The Broken Bond

​POV: Liora Vance

​Then everything went dark for what seemed like a really long time, and the next thing I sensed was the sterile, chilly smell of bleach and the constant, mechanical beeping of a heart monitor by my ear. I opened my eyes and rubbed them, trying to focus on the white ceiling, when I looked down and saw my older brother, Matthew, with his head in his hands sitting in a chair next to the bed.

He looked tired and disheveled with his high-priced suit jacket draped over the chair's back and I had to clear my throat before he was aware that I was awake.

​"Liora, thank God you’re awake. Don't try to move too fast, the doctors said you had a pretty bad fall and your blood pressure was dangerously low," Matthew said, leaning in and taking my hand in his with one that was firm but gentle.

​"Matthew? How are you here? You should be in London for the merger.” I whispered, my throat feeling as if it was stuffed with sand as my eyes scanned the room for a familiar old man with silver hair, “Did Adrian bring me here? Is he in the hallway? ”

​Matthew glanced away for a moment, his jaw clenching in a way that indicated he was trying very hard to keep his anger in check, and clearing his throat, then looking back at me with an artificial softness, "Your maid, Sarah where she found you on the floor and called me from your house phone, she was aware of my return to the country for a few days and she was scared, Adrian... he just left for a moment to attend to some paperwork, Liora."

​"Please don't lie to me, Matt – we both know he didn’t stay, he probably didn’t even look back on leaving with Elena," I said, bitterness threatening to consume me as I knew that was the truth, even if my brother was trying to shield me from it. "He never comes when I need him, and there's no way he's going to start now, particularly since he seems to think I’m not only a monster but one who pushes his favorite person down the stairs."

"Then why are you still with him, Liora? Years ago, I told you he was a shark that only wanted to take your brain out of your head, I told you his family would tear you to pieces, and now I come upon you unconscious on a marble floor while he’s off being hero for some other woman," Every word out of Matthew’s mouth became increasingly louder and he began to stand and pace the room, "just give me one good reason why you don’t have your bags packed and you’re on you way back home with me where people even pretend to appreciate you."

I was about to speak in my defense, to give him the usual dopey explanations about love and the contract I’d signed to try and clear our father’s name, but then I glanced down at my hands, all bruised, and knew I'd never have a single excuse that felt like the truth.

Before I could respond, the door opened and a middle-aged doctor entered with a clipboard, glancing between Matthew and me with a business-like, indifferent expression, “Ms. Vance, it’s reassuring to see that you are awake. We ran your blood work and examined the bruising on your back, although the physical trauma isn’t life-threatening, we did find the trigger for your unexpected fainting spell.”

"Is it my heart? I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately," I whispered as I tried sitting up a bit more against the pillows.

“No, your heart is fine, but you’re about six weeks pregnant, and the stress and the shock to the system of the physical shock to the system made your body temporarily shut down,” said the doctor, and those words seemed to drop like a physical mass into the room, rendering me absolutely stunned and without breath.

The doctor went out and gave a few more commands about rest, and Mathew was there. He just stood and looked at me and there was nothing in his face but a mixture of horror and pity both so deep it stunned me for a moment before he said, “Liora, what are you going to do now? You're not going to stay in that house with a baby not when they treat you like an unwelcome visitor in your own life."

I hadn’t even spoken the word when the door was banged open, Clara strode in holding her phone, a sneer curdling her lips so powerful it curdled my blood, “There you are playing the victim in a private room while Elena is in the ER wing because she had a miscarriage thanks to you, Stand up right now, Liora, Adrian wants you to come down here and apologize to her before he calls the cops.”

“Clara, leave me the hell alone, I am not going anywhere, and I didn’t push her,” I said, but my voice was trembling as she came right up to the bed and took my arm, pulling me with surprising strength toward the edge.

"I don't want to hear any more of your lies, you're coming with me right now," Clara hissed, but Matthew intervened and pushed her hand away from me, his eyes glinting with a dangerous light that typically made world leaders cower.

"If you so much as touch her again, I’ll make you see exactly how much I can destroy your family, little girl," Matthew snarled, and Clara took a step back, letting out a disgusted laugh as she appraised him from head to toe.

“Oh, so this is why you’re so distracted, Liora? You’ve got your little boyfriend here in the hospital while my brother is out working to pay for this room?” Clara sneered, pointing at Matthew, "I’ll make sure Adrian knows you’re cheating on him with this man, it’s no wonder you’ve been so secretive lately."

​The pull she had given me sent a sharp, agonizing jolt through my abdomen as I hit the side of the bed frame, and a sudden, hot rage exploded in my chest that drowned out the pain. I stood up on trembling legs and swung my hand as hard as I could, catching Clara across the face with a loud crack that sent her stumbling back until she hit the wall and slid to the floor in shock.

​"That is the last time you will ever lay a hand on me or speak to me like that, Clara, and if you ever mention my husband or my life again, I will make sure you have nothing left to your name," I said, my voice cold and steady, but as I stood there, I felt a warm, terrifying sensation of fluid running down my legs.

​I looked down and saw the red staining my hospital gown and pooling on the white floor, and the world began to tilt on its axis again while the pain in my stomach intensified into something unbearable.

​Clara scrambled to her feet, her face red from the slap but her eyes gleaming with a sick kind of victory as she pulled out her phone and started typing frantically, "You think you’ve won? I’m telling Adrian right now that you’re bleeding out because you got pregnant for another man and your body is rejecting the lie."

​The last thing I saw before my knees buckled and the darkness rushed back in was Matthew screaming for a nurse, while Clara stood by the door with a cruel, vengeful smile on her face.