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My heart took some time to stop its erratic pounding. “That’s good. Oh, my God. I wouldn’t know what I’d do if…” My voice trailed out. I didn’t want to say it out loud. It’d be ominous.
Riley gave me some time to recover before saying, “There are so many things I need to tell you, Scarlet. It’s funny. I was thinking of all the things I’d say, and now nothing is coming to mind. I’m just so happy you’re here, safe. The doctor told us you might not make it.”
Riley seemed haggard. A light stubble had grown around his mouth and jaw, and dark circles framed his eyes. Even his eyes looked duller. The shimmering sparkle they used to carry wasn’t there. “How long was I out for?” I asked. His condition couldn’t have worsened this much within a short time-frame. Yet, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that the incident with Kelly had happened only yesterday.
“Two weeks,” Riley said. “You slept so soundly. We thought you’d never wake up.”
I glanced down at the sheets. “Two weeks? That’s a mighty long time.”
“Felt like an eternity.”
Fidgeting, I pointed out, “Weren’t you guys done with me, though? After the pictures.”
Ryan woke up, perhaps because our conversation disturbed him. “Hey, Riley.” He wiped his face with his hand.
“She’s awake,” Riley announced.
His mouth parted. Surprised, he tilted his head up and stared at me. “You’re awake?” He ran over to my side and bent down. Then, he continued, “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
I tried to shift my body up so it wasn’t so awkward to talk to them—it wasn’t a good idea. A sharp pain on my rib stung. “Ouch.”
Ryan leapt into action immediately. His hands came to my sides.
“I’m okay,” I answered. “I just want to sit up.”
“I’ll give you a hand.”
Gently, he lifted me up. The stinging lessened into a numb ache.
When I sat up, I studied the two men, uncertain about what to say. I had so many questions. I started with the simplest and most obvious. “Why are you here?”
Riley sighed. “We came here as soon as we heard the news. I took over with most business dealings, but I visited every day. Ryan never left.”
I raised my brows. I thought they wanted nothing to do with me? “Why?” I was touched by how worried they were, but my last memory I had of them was them kicking me out of their house.
He scoffed, “What do you mean why? We were worried, Scarlet. We didn’t know what to do. You were in critical condition when you went into that operating room. Even the doctor didn’t think he could save you. We thought you were going to… to… die.” He kissed the back of my hand. “I’m so happy you’re safe. You were so pale when you went into that operating room. There was blood all over the place. I thought I’d never see you again.”
Not remembering any of that, I sunk into my bed. “Oh.” An unsettling pause permeated the air. I didn’t want to bring their rejection up, the memory of it cutting deep, but it left too many unanswered questions. “After the photos… you guys made me leave.”
Riley groaned softly. “We’re sorry. We should have trusted you.”
I imagined this confession from him to be much more fulfilling, and that I’d embrace it with as much haughtiness as I could. But I wasn’t smug about it. Instead, it made me happy. I had been angry about their lack of trust before, but after a while, I stopped blaming them. The evidence, splayed out in front of their desk, looked too real. Anyone’s trust would be faltered by it. What I was angry about, though, was how they were so quick to ask me to leave and not talk about it. Still, I tried to find it within myself to forgive them. They finally were on my side again. I didn’t want to lose them a second time.
“We asked you to leave because we needed time to ourselves and to investigate,” Riley said.
“It hurt me,” I quipped, recalling my sleepless nights.
He buried his head into the bed. “We know. We’re so sorry. If we had trusted you more, you’d still be safe with us. None of this would have happened.”
I smiled slightly, knowing the twins were back to being my twins. “Nevermind that. What’s done is done.” Perhaps I was too weak to feel angry, or my feelings for them made me forget my grudge. “What happened to the photos, then? I’m curious.”
Ryan’s face contorted into disgust. “Our mother.”
Big surprise.
“Photo manipulation,” he continued. “We dug up Director Goodwill’s old scandal. We had to do some background checks, and research. We didn’t want to believe you’d do such a thing to us. Those images of his scandal fit the poses on the pictures with you, exactly. Wesley was added in through images of his own scandals. He fooled around a lot. They were fakes.” He shook his head. “We could only think about one person who would plan something like that, so we confronted our mother about it.”
