymore.

But she'd made a deal with Beatrice too. Don't tip him off.

So she let herself look cornered instead. Let him believe he'd found her one real weakness and used it.

Her lashes trembled. She said nothing for a long moment.

Something complicated flickered across Nathan's face. "Lily. Grandma's sick, she needs proper care. I'll transfer five million to your account, on top of everything else, for her recovery."

Lily's hand curled into a fist without her permission.

Five million.

He'd handed that kind of money to Melissa without a second thought.

Her entire fireworks studio built on a loan for less than that amount.

She let a small smile settle on her face. "Fine."

She couldn't fight him head-on right now, not while he was this dug in on protecting Melissa. Taking the payout and letting it go, for now, was the smarter play.

She nodded, clear and composed.

Something about her calm unsettled Nathan slightly, but he brushed past it. "I'll head back to the office, then. Call me if anything changes with Grandma."

He left.

The five million landed in Lily's account soon after.

She transferred every cent of it straight into Owen's account.

She spent the night at the hospital with her grandmother.

By the time dawn broke through the window, painting the room in soft gray light, a new day had started.

Lily stepped out for a walk near the ICU.

That's when she saw it Eleanor was awake.

The monitors began chiming an alert almost immediately, and staff rushed in to run their checks.

Once they finished, a nurse turned to Lily, who was hovering anxiously. "Don't worry her vitals are all back to normal. Dr. Hale wants her to stay in the CCU another twenty-four hours as a precaution. Would you like to change into a sterile gown and go see her?"

Lily nodded frantically.

She suited up and followed the nurse inside.

Eleanor, still wearing her oxygen mask, tubes trailing from every direction, managed a weak smile. "Lily. Did I scare you?"

Lily shook her head hard, taking her grandmother's hands in both of hers. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Eleanor scoffed. "I'm just old, that's all. Ten years ago, two of that Melissa girl wouldn't have been enough to knock me over. Did she do anything to you, sweetheart?"

Lily shook her head, eyes lowered. "No. Don't worry about that. Just focus on getting better. The doctor said you're strong as an ox you'll live to ninety-nine."

Eleanor laughed. "Oh, you're going to be the death of me, silly girl. Since when do doctors read fortunes?"

Lily smiled despite herself. "I need to step out for a bit. Press the call button if you need anything it's right there."

"Don't fuss over me," Eleanor said. "I hike with the ladies back home every single day. I'm in better shape than you are."

They talked a while longer. Lily promised that as soon as the doctors cleared it, she'd bring her grandmother to see Owen and only then did Eleanor let her go.

With her grandmother awake and stable, Lily finally let herself breathe.

Enough energy left, finally, to head home and pack a change of clothes.

Lily was wheeling her suitcase toward the stairs when Nathan walked in, carrying Melissa.

Melissa spotted her first. "Sister, you're back! I meant to come apologize at the hospital, but I hurt my leg the doctor's got me on three days of bed rest, so I couldn't make it."

Lily's mouth curved, dry and mocking. "Guess even the universe has no sense of justice. Shame the cold didn't finish the job."

Melissa's lips pressed into a wounded pout.

Nathan sighed. "Lily, do you have to be this harsh? Are you headed back to the hospital? I'll drive you."

She kept walking, suitcase in hand.

He reached out and grabbed the handle.

Lily's eyes stayed lowered, her voice flat and cold. "Let go. It's filthy."

His expression darkened. The veins along the back of his hand stood out where he gripped the handle, tension radiating off him. "Lily, how long do you plan on doing this? You already took the money. What more do you want?"

She traced her thumb over her own fingertips, then looked up. Still soft-featured, still delicate but her words came out sharp as glass. "I said I wouldn't press charges. I never said I'd live in peace with her."

"You" he started.

She hauled the suitcase over her shoulder and kept walking. "You should rent Melissa an apartment somewhere else. Grandma can stay there once she's discharged I refuse to share a roof with the woman who put her in the hospital."

Her voice trailed off into the quiet as her figure disappeared down the hall.

Melissa tugged gently at Nathan's sleeve, looking up at him. "Brother I never got to tell you exactly what happened that day."

"Which day?" he asked, distracted.

She huffed. "The day Grandma fell down the stairs, obviously. My sister and I argued and the real reason it started was because I saw, with my own eyes, that she wasn't wearing her hearing aid when she took a phone call in the car earlier that morning."

Nathan spun around, gripping her chin. "Say that again."

Startled, Melissa recounted the entire thing, voice shaking slightly under his stare.

Once she'd finished, she wrapped both arms around his waist, pressing her face against him, voice going soft and pleading. "I'm sure she can hear just fine. I just don't understand why she'd fake being deaf. Do you think... there's something she's hiding?”