CHAPTER 5

Helena

The line instantly goes dead.

I stared at the phone pressed against my ear, as a sudden, heavy wave of regret washed over me.

Maybe calling Jarrett was a massive mistake.

Maybe I should have just hung up and pieced everything together myself, the way I always do.

My fingers dig into the rough hospital blanket.

Just as I was about to lower the phone and end the call for good, his voice finally cuts through the static.

"With the truth."

The words hit me like a physical blow, making my chest tighten.

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

"The truth?" I repeated, the bitterness was evident in my throat. "Eight years too late for that, don't you think?"

"Helena, listen to me carefully. Do not leave that hospital."

My brows furrowed at his words, "What?"

"Stay exactly where you are." He said, his tone becoming more stern.

Whatever patience I had left had completely evaporated.

"Why? Because Brent might try something else?"

The silence on the other end stretched out a second too long before Jarrett spoke again, his voice dropping an octave.

"No. Brent is the least dangerous person looking for you right now."

A cold dread trickled down my spine. I allowed the sheer weight of it to leave me speechless.

Just then, my shock morphs into anger, "Enough." I yank the phone away from my ear. "Stop speaking in goddamn riddles."

Before he can utter another word, I hit the red button. The screen of my phone goes dark.

My pulse, however, refused to slow down. I force myself to believe I don't care what Jarrett thought, I told myself I didn't care that he was suddenly back from the dead...

I told myself a lot of lies in the dark, and none of them stuck.

Not even five minutes later, the door to my hospital room swung open and standing by the door way was Jarrett Brooks.

My stomach twisted into a violent, sickening knot. "Get out." I clenched my jaw.

His expression tightened, a shadow crossing his face.

"Helena—"

"Get. Out." The words left my mouth sharper and meaner than I intended but I didn't care.

He took a cautious step closer, that single movement was the tipping point that shattered whatever fragile emotional control I clung onto.

"Don't come any closer." My voice cracked, betraying me. "You don't get to just walk in here and act like everything is fine."

I saw his jaw flex, "Nothing is fine." He said.

I let out a brittle laugh so ugly, the sound surprised me.

"Really? That's your defense?" I flung my hand out, pointing a trembling finger toward the door.

"Where the hell were you?" I barked the question at him.

He didn't reply me.

My breathing turned shallow, growing heavier by the second. "Where were you when my parents died?"

He didn't utter a single word.

"Where were you when I spent years convinced I just wasn't good enough for you?"

Still, he chose not to respond.

The suffocating hurt I’ve spent nearly a decade burying came rushing back to the surface like a tidal wave.

"I thought you were dead," I whispered, the words barely scraping past my throat. "I mourned you, Jarrett."

His face hardened, though a flash of genuine pain cut through his eyes.

"You just disappeared." I said. Ignoring the dull ache throbbing through my body, I forced myself to stand up. "You abandoned me."

The room fell into a suffocating, dead silence. Jarrett didn't try to defend his actions, he didn't argue or offer up some elaborate excuse.

He just stood there, taking the brunt of my fury and somehow, his passivity made me even angrier.

"Say something!" My voice echoed off the sterile walls.

"Yell at me. Tell me I'm completely wrong. Tell me there was a good reason for it!"

He kept mute, his silence feeling like a brand-new betrayal. I snap my head away, turning my back to him before he could see the tears trickling down my face.

My hand instinctively drifted downward, resting over my stomach...an automatic, protective gesture.

A cruel habit that no longer made any sense. My baby was gone.

My throat completely closed up.

When I finally glance back over my shoulder, I caught Jarrett staring directly at my hand.

Just then, something incredibly dark and sorrowful flashes across his features..Instantly, my walls slam back up.

"Don't."

His gaze snapped back up to meet mine.

"Don't you dare look at me like that."

His expression shuttered instantly, masking whatever he was feeling. Then the pity on his face vanishes.

Better, I didn't want his hollow sympathy, I didn't want a single thing from him.

Suddenly, my phone blares to life on the bedside table.

The shrill ringing cutting through the suffocating tension like a knife. It was Victor.

I snatched it up and answered immediately, desperate for the distraction.

"Victor." I called out. I could hear his erratic breathing on the other end. I could tell he was panicking.

"Helena, we're in serious trouble."