Page 86 of Estranged Heart
“She admitted to wanting Landon to get on that boat that night. She got into a car with the man who blew it up and nearly killed me.”
“She told you all this?” His eyes lock on mine, unblinking.
“I overheard them speaking behind one of the restaurants.” I take a sharp breath, holding it for so long I think I’m about to pass out when I finally let it out. “She works at the hospital my husband was going to and accessed his information. She must have seen he was a match and set the whole thing up.” It’s still hard to believe the words as they come out of my mouth. Landon hired this woman and kept her on, giving her chance after damn chance. How could she have done this? How could anyone?
Holding a hand up, he takes a breath and rubs his temple. “Wait. When? Where? There has to be some misunderstanding.”
“I know what I heard and saw. Your wife is a murderer. Are you one too, Silas? Are you here to distract me from seeing the truth?” I hope not. Please don’t let him be a part of this. Does it matter if he is or not? It’ll be hard to come back from this either way, but at least I’ll be sure he’s not a monster too, and thatmaybe . . . maybe some of this was real. That something good actually came out of this mess whether it lasts or not.
“No.” His frown deepens. “If this is true, I knew nothing of it. I swear I didn’t. I’d never . . . Oh God . . .” He squeezes his chest, gripping the counter, and his eyes point down to the ground. “I don’t feel so well.”
I move forward when his eyes roll into the back of his head and he drops toward the ground, catching him in my arms. I carry him to the couch, laying out his body, and shake his shoulder lightly. “Silas? What’s happening?”
He gasps for air, reaching for me, and I wrap my fingers around his cold hand. He starts spasming and his eyes shut again. Panic rises inside me and I call an ambulance, staying on the line with the dispatcher and doing everything she says. A numbness comes over me and I feel as if time is never ending as I wait for the sirens to sound outside my house.
They’ll call Stacey if she’s listed as his emergency contact and she’ll be at the hospital. I don’t know what I’ll do if I see her but I can’t let Silas ride there alone. I’m confused and want to hate him but I can’t. What if he really is telling me the truth? His eyes pleaded their innocence and squeezed at my heart.
When the ambulance arrives, they lift him on the stretcher and cover his face with a mask. I follow them in my own car since I’m not family, and they don’t let me past the waiting room when I arrive at the hospital. Pacing in circles, the room grows smaller around me and my stomach twists in knots as I wait for a nurse to come out to speak with me.
“Are you Elijah?”
“Yeah,” I blurt, not sounding myself.
“He’s awake and asking for you. I’ll take you up to his room.”
I nod and follow her down a long hallway, counting squares until her steps come to a halt in front of a room. “He’s right in here. He’s stable but very weak and exhausted.”
“He’ll be okay?” My voice comes out slightly above a whisper.
“He will. Any longer without his medication and we might have been having a different conversation.”
“He wasn’t taking his meds?” How does that make sense when I saw him pack them and chase them down with water more than once? I scratch the back of my head, peeking into the room when she cracks the door open.
“It doesn’t appear that way based on how fast his body is rejecting the heart.”
We enter the room and Silas is lying still on the bed, groggy and slowly moving from side to side.
“I’ll leave you two alone now.” She smiles softly and exits the room, closing the door behind her.
“Silas?” I inch closer to the bed, my heart sinking when I take note of all the wires connected to his body. He looks up at me with hazy eyes and flushed skin.
“I . . . What happened?”
“You passed out and had a seizure. They said your body was rejecting the heart.”
“Was it all a dream?” His voice sounds weak, and an ache stretches down the center of my body making it hard to move. I want to be closer to him but I also can’t be. I’m being pulled in so many directions and it doesn’t matter which one I go in. Either way I’m suffocating and reaching for relief. Where is it when I need it? I once found it in him but things are different now. Aren’t they? I look at him and see Landon’s lifeless eyes. Yes, they’re different, but the man I need to make all this anger go away is also the reason behind it all.
“What?” I finally answer, leaning against the frame at the end of his bed.
“Stacey being involved in Landon’s murder. Me having his heart. You not really wanting me and us not being real?” His face falls more, his eyes sunken in.
“I . . .” I look away from him because it’s too fucking hard. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now.”
He squeezes his eyes tight and a tear drops down his cheek. “I don’t either.”
“I’m going to head home. I wanted to make sure you were okay before I did. They’ll get you back on your meds and hopefully you’ll be out of here soon and we can figure it all out then.”
His hand grazes mine as I walk past him. “Don’t go. Please.”
