When I wake up next, I’m bombarded by everyone.
The doctors. My grandparents.
The police.
They’re the only ones I want to talk to. I didn’t blink twice when the attending physician told me that the infection in my shoulder had spread and I might not be able to play football anymore.
While football is what’s helped me cope through the years, it’s not what’s made me feel alive.
It’s not the reason I’m still unable to fucking breathe.
So no, I don’t give a fuck about football right now.
My grandparents are on either side of me as I talk to the detective in charge of my case. His name is Wyatt and he has a thick blond moustache that covers most of his mouth.
He and another officer stand by my bed as I relay how I was shot in the forest and then taken with Naomi. I tell them about the cell and that fucker Ren.
I tell them that Naomi suspects it has something to do with her father, but when he asks me his name, I’m lost.
She’s never mentioned it. I suspect she doesn’t even know it.
“You need to find her,” I insist. “She’s been in there for three fucking days since I left and we only survived on water for three days before that.”
She could be trapped. Or worse.
Maybe the hallucination I had before losing consciousness earlier was true and she’s ruined beyond repair.
But even if that’s the case, I’ll stand by her side until the end.
Even if she pushes me away.
Even if she calls me names.
Even if she fucking hates me.
“Now, that’s the problem.” The detective shares a look with his colleague, then focuses back on me. “Miss Naomi Chester was never reported missing.”
“What?”
He flips through his notepad. “Her mother, Ms. Riko Chester, never reported her missing.”
That can’t be possible considering how protective she is of her daughter. “She could’ve been looking for her on her own, or maybe she’s been in contact with Naomi’s father.”
“That isn’t the case, Mr. Weaver. Ms. Riko confirmed to the police that she was getting ready to go on a trip with her daughter. They left yesterday.”
“They couldn’t have. Naomi was with me the whole fucking time.”
“They did, though. A day after you were dropped off at the emergency room.”
I stare between him and my grandmother as if that will somehow help me make sense of his words. Mrs. Weaver’s lips twist in disapproval, probably because I insisted on talking to the police and kept asking about Naomi’s safety.
She still doesn’t like me involved with her, but fuck her opinion.
Fuck anyone who thinks that I can’t be with Naomi.
“You must’ve gotten the wrong person, detective,” I grind out through my teeth, which puts a strain on my wound.
“No. We did, in fact, talk to Ms. Naomi Chester before she and her mother left for the airport. She said she hadn’t seen you since the day you disappeared.”
The airport.
Naomi lied to the police and then left the country?
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
“That can’t be true,” I murmur more to myself than anyone else.
“It is,” Grandma says in her haughty tone. “I personally paid that seamstress a visit as soon as you disappeared and she said that you hadn’t shown up at her house for a long time.”
“But did you see Naomi?” I ask.
“No, but I didn’t have to. She was in her room.”
“No, she wasn’t. She was with me,” I tell the detectives.
“The doctor said that your facts could be hazy due to the infection you suffered.”
“I’m not making things up. She was there and fucking took care of me.”
Detective Wyatt nods with feigned understanding and I want to reach out and strangle him. I want him to go out there and search for her, find her and have them tell me where I can talk to her.
But it’s useless.
Judging from the way everyone is watching me, they definitely think I’m hallucinating.
The detective tells my grandfather that he will keep us updated about their findings, but I already know there will be none.
Those guys were professionals and fooled the police into thinking that Naomi wasn’t even abducted.
The only trace they left behind is me and my memories that automatically became faulty due to my fever.
It was all calculated.
But they don’t know me. Or my Naomi.
No matter what they do, there’s no way in fuck they can separate us.
My grandfather walks out with the police. As soon as they leave, Grandma fixes me with a glare. “Stop making us look like fools. It’s enough that you’ve gotten yourself in trouble, don’t start acting like an idiot now.”
“She was there,” I say point-blank.
“I don’t care. The only thing that matters now is that she’s gone and stopped muddying your logic. This isn’t the Sebastian I raised.”
“The Sebastian you raised is a mere image, Grandma. He was never real.”
