Page 69 of Shattered Hope
“At the hospital. We flew you here in a helicopter last night,” I explained, my thumb caressing the back of her hand.
The caress was gentle and yet a test of some sort. I needed to know if Ailani saw me as a threat, after everything she had gone through. I still remembered vividly the way she flinched when I once startled her.
But there was no fear in her eyes.
“Oh… I would have loved that,” she whimpered in a teasing tone.
“That can be arranged. I’ll take you home in one,” I promised, kissing her hand, my eyes locked on hers.
She smiled but looked away. “How did you find me?” she asked, sounding slightly curious.
“Well, it wasn’t easy,” I said, pulling her hand gently until her palm rested on my cheek. I was probably pushing my luck, but after all the anguish and despair, I needed to feel her close. “When Hudson kicked the door open, he triggered the alarm, and Jonathan went to check on you. When he realized you were gone and all your things were still at the guest house, he called me and called the police.”
“Why would he call you?” she asked, cocking one of her eyebrows as if she was mildly interested in my answer. “You told him not to bother telling me you had been at the studio.”
“Jonathan knows me well. We’ve been friends for years, and he had never seen me more than a couple of times with the same woman. He knew I cared.”
“You did?” she asked, her eyes filled with hurt.
I clenched my jaw and struggled to keep my wits. I knew I had hurt Ailani deeply by rejecting her and not even letting her explain before the bastard got his hands on her. She was entitled to at least let me know just how much I had hurt her.
“I was stupid. Hudson showing up at the gala, pulled the floor from under my feet, and my whole world collapsed around me,” I confessed. “I felt betrayed and acted upon it. I should have allowed you to tell me the truth and not let you walk out of my life. If I had, you wouldn’t be here,” I concluded in a dark tone.
“You don’t know that,” she protested. “Daniel wouldn’t have given up… he has been after me for months.”
“I could have stopped him.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s not that simple… you couldn’t be with me 24/7… it would have been a matter of time.”
I gently dropped her hand over the bedcovers and jumped to my feet, suddenly too uncomfortable to stay still. “I led him to Jonathan’s house. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have found you. I put you in danger.”
She scoffed and scowled with pain. “You had no idea… I never told you anything; you couldn’t know…” she said in a sad tone.
“I should have read the signs…”
She chuckled. “Why? Are you familiar with abused women as to know how to read the signs?” she mocked me. “I didn’t want you to know. Hell… when I offered you another day in paradise, I was truly hoping I had moved forward… moved past all the shit I had been through… but as soon as the words left my mouth, I started regretting it, fearing the possible outcome,” she explained, frowning in pain.
“I’ll call the nurse… you’re supposed to rest,” I said, scolding myself for not noticing her pain.
“I’m fine… I guess this time he managed to break some of my bones,” she said, exuding scorn and hatred.
“A few ribs… you needed surgery,” I explained, sitting back on the chair near the bed. “Why did you never called the police?”
“It was useless… he was a charmer, an expert with the words, and he easily convinced everyone I loved it all. I tried to tell my mother what was going on, but she told me men were just men…” she explained, with a bitter tone.
“Why would she do that?”
“She loved being his mother in law. He showered her with gifts, bought her a house, paid for her vacations… He was the perfect son in law. She would never jeopardize that just because he was a bit rough in bed, as she liked to call it,” she replied, covering her eyes for a moment, with a shaky hand.
“What convinced you to finally leave?” I asked, curious.
“She died. Suddenly, I had no one telling me it was my duty to put up with my husband, no one I wanted more than anything to impress, to be the daughter she always wanted me to be…” she replied, in a self-deprecating tone. “God, that sounds so lame…”
“No, it doesn’t. A lot of people would go through hell just for a word of appreciation… to know they matter…”
“Is that why you visit your mother every week?” she asked me with a slight frown. “Because, deep down, you want her to love you?”
I could have lied or changed the subject, but I wanted Ailani to know the truth. “What kid doesn’t?... She never allowed me to get closer to her… but at least, now I know why.”
