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“Miss Mercer, I’m glad we could get a hold of you. Declan is sleeping right now. But his condition has gotten worse. We’re keeping an eye on him, and he is stable, but you should come to the hospital as soon as you can. He needs you.”
Tears were streaming down my face. All the guilt I had been suppressing for the past two days suddenly rushed back in. This was on me. I should never have left him. Fallen into the stupid fantasy.
“I’m on my way,” I said, and hung up. I had to get out of there.
Thankfully, there wasn’t much to pack, so I got into my dress and hurried downstairs.
Owen was waiting for me on the couch, but as soon as he saw me there, shaken up and crying, he jumped to his feet.
“What is it? What happened?”
“It’s Declan. They hospitalized him, because he got worse. I should’ve been there for him!”
He moved to touch me but I pulled away. “It’s not your fault Sydney.”
“Is the plane here? I need to go back right now.”
“The plane will be here in thirty minutes. I’ll make the call. Come on, let’s calm down a minute.”
“Calm down? Are you kidding me? You’re running from the DA and IRS, my brother is about to die from the same illness that took my Mom, and I’m half way around the world! I am not calming down Owen!”
“Fair enough. What exactly did they tell you? What do they need us to do?”
He said us. Like we were a thing. But we weren’t. Declan’s hospitalization reminded me of that. Owen was some fairytale. I had made him that way in my mind, but now the truth was out.
“They didn’t give any details,” I replied. “Just told me I should come ASAP. What if it’s something serious? How could I live with myself? I should’ve never left…”
“Sydney, we’ll sort it out. I have messaged the pilot, they’ll be here and ready to go.”
“I’ll sort it out. I know you’re not coming.”
He sighed, looking genuinely sorry. “You’re right, I’m not. As soon as I get back to the city they’ll pull me in for questioning. My lawyers need to get a plan together. I can’t come with you.”
“I’m not surprised. I’ve done this on my own a million times before. I can do it again.” I turned away from him.
“I’ll drive you to the tarmac.”
“It’s the least you can do.”
“And I’ll call the Mayo Clinic, I’m sure I can pull some strings.”
“Owen, I don’t want your strings. I just want all this to be over.”
It hurt me to say it, but I didn’t have a choice. This had to end. Time to go back to reality. Time to fix this mess I made.
The moment I stepped out of the Uber, I felt like a deer in the headlights. I was scared, but the weight of the situation made my legs carry me forward, to the elevators and then up to the fifth floor. I could do it, I knew I could. Things were so bad that they could only get better, I decided.
My legs felt heavy, everything did. Not only was Declan sick again, but I had shut down Owen, who could have been good for me.
Maybe.
The nurse at the reception desk was nice, and asked me to wait a moment while they checked up on Declan. She said there was nothing life-threatening, but that she had to make sure he would be able to take a visitor.
“He has developed an infection,” she said. “Because of the therapy, his immune system is extremely fragile, so the infection developed quickly, too quick for us to catch it. It has harmed his respiratory system. He has trouble breathing, so don’t let him talk too much. He might get sleepy, but it’s natural with all the meds, so don’t worry. We’re monitoring his condition at all times.”
“Thank you,” I said, thanking the nurse, as much as whatever higher power had been responsible for the whole mess.
A minute later I was invited into the room, and the sight of Declan in the hospital bed, with tubes around his face and all sorts of blinking equipment around him made me tear up.
