All Chapters of In His World : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

**Adrian POV**The hospital was the same as it had been before, sterile and bright and full of the beeping sounds of machines that were keeping people alive who should probably be allowed to die with dignity, and I walked through the corridors with Elena beside me and Charlotte's text message burning in my pocket."Room 428 this time, Dad's condition is critical, come now."We took the elevator to the fourth floor and when the doors opened I saw them all standing in the hallway outside my father's room like they were afraid to go in, like being near him might somehow make them next.Charlotte was there crying into a tissue and James was there with his arms crossed looking grim and Maya was standing slightly apart from everyone checking her phone, and when I walked up Lily appeared from around the corner holding two cups of coffee like she'd gone to get them for someone but didn't know who to give them to."Adrian," Charlotte said and came over to hug me. "He's been asking for you.""H

**Adrian POV**I couldn't sleep that night and I lay in bed staring at the ceiling thinking about the name my father had given me, thinking about the baby who'd lived for three years in a coma before dying, thinking about how my entire existence had been built on replacing someone who was already gone.Elena was next to me and I could tell she wasn't sleeping either because her breathing wasn't even and she kept shifting slightly like she was trying to get comfortable but couldn't."I don't know who I am," I said into the darkness.She turned toward me. "What do you mean?""I mean my father named me after a dead baby, after Grace's son, and I spent my whole life trying to be what he wanted me to be without knowing I was supposed to be someone else entirely." I rolled onto my side to face her. "Who am I if I'm not Adrian Blackwell, the replacement for his dead son?""You're Adrian Blackwell, the person who makes terrible coffee and forgets to eat lunch when he's working and who actuall

**Adrian POV**Charlotte appeared in the doorway and at first I thought she was coming to help defuse the situation with James but then I saw what she was holding and my blood turned to ice.Another gun.She held it loosely at her side like she'd forgotten it was there but it was pointed in our general direction and her face was completely blank, no emotion at all, like she'd shut down some part of herself to get through this moment."Charlotte," I said carefully. "What are you doing?""I'm telling the truth," she said and her voice was flat. "The truth I should have told two years ago."Elena was still standing between me and James and I could feel her shaking now, could feel the fear radiating off her, and I wanted to pull her back behind me but I didn't dare move because there were two guns in my living room and any sudden movement might set someone off."What truth?" Elena asked.Charlotte looked at her and something flickered in her eyes, something that might have been regret or

lAdrian POVEverything was painful and it started in my chest and radiated outward like fire spreading through my whole body, burning through every nerve until I couldn't tell where the pain ended and began.I couldn't breathe right and when I tried to take a breath it felt like someone was pressing something heavy against my chest, crushing my lungs, and the air wouldn't come in no matter how hard I tried.I couldn't see clearly either and the room kept fading in and out like someone was turning the lights on and off, and faces appeared above me but I couldn't make out who they were, couldn't focus on anything except the pain and the feeling that something was terribly wrong.Elena's hands were on my chest and I could feel the pressure of her trying to stop the bleeding, could feel the warmth of my own blood soaking through my shirt and pooling beneath me on the floor.She was screaming my name over and over and I wanted to tell her I could hear her, wanted to tell her I was trying t

Elena POVThe police arrived at the hospital around dawn and I was still sitting in the chair next to Adrian's bed holding his hand, and when they asked me to come give a statement I didn't want to leave him but they said it was important so I followed them to a small room down the hall.Two officers sat across from me with notebooks and recording devices and they looked tired like they'd been working all night, and one of them was a woman with kind eyes who told me to take my time."Can you walk us through what happened last night?" she asked.I tried to remember but everything was fractured and out of order in my mind, images coming in flashes like a broken film reel. "James came to the apartment with a gun and he was drunk and angry and he was pointing it at Adrian.""What was he angry about?""The inheritance, his father just died and left everything to Adrian and James got nothing." I wrapped my arms around myself. "He said Adrian stole everything from him."The officer wrote som