Chapter 4

DELANY

“You shouldn’t have allowed that!” Nathaniel said as soon as he walked into the living room and slammed the door shut behind him.

“You shouldn’t have let him lay a finger on you!” I gently tapped the nurse treating my bruises and signalled to her to give us space. She got up with a small nod and walked away towards the veranda.

“But it’s good for us, at least people are starting to believe my words” I said to him as I got up to my feet.

“So you had to get yourself beaten up just for people to believe you?” He snapped lowly. He stepped forward grabbed my cheeks softly and checked frantically as if searching for hidden scars.

“See how battered you look. What if it was more than this,” he snorted and I could tell he was doing everything to not speak at the top of his voice.

“Look, Nathaniel I’m fine,” I muttered as I gently removed myself from his grip and stepped backwards.

“I’ve told you this before. I’ll do everything possible to make sure that Adrian and His cohort don’t get away scot free for everything they did to me and my mother!” I said to him firmly staring deep into his eyes.

“You agreed to be my husband and gave me a roof over my head. That’s more than enough for me. Don’t make me feel more indebted by worrying about me,”

“So focus on getting your company back. Leave Adrian to me! ” I concluded dismissively. I turned to the chair, packed up the first aid box and headed over to the nurse in the veranda.

“Please, let’s finish this,” I said to her as I walked in there.

My mind wandered as she continued cleaning my bruises, the stinging feeling of the ointment barely registering in my head. Honestly I have no idea what’s going on with my life. For starters, Everyday I’m scared to sleep, what if I fall asleep and I actually don’t wake up anymore, what if I’m actually really dead and this is not real life. This thoughts have kept bugging me throughout the entire two days, this might sound greedy but I really don’t want to die. I really hope this is real, I pray this is real and I don’t get to die anymore. Even if I don’t understand the logic of how this works, dying and suddenly waking up one year in the past. I still want to believe that it is very possible and that’s what’s happening to me.

“The bruises are not very serious. Take your drugs regularly and you should be fine. You have a good skin this will heal in no time,” I heard the nurses voice cut through my thoughts. I looked up at her and nodded slowly.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

MEANWHILE

ADRIAN

“Adrian Cole Harrington , was spotted beating up his alleged ex-fiance at a private restaurant. This is coming two days after she left him at the altar. This goes to show us that nothing Delany said was a lie. If he could beat her up in public, then I want you guys to imagine how much damage would be done in private” My mother read out loud. I was seething where I sat, my hands balled into a tight fist as I listened to her read those useless blogs.

“He …”

“Enough!” I growled cutting her off as I got up stomping my feet.

“That is enough! Make it stop, make them stop! Do something! Anything!” I yelled angrily. She paused and slowly lowered her phone to look up at me.

“You’ve ruined everything,” she breathed out her voice oddly calm.

“You …” Before she could complete her statement dad walked into the house and slammed the door shut behind him.

“Great! Just the person I wanted to see!” He growled angrily as he stormed towards where I stood and dropped his bag carelessly on the couch.

“What the heck have come over you! What did you just do!”

“So it’s not enough that we’re trending because your fiance left you at the altar, it’s not enough that our business is suffering because Delany accused you of abuse,”

“You decide that you want to make matters worse by battering her in public? What the hell were you thinking!” He yelled in my face. I could feel his hot angry breath on my face.

“Don’t blame him for Delany’s mistake, she caused all these!” My mother said at once as she slowly got up to face him. He paused, then a scoff came next as he slowly turned to her.

“You really cannot blame him, whatever he did, he did it because she frustrated him, that’s on her” My mother continued. Dad raised his brows at her in disbelief as she spoke.

“Are you really saying that to my face?!” He asked his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

“What we should be focusing on is finding a solution. How can we make this better? Find a way to stop the blogs or something,”

“Adrian is already stressed as it is” she said to him. He scoffed, his lips stretched into an unbelievable smile as his hands slowly found their way to his waist. He scoffed again.

“What happened with your brother’s company, do you know anything about it?!” He asked me. My brows furrowed at once, before I could respond my mother beat me to it.

“The last I remember, I have just one son. My child has no sibling!”

“And why the heck are you asking him about what went wrong with your mistress son?!”

“If he was half as competent as you say he is then he wouldn’t be in this situation, please leave Adrian out of this!” She snorted in response.

“Okay!” He muttered more to himself than to us as he slowly stepped backwards, picked up his bag and walked away.

As soon as he was out of sight my mother slowly turned to me.

“I told you to leave everything to me, I’ll handle it. Please don’t do that ever again, don’t go to her unless I say so!”

“Understood?” She asked and I nodded begrudgingly.

“I’ll try,”

“Great!” She muttered with a small part of my shoulder as she turned and walked away.