Page 138 of Darkest Deception

Mum frowns, her lips twisting as she shakes her head, like she’s denying everything coming out of my mouth.

“Didn’t you? Are you going to deny it as well?”

She opens her mouth but shuts it.

“I hate you.” I spit out, turning away from her.

My eyes fall on Aurora, who has been looking at me this whole time.

Her hand grasps mine in a soft hold, her eyes watery as she gives me a shaky smile.

“It’s okay, Ambrose.” She squeezes my hand. “It’s okay to let her go. She hurt you too much. Put yourself first. You deserve happiness too.”

A tear drops onto my hand, and I squeeze back. “I’m sorry, Aurora.”

She shakes her head, silencing me. “It’s in the past. Please, recover so we can bring Helia back. You need to heal to fight for him.” She raises her brows, waiting for me to agree.

“You need to know that I didn’t do it, Aurora. I didn’t release those clips.”

She brings my hand up to her lips, kissing it as tears drip down her cheeks.

“I know, I believe you. Helia told me about you a lot when you weren’t around. He was the one warming my heart to you, Ambrose. He was the one who has been pushing me to give our relationship a go, the one to urge me to invite you over and help you connect with me again. He has done so much for you without you realising. It’s only fair I help you guys now.”

The heart monitor takes a dip before it rises at an incredible rate.

“What?”

She nods, a wide smile spreading on her face as she sits down at the chair next to my bed and goes into full detail about exactly how involved Helia has been in my life.

I didn’t even realise Mum left until a nurse walks in and checks on my injured foot and my vitals. She tells me I am good to go, but not put pressure on my feet for a week to allow it to heal. And I’ll have to regularly change the small bandage around my neck where the knife pierced the skin.

When I am in my bedroom again—it’s clean now—my eyes move over every surface. Not a single thing is out of place. Aurora is in the bathroom, running me a warm bath, and all I can think about right now is Helia in jail.

He left thinking I hated him and did this to him when he poured so much of himself into me.

I need to tell him before it’s too late.

Instead of fighting my case for my company and using this as an advantage to get it back, I will be fighting for him instead.

The thing is that he had more than enough time to plunge that knife inside of me. He could have done without a second thought, but he didn’t. I saw him hesitate. I saw his eyes well up with tears, and I saw the love for me fight through the anger and betrayal.

I need to hear it from him that he doesn’t despise me.

I won’t be able to live with myself if he did.

“It’s done. Ready to go in?” Aurora walks out of the bathroom, a messy bun on her head, a pastel-pink coloured sweater on top of a white skirt, and flats on her feet.

She smiles at me as I try to get up, rushing to me and helping me limp to the bathroom.

“I’ll leave you to change and get in. If you need help, just give me a shout. I will be right outside.”

I nod, biting my lip, and watch her walk away.

How can I keep crying when, once upon a time, I never once shed a tear?

The only person who has brought every single light back into my life isn’t even here to witness it. The one person who actually bothered to get to know me, to fight against me and keep me on my toes, isn’t here to even see that I love him with all my heart.

It feels like my love for him is as easy as water falling from a cup. Simple. Fast.

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