Page 98 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

The door slowly opened and I started running.

"You forgot the rest of your luggage!" the flight attendant called after me.

I didn't need my luggage. All I needed was her. All I had ever needed was her.

Chapter 34

Monday

I clicked on Ian's number. Fuck. Not Ian. I bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going," he growled.

Fuck off. Fuck everything. God, I can't lose her. I picked up my pace, trying to avoid the people absentmindedly going through their days. How could everyone be acting normal when it felt like my whole world was caving in around me?

I scrolled through my phone until I saw William's name. But I didn't need to call. As soon as I pushed through the doors to the airport, I saw my car. William had parked it on the curb and he was arguing with an airport traffic policeman.

I started to run over to them.

"You have to keep moving," the police officer said. "I'm not going to ask you again."

"Or what? It's an emergency!" William looked like he was a few seconds away from punching the policeman in the face.

"Everyone has an emergency. Move along."

"I'm here, I'm here," I said as I ran up to them.

"Front seat," William said to me as he ran around to the other side of the car.

"Have a nice day too," the police officer mumbled.

I climbed into the passenger's side, ignoring him. I had barely closed the door when William hit the gas. "What happened? Is she okay?" Part of me didn't want to know the answer. If I didn't know, she was fine. She was still breathing. She was still with me.

William shook his head. "I don't know. She lost a lot of blood on the way to the hospital."

I turned around to look at the back seat. The leather upholstery was covered in blood. Her blood. My wife's blood. I shook my head. "But is she okay?"

"I don't know." He swerved to avoid another car.

Someone honked at him and he cursed under his breath.

"She lost consciousness before we arrived," William added.

I looked at the back seat again. "Was someone with her?"

"Your brother was with her."

I nodded. If she had been alone, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself. But she had Rob. Rob would have taken care of her. She would have felt safe with him. She would have felt safer with you. I tried to shake the thought out of my head. Damn it. Why now? Of all the times for this to happen, why did it have to happen the one day I was out of town? I clenched my hand into a fist. I wanted to go back in time.

The image of her asking me to stay at the wedding popped into my head. She had asked me not to go. Why hadn't I listened? What the fuck was wrong with me? I wanted to surprise her, but why hadn't I realized she was begging me to stay? Did she know something was wrong then? Had she been in pain? The thought made me feel paralyzed. She didn't want a surprise. She just wanted to spend time with me.

I looked at the back seat again. She was in pain now. And it didn't matter that Rob had been with her. Rob wasn't me. She needed me and I wasn't there. I vowed to catch her every time she fell. I promised her. I had failed her.

"Is Scarlett still at the apartment?" I asked.

"Yes. No one could get a hold of you to ask you what to do. Apparently she won't stop crying."

I tried to take a deep breath. My daughter needed reassurance. I pulled out my phone to call Ellen, but stopped myself. Fuck. I needed reassurance. I couldn't call them to calm them down when I could barely breathe. "Go a different way," I said as William started to approach stopped traffic.

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