“Even better. That’s the only Sebastian that should be shown in public. The seamstress’s daughter isn’t on your level, do you understand?”
I say nothing, because if I do, I’ll be screaming like a lunatic.
Wanting to get rid of her, I pretend to be sleepy. Soon after, she leaves, because Grandma isn’t the type who stays around and takes care of a patient. She pays people to do that.
Now that she’s made sure her precious heir won’t die, she’ll just move on as if nothing happened.
Stifling a groan of pain, I reach for my phone on the edge of the table. Nate brought it over earlier before he headed out to attend to one of his cases.
I turn on the Wi-Fi and a thousand pings accumulate all at once. Messages from Owen, Asher, and even Reina. Other friends. Other people.
Just when I’m about to clear all the notifications, I notice something.
Someone.
A message from Naomi and it’s a day old.
Straightening, I ignore the pain as I click on it faster than anything I’ve done in my entire life.
Naomi: I’m fine. I survived. Barely. But I lost something in there, Sebastian. I lost a part of me that I don’t think I’ll ever find again. I’m just going through the motions so I can be there for Mom. She decided to spend her last days in Japan and I tagged along. This place has grown on me and I don’t think I’ll want to leave, even after Mom’s gone. Don’t try to find me, because the moment you do, I’ll run again. I can’t look at your face anymore without recalling what happened to me. I keep wondering if saving you was worth the sacrifice and if maybe you should’ve been the one who sacrificed instead. I’ll never know the answers to those questions, but I do know that whatever I felt for you vanished the moment I took the blow for you. I can never be with you again without feeling pain, and, therefore, I’m ending whatever we had. Live well.
The more times I read it, the stronger my grip around the phone becomes until my knuckles turn white.
My nightmare wasn’t wrong, after all.
They did rape her.
“Fuck…” I murmur with a pained groan as my chest tightens so hard, it’s impossible to breathe.
I grab a fistful of my hospital gown in the place where my heart lies and suck in shaky breaths.
The ugliness of the situation is like a weight slamming over my chest, but I don’t let the circumstances rule me.
I hit the call button and place the phone to my ear. I’m surprised when it rings. I don’t know why I thought she would’ve turned off her phone.
My pulse rate heightens with every ring. Just when I think it’ll go to voicemail, she picks up. “Hello?”
My heart jolts against my rib cage and some of the asphyxiation withers away.
I’ve thought of so many things to tell her since I woke up, but now that she’s on the other end, I don’t know what to say.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I speak the only words I feel deep in my bones. “Baby…I’m sorry.”
“You’re the one who said to never apologize for something you never had a hand in.” Her voice is apathetic, toneless, and I fucking hate it.
I hate that she feels far away—both physically and emotionally.
“But I couldn’t protect you and you blame me for it. I totally understand.”
“You understand nothing. You weren’t there.”
“But I’m here now and I will be there for you.”
“I don’t need you.”
“But I need you.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
“It was the anger talking in that text. I know you care.”
“No. I realized that I don’t.”
“You said you loved me, Nao.”
“I thought I did, but it was all smoke and mirrors.”
“You promised to fucking marry me.”
“You didn’t really think I meant it, did you? I was exhausted and at my physical limit and would’ve said anything at the time.”
“Baby…listen to me…”
“No, it’s time you listen to me. I’m done with you, Sebastian.”
“But I’m not done with you,” I growl into the phone. “I’ll never be done with you, do you hear me? You can escape to the other side of the globe and I’ll follow and make you mine again. I’ll chase you over and over until you know you can’t escape me. I meant it when I said you’re mine and I don’t plan to let it end.”
“It’s over.” Her voice lowers, losing its apathetic tone for the first time as she murmurs, “Reality.”
The phone goes dead. The beep that indicates the end of a call echoes in my ear like a raging thunderstorm.
My hand flexes around the device and I stare at it, as if holding it tighter will conjure her voice again.
But I know it won’t, not when the last thing she said is reverberating in my ear.
Reality.
Naomi just used her safe word and completely erased me from her world as if I never fucking existed.
