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He’s dead.
“I’m–I’m fine.”
Rogue finishes untying the last knot.
“You’re shaking.” He says, picking me up in his arms.
Our heads snap to the entrance as we hear the sound of a door shattering against a wall.
“Gendarmerie de Genève! Mains en l’air!”
???
The police escorted Rogue to the station to get his statement of the events and process the evidence. Meanwhile, an ambulance took me to the local hospital where I was ordered to stay overnight for observation.
I haven’t seen or heard from him since yesterday. I don’t know if he’s still at the station or if he was allowed to go home. Disappointment crawls in my stomach at the thought that he might be home and hasn’t reached out. We may have broken up but I thought he still cared enough to check in on me.
The girls came to visit this morning, bringing snacks and gossip. Thayer hugged me for a long time, refusing to let me go and telling me that I wasn’t allowed to die without her. They left a few minutes ago and now I’m alone, pacing the length of my room in frustration as I wait to be discharged.
I turn when I hear the door sliding open, my mouth dropping when I see who’s standing in the doorway.
“Hi, sweetheart.” My mom says before crossing the room and throwing her arms around me. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Mom.” I say, choking on the word as emotion swells in my throat. When she pulls me into her warm embrace and I smell her familiar perfume, I break down into tears.
“You’re alright, sweetheart.” She replies, stroking my hair the way only your mom can. “I’m here now.”
She holds me for a few minutes as I cry on her shoulder, the fear and anxiety of the past twenty four hours melting away in her arms. I eventually pull back, wiping my wet cheeks as she puts a strand of hair behind my ear, careful to avoid touching the stitches on my head from where Robert hit me.
“Does it hurt?”
"They gave me some pain medication so I don’t really feel it.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.” She says, her voice cracking as she speaks. I realize that as scared as I was, she must have been equally terrified hearing the news that her daughter was hospitalized after being kidnapped.
“How did you get here? How did you even know to come?”
“A young man called me.” She says, giving me a knowing smile. “He told me what happened and that I needed to come see you. Said there’d be a plane waiting for me at O’Hare and sure enough, there was.”
My heart stumbles in my chest at her words. “Did he tell you who he was?”
“I think you know exactly who called me.” She says with a grin. “Tell me about him. I need to know how a man you’ve never spoken to me about came to send a private plane to bring me to your side.” She adds, throwing me a stern look.
“I’m sorry. I… I just got caught up in it. It’s really complicated and I didn’t want to tell you about him until we leveled out.”
“And have you?”
“Well, he cheated on me. So we leveled out in the sense that we broke up. His father mistakenly thought he could still use me as leverage, that’s it.”
“How do you feel about him?”
“I loved… love him.” I say, looking away from her as I admit the truth – my feelings haven’t disappeared overnight.
“Honey,” She says, grabbing my hands in hers and giving them a squeeze. “I don’t know about this cheating business, but that man cares deeply for you. You don’t charter a plane for the mom of someone you don’t have strong feelings for.”
“I’m sure it’s just guilt for dragging me into this.”
“Or maybe it’s because he knew that you’d want me by your side for this.” She says. “He begged me to come. Not that I needed encouragement, mind you, but he sounded desperate to make sure you were taken care of.”
