All Chapters of Ripples And Hills: Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

Helia.Helia.As I drive back to my parents’ house, where I’ve currently put up because of Hulio, I can’t shake off the overwhelming relief coursing through me. Relief that Pier and Alexa are no longer together.I should be sad for her. Disappointed in Pier. But I’m not.I should call him. Confront him, even. But I don’t.Instead, I allow the pain that’s been crushing my chest, ever since I saw them together again, to quietly ease.I’ve already made arrangements for her. Some documents are being prepared for her to start as a patient assistant. Hulio’s doctor recommended the position. It doesn’t require training, more like a support role while he recovers. She’ll help him. Offer him companionship. Encouragement. Basic assistance. Watch him like a hawk, since Hulio has refused my guards.But I know my brother.He’ll crush her.He’ll shatter that bright spirit of hers until it caves in again. And she’ll end up with even more sorrow than she’s already endured.Still, I can’t forget that

Alexa (Prudence) Saturday, 30th August. Two days later… Midday. I’m standing in the hallway, staring at the paintings on the wall. Beautiful pieces, each worth thousands, I’m sure. I’ve always loved art. I even have an exhibition to attend tonight with Martha… if I can survive another day under Hulio’s cruelty. He’s angry most of the time. Mostly verbally abusive. The words grate on me, cutting deeper than I let him see. Sometimes I have to grit my teeth and look past it, focus on the goal: getting him to walk again. Since I started working with him, he actually takes his meds. He lets the nurses assist him with his daily grooming, gives in to his physio. Just a few seconds upright before they help him lie back down. But his mood? Awful. He never talks to me. We sit in silence. Me reading, him staring out at the lawn. Sometimes he sleeps. No TV. No phone. Just quiet, heavy as stone. Other times, I catch him watching me with open disdain, and it makes my skin crawl. Right now, I

Alexa (Prudence)I glare at Helia, my eyes wide.“What are you doing here? Are you following me?” I snap. I’m still bristling over the day he called me …a woman with a scar… when I started working with Hulio. He meant it kindly, at least I think he did, but knowing he’d ordered that scar carved on my face, makes it impossible to hear him without feeling burned.Since that day, I’ve avoided him like the fucking plague. Just one night, one single night, I wanted peace from the Ripples brothers. Both of them carry an intensity I can’t breathe under. That’s why I jumped on Martha’s invite to attend this exhibition the instant she emailed it.“Mr. Ripples… I’m so glad you could make it. Honestly, when the school told us you’d be coming, I didn’t believe it.” Lewis beams, his excitement stripping away his initial cool.I turn to him. “You know him?” I ask, desperate to distract myself from how damn good Helia looks tonight in a coffee-brown blazer, black shirt, black trousers.“Of course.

Alexa (Prudence)Helia and I walk down the sidewalk toward where he parked. I’d come in a cab tonight, wanted to feel light, untethered. The silence between us is thick, humming with everything unspoken. My mind keeps replaying what happened in there or almost happened.The moment the air shifted, I felt it. The pull. The heat. The way his eyes dropped to mine. Then to my lips. My chest tightened, my breath caught. My eyes fluttered shut as I waited for his lips to close the last breath of space between us. To claim me.But at the very brink, he stopped. Stared into me instead. Searching. As if he was looking for something even I didn’t understand. And then, he pulled back.Just enough for us both to breathe. And just like that, the moment was gone. Disappointment settled deep, dragging my gaze down. The rest of the evening blurred past without leaving a single mark.“Why didn’t you kiss me?” The question escapes before I can stop it. Heat pricks my cheeks. But there. It’s out.Helia

Pier.One hour later…“Is that the last patient, nurse?” My arms ache. My head throbs as I stretch my neck. I take the clipboard she hands me and sign off.“There’s the surgery for Miss Felipe, but that one’s scheduled for the early hours tomorrow,” she says.I nod absently, already running through the surgeons and nurses I’ll need on that case. “Get Doctor Tonya and his team ready for tomorrow morning. I’m going to change, then I’ll be in my office for paperwork if anyone needs me.”Minutes later, I’m behind my desk, working through a pile the other board members sent over, when my office door bursts open. My secretary stumbles in, trying and failing to block a woman who steps in without hesitation.My eyes widen with recognition. Elviira Hills. Alexa’s grandmother. My heart stutters.“Doctor Blackwood… I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen,” my secretary says breathlessly.I lift a hand, stopping her. “It’s alright. I’ll take it from here. Send in some coffee, please.”Elvii