Dad is hooked up to monitors, machines, they’re constantly buzzing and beeping, the sound and bright, stark halogen lights overwhelming.
Mom, surprisingly, isn’t at his bedside. I didn’t stick around long enough at the compound to see if she was home.
“Hey, you’re awake,” I say, stating the obvious. His head is bandaged with gauze wrapped around his forehead. The blood cleaned and gone from the shooting, but the evidence still staring right back at me.
Dad breathes a sigh of relief when he sees me and pushes the button on the bed to sit up farther. “Come in.” He waves me into the room.
Ashton is on my heels, right behind me, holding the door when I let go and stalk around to the opposite side of the hospital bed, taking a seat in the nearby vacant chair.
“It’s good to see you, sir. You’re looking much better,” Ashton says.
Dad almost gives a smile, more of a half-smirk, and glances from Ashton to me. “I hear you both went to Las Vegas. I swear if you got married—” There’s a tone in his voice that shows both concern and is laced with something else.
Anger?
I’m unsure. It makes my stomach flop.
He doesn’t know about the breakup.
“We didn’t,” Ashton says, quick to settle any confusion. “We went with the others to rescue Harper. Do you remember her abduction?”
Dad shakes his head no and winces. “I saw it on the television this morning. Is she—all right?”
“She’s fine,” I say, and my voice catches in my throat as I reach for Dad’s hand. He’s the only one who might understand what I’m feeling. “Rhys went with us…” my voice trails off.
The air heavy, my breath hitches.
“He didn’t make it,” Ashton says, saying the words that I can’t seem to voice aloud.
Dad nods, his brow furrowed, and his nose crinkles slightly at his obvious discomfort. “That’s unfortunate. Rhys was a good man. Always looked out for my baby girl.” He gestures for me to approach the bed, and I’m hesitant, if only because I don’t want to hurt him.
Biting my bottom lip, I move from the chair and embrace my father in a hug, feeling the tears spill quickly from the surface, the pain pouring out of me like a waterfall as I try to hold it back.
“He died protecting the family. An honorable and noble death,” Dad says, as if that makes Rhys’s departure any easier.
It doesn’t, at least not for me.
Ashton clears his throat. “I’m going to give you guys some privacy. Nova, I’ll be right outside in the hallway if you need anything.”
I wait until I hear the door clasp shut and finally pull back, wiping the tears. “Ashton and I broke up,” I admit. The words pain me almost as much as Rhys’s passing. I climb back into the chair behind me, sniffling and stealing a tissue from the box, doing my best to dry my eyes.
“I never did like him for you. My little girl deserves better,” Dad says. “Do you need me to fire him? If he did anything to hurt you?—”
While I appreciate his threat, I hold up a hand to stop him.
“Ashton wants this life,” I say, my hands gesturing in front of me. “It’s not what I want. It’s never what I wanted. Mom was murdered. My first nanny along with her. I just lost Rhys in an awful explosion with men who abducted my best friend. There’s too much at stake. I’d rather lose Ashton in a break-up than any other way,” I confess.
A heavy sigh falls from my father’s lips. “Nova, you are one of the strongest people I know.”
I glance down, wringing my hands together.
I don’t feel particularly strong right now. I feel like I’ve hit rock bottom.
“That boy, Ashton, is wildly in love with you. I tried to keep him away; I had Dante order him to marry Harper!” Dad curses under his breath, not pleased that Ashton disobeyed a direct order. “You’re going to let a little bit of fear get in the way of your happiness?”
I scoff and rub my shoes along the floor, dragging my feet. “I don’t want him to end up in a bed like this, or worse,” I whisper. “I cared about Rhys. I loved him like a sibling, and he was taken from me.”
My breath catches in my throat, the tears surfacing all over again, and I wipe my face with the back of my hand, the tissue already soaking wet and worthless. I toss it in the nearby trash and steal another from the table.
