Page 68 of Hidden Heir

Am I dead? Is this what the afterlife is like?

As I open my eyes I’m met with a brightness so painful that I’m forced to close them again immediately. Groaning softly, I contemplate staying in the darkness forever until something creaks to my left.

“Leon?”

A familiar voice murmurs my name but I can’t place who it is. My heart jumps with the realization that I’m not dead. I’m alive with someone I recognize though who it is currently escapes me. I will the darkness to sweep me under once more, but unfortunately, I remain awake.

So I open my eyes again. The white lights aren’t as harsh the second time around and slowly the hospital room comes into view. The egg-white walls are somewhat nauseating to look at. A blind-covered window sits to my right, a grey, cloudy skysneaking through the slats. Several machines surround my bed making a variety of noises highlighting the fact that I am, indeed, alive.

I blink slowly then turn my attention to the person who spoke.

“Selina?”

“Hey,” she says softly with a gentle smile. “Welcome back.”

“Wh–where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, you’re safe,” Selina explains. “You’ve been asleep for a couple of days.”

Fog rolls through my mind as I try to recall how I got here. Memories sit just out of reach so I close my eyes, swallow around the scratchiness in my throat, and try again. “How did I get here?”

“We brought you here,” Selina says, her voice low and gentle. “When you and Leon entered the dry cleaners, you triggered an alarm. Given how highly alert we’ve been since his disappearance, it didn’t take us long to get there.”

Leon.

Suddenly, the sight of him drenched in blood as I cradled him in my arms enters my mind. My heart begins to beat rapidly as I meet her gaze. “He was bleeding. Is… is he okay?”

Selina nods. “Yes. He’s alive. You shot him in the abdomen, which was a little scary, but he was still alive when we arrived. We were able to get both of you to the hospital pretty quickly. We had to sedate you though, because you refused to let him go.”

I remember the gun going off in my hand before thinking it through. Remembering the way Leon froze and stared at me causes a shiver to travel down my spine. He and Paul had crumbled down to the ground and I feared I’d killed him.

“Thank god,” I whisper softly. “I thought he was dead.”

“No, he’s fine. As fine as he can be under the circumstances. As for Paul…” Selina’s face hardens. “We have him in custody.”

Paul. That bastard.

“He’s still alive?”

“Unfortunately. The bullet went through Leon and into Paul. He hit his head when he fell backward and was unconscious when we arrived. But you don’t need to worry about him anymore, Brooke. You’re safe, okay? You’re safe now.”

Safe.

What an alien concept.

It’s not until Selina reaches for my hand that the state of my body enters my thoughts. Both my hands are swathed in bandages, my broken wrist wrapped in a cast. Butterfly stitches run up and down my bare forearms, knitting my wounds back together. Any deep breath causes tightness and restriction around my chest, but I don’t feel any pain.

“Why can’t I feel anything?”

“We’ve got you on the best painkillers money can buy,” Selina explains. “You deserve that, at the very least.”

Part of me wants a mirror so I can see what my face looks like, but the way Selina refuses to look away from me tells me it might not be as bad as I fear.

Another thought spears through my mind and my heart jumps.

“Tiffany, where’s Tiffany? Ant betrayed me. He just…” There’s so much to process, and I don’t know where to start, but not knowing my daughter’s location suddenly becomes suffocating. “Where is she?”

“She’s fine!” Selina rises in her seat slightly. “Tiffany is safe with us. She always has been. She turned up on the doorstep in tears the night you and Leon disappeared. CCTV showed Ant dumping her at the gate and fleeing. We suspected he was involved in your disappearance and didn’t want to deal with her. We’ve been caring for her ever since.”

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