Page 13 of Silent Betrayal

“How are you doing, Love? Do you have any questions right now?”

“How l-long?”

“Twelve days. You woke up yesterday, then went back to sleep for another day. You need the rest to help recover,” Gideon tells her, stroking her hand. She nods, looking around the room.

She squirms again. “What is it?” I ask her softly.

She looks a little embarrassed, then rasps out, “pee.” Making us chuckle.

“Alright, Angel, I’ll help you. Let me disconnect these, then I’ll carry you over there.” She nods, and I start disconnecting the IV’s the way the nurse instructed us yesterday after she woke up, happy to have us help.

I’m glad she isn’t going to insist on walking on her own, there is no way she’s strong enough for that yet. I push back the blanket, and she gasps, staring at her legs. That asshole carved lines up and down them, and a few of them even needed stitches.

“They’re healing well. They don’t think your legs will have much scarring, they’ll barely be visible,” I tell her softly while she stares at her legs in horror. Then she starts moving her arms around, taking a look at the rest of herself. When she sees the bandage covering her left hand, she lets out a whimper and grabs it with her right hand.

“M-m-my…” she stutters, tears in her eyes.

“It’s okay, they reattached it. They don’t—they aren’t sure yet if you’ll have feeling in it or be able to use it though, but the procedure went well and they’re hopeful,” I tell her gently, sitting on the bed facing her.

“H-how?” she whispers so quietly I almost don’t hear her.

“Jasper,” Gideon says. She whips her head to him, then to me, then back again.

“He’s the one who picked up your finger and kept it on ice all the way to the hospital and wouldn’t give it over until they promised to try to reattach it,” Gideon tells her with a soft smile. I struggle to keep any emotion from showing on my face because I don’t want to scare her. I was terrified. Seeing her finger lying on the ground like that—it broke me.

“He clutched it to his chest the entire time, like it was the most valuable thing in the world,” Tucker adds.

“It’s a part of you, literally, so of course it’s important,” I whisper, staring at her beautiful green eyes.

“Y-you did that… f-for me?” she whispers, her eyes big and glossy.

I give her a smile. “I’d do anything for you, Angel.” She leans into me and I take the invitation, hugging her gently.

“Alright, let’s get you to the bathroom.”

Chapter six

Talk aboutembarrassing. Using the bathroom with the help of my extremely attractive male friend, because I have minimal use of my arms and legs, is not something I’m looking forward to doing again. Thankfully, Jasper keeps his eyes averted when necessary and doesn’t make me feel overly awkward.

My limbs still feel like they’re made of lead, and Jasper tells me it’s the drugs in my system. I hope he’s right, that it’s not damaged from my injuries. I still can’t believe my mother did that to me. She’s always been crazy, but this time she’s completely off her rocker. I’m not sure what happened yet or if they’ve caught her. I need to ask, but I’m a little worried to know the answer.

A little pulse of excitement goes through me at the thought of me talking.I can speak!I’m not sure why I couldn’t before or what’s changed now but I hope with time, I can have full conversations. Right now, three words at a time is a real struggle, causing my throat to hurt from overuse and drying out, although the latter might be from the drugs still in my system.

As Jasper carries me out of the bathroom, I see all seven of my guys are here now, and I give them a huge smile.

“Sweetheart!”

“Malishka, you’re awake!”

“Princess!”

They all greet me with kisses on the head or cheek, with Dom coming over last and scooping me up out of Jasper’s arms.

I lean against his chest, happy to be close to him. He did everything he could to stop CPS from taking me and helped me speak again. I don’t think I can ever repay him for that, not to mention that they all saved my life by coming to find me.

“How do you feel, Kitten?” Every time he calls me that, it sends a small thrill through me. A special nickname just for me.

“Awful,” I admit weakly, taking stock of all my aches and pains.

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