Fractured (Lucian & Lia #2)(4)
I try to stand up from my chair, knowing my aunt needs to get off her feet for a few minutes, but she motions me back down before squatting next to me. “We’re going to be moving Lia to a room in the ICU soon. One person can stay with her tonight. Have you reached any of her friends or family?”
I think briefly of Max’s revelation that Lee Jacks is quite possibly Lia’s biological father. That’s a bridge to be crossed another day, though. “She doesn’t really have any family.” Max has called her close friend Debra. She was out of town but is on her way back now. I don’t expect her until sometime tomorrow, though. If Debra was as upset as Max said she was, I figure she’s burning the road up trying to get to Lia.
“There is one piece of news I think you’ll be relieved to hear,” my aunt says softly. I just look at her, not knowing if anything other than seeing Lia will give me relief. “Luc, it doesn’t appear she was raped. There is no evidence to support it. If that was her attacker’s intent, then possibly he was interrupted before he could do it.”
I drop my head into my hands, feeling the urge once again to cry. My aunt was right; the feeling of relief is overwhelming. To know that Lia hadn’t been violated in that way is enough to bring me to my knees. The bastard hadn’t been able to take that from her. I have no doubt that she fought him with everything she had. The skin they removed from under Lia’s nails gave validity to that fact. When her stepfather is found, Lia will have collected the evidence during her struggle to lock him away. “Thank God,” I finally say. “Can I go to her now?”
When I feel a hand on my head, I look up in surprise. My aunt continues to run her hand through my hair. I stiffen at first because it’s been many years since she comforted me as she did when I was a child. Except for the rare occasion, I’ve always preferred to find my comfort in solitude, which was hard for her to accept for many years. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
I pull back sharply, causing her hand to return to her side. “What’re you talking about?” I cringe when the question leaves my mouth. I’ve played right into her hands. I should have walked away without comment, but I’ve opened the door now.
“I have never seen you this way over a woman. To be honest, you’re a complete wreck, which we both know isn’t you.”
I love my aunt, but I hate to be psychoanalyzed. I bite back my anger because I would have been barred from the hospital by now if not for her interceding today. She has also been my eyes and ears to Lia, breaking rules I know she normally wouldn’t for anyone but me. “We both know I’ve been here before. In this very hospital, actually, and I think it accurate to say I was off my rocker then, as well.”
My aunt is unable to contain her quick flinch at the reminder of my past. “That wasn’t the same thing, Luc,” she says quietly. “I’m not saying you didn’t love Cassie, because you did. You just were not in love with her. Lia, though—”
“Fae,” I interrupt her. “Please stop. I don’t have anything left in me for this conversation today. I’m hanging on to a f*cking tightrope by one hand. If you want me to admit I care about Lia, then fine, yes I do. Leave it at that.”
She looks quickly at her phone when a text sounds. “That’s Sara. I told her to let me know when Lia was in her room.” As I jump to my feet, my aunt halts me before I get further. “Lia’s heavily sedated, Luc. Don’t expect her to wake at any point tonight and maybe not tomorrow, either. Right now, her body needs the respite to heal. After you’ve seen her, you should go home for the night and get some rest. She’ll need you more in a few days.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I say flatly. My aunt purses her lips in frustration but doesn’t comment. The thought of leaving Lia alone was enough to make my gut clench in agony. She had needed me earlier, and I’d been unable to go to her; that wouldn’t happen again. I can no more admit to myself how I feel about Lia than I could to my aunt. Truthfully, I have no clue. Love? Maybe obsessed is a more accurate word. From the moment we met, the driving need to have her, to possess her, has ruled my every action where she is concerned.
The double doors to the inner sanctum of the emergency department open for me this time with a simple swipe of my aunt’s ID badge. The irony that here she is more powerful than I am is not lost on me. I’m a rich, well-connected man, but that means little here. I am nothing compared to the heroes hurrying in these hallways, desperately trying to help those like Lia.
We reach a doorway to a room at the end of the hall, giving it a bit more privacy than the ones closer to the nurses’ station. My heart pounds loudly in my chest as I follow my aunt into the small, dimly lit space. My aunt walks straight to the monitors next to the bed, checking each of them before stepping aside and motioning me forward.
Then I see her…My chest feels tight, and my feet so unbelievably heavy as I take small steps until I’m next to her. “Oh, baby,” I whisper as I stand helpless at Lia’s bedside. I reach down and take her small hand into mine, careful of the IV line attached to it.
My aunt steps up, rubbing my arm reassuringly. “Most of what you see is just to monitor her. You can touch her, just be careful you don’t knock anything loose.” At my nod, she says, “I’m going to head home for the night. Call me if you need me for anything…no matter the time, and I’ll be here.”