by Ivy Knight
"Summer, I suggest you-"
I snatch the file out of his hands and read Anthony's paper.
Paraplegia, complete paralysis of lower limbs.
"What are the chances of him walking again?"
"There's only a chance."
"So it's undetermined?"
"Yes," he replies.
"I thought I told you to keep her away from Anthony," I turn around to find Zoe.
"Zo-"
"Save it. Just go away, Summer," she sighs tiredly. Like she's conflicted with her own feelings and doesn't know how to properly react in this situation.
"Zoe, please hear me out. I-"
"Summer, please go away. I don't wanna hear it," she begs.
"I'm sorry, Zoe. I'm so sorry."
"I know you are, but it's best if you just stay away from me and as far as Anthony goes, just let him heal first, that's all I'm asking for."
"Whatever you want," I assure her. The desperation in her eyes clear for me to see, I drop my gaze as I walk past her. A few steps later, everything becomes pitch black.
...♛...
"We're just here to see her," I hear a female's voice in the distance as I regain conscious.
"They're both here because of your guys' decisions. I thought I made myself clear when I said you need to stay away from her until she's fulling healed," I hear Vincent's voice.
"We get it. We should've been there to protect her, but we weren't and we'll live with that, but we just want to see her," Alec argues.
Regaining full conscious, I get up slower, this time, and make my way outside.
"I said no, at least not until father decides the right consequence for this mistake," Vincent replies calmly.
"They're not getting any punishment," I state. Vincent turns around revealing Amelia, Dakota, Alec and Cole.
"Summer, get back into bed. You're not in any state to make decisions."
"Well, I say the same about you every day, but you still keep making decisions, don't you? I'll talk to father about it myself, he'll understand. It's not their fault anyway," I insist.
"Nick almost had you and Anthony, Summer. You're so lucky that you're alive, but instead of appreciating it, you're playing with your chances."
"You don't have to tell me, Vince we both know I'm not as much of a gambler as you."
"Is there something you're applying?" Vincent questions becoming defensive.
"Just that it's time for you to leave. Take care and talk to Anthony, but I don't need you anywhere near me," I acknowledge.
I watch as his body stiffens, feeling both embarrassed and angry at my reply before he turns around and leaves. Once he's out of the hallway, I let my body rest by leaning on the door frame and let out a deep breath.
"Fuck," I groan as I feel the soreness in my body. I massage my forehead for a few seconds then look up.
Everyone's here except for Kai.
"Where's Kai?"
"Why don't you lay down, and we'll tell you everything?" Cole offers.
"Alright," I agree. Cole takes my arm putting it around his shoulders and helps me back to the bed where I lie and wait for them to tell me what's been happening.
"It's been six days since the accident. The first time you woke up was two days after and Kai was here despite Vince's orders. He was sneaking in whenever he could, but he got caught by Dean. Dean and him ended up fighting and the hospital called the police. They were let off with some charges, but that was the easy part. Your father yelled at both of them, but said some pretty harsh things to Kai. Kai has been working ever since tracking Nick's every move."
"So he's distracting himself with work?"
"Yup," Dakota replies.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I feel everything piling up inside me.
"What about Anthony? Is he okay?"
"From what Lane told us, Anthony regained conscious yesterday. He's pretty healthy and not taking his disability too heavily. The doctors said his attitude might actually help him heal from the Paraplegia," Alec explains.
"Yeah, what about me? When can I get out this place?"
"You had a major concussion, multiple stitches on your upper body and lost a lot of blood. The doctors wanna keep you under observation for a couple of days and track your healing before they determine anything," Amelia explains.
"Well that sound fun," I sarcastically state. "Hey, guys?"
"Yeah?" They all reply in unison.
"I'm really tired."
"Oh. Well, yeah, you should rest."
"Yeah," I say. As I hear them all shuffle out, I call out to the them to stop.
"Yeah?"
"It wasn't your fault... it was mine," I whisper the last part drifting into a deep sleep. Hopefully they heard me.
...♛...
"Are you sure you're okay? I can't believe this happened three weeks ago and I'm just hearing about it now," Alessio complains.
"Yes, I'm fine," I reply. "But I gotta go, I need to talk to father before he leaves for the wedding."
"Wait, you're not going?"
"No, Anthony doesn't need me there."
"I really think I should come home, our wedding is in a month," Alessio says.
"No, you're not coming back early and ruining things with Elenora again. You handle things there and I'll handle things here, you can come back a week before the wedding like we originally planned."
"If you're gonna be stubborn, then fine."
"Good, now take care. I gotta go."
"Bye."
"Bye," I end the call as I head into father's office.
"I wanna see the contract," I tell him.
"You're not having doubts, are you?" father questions as he stacks some files into his cabinet.
"I'm not. I just wanna make sure everything is going according to the plan. Too many people are losing way too much for this not to work out the way we intend it to."
He nods knowingly and opens up his safe behind one of the paintings, I pay close attention to the numbers he punches in and memorize them in order.
Seven, three, zero, five, six, one, nine.
He pulls out the file full of papers that Kai, him and I signed months prior and hands it to me.
I flip through the pages and stop at the one page that matters the most and read off every word on the page. Only a couple words stick in mind.
Kai Black is, one hundred percent, the sole owner of the The White Dragon's Empire.
Once I read those words, I close the file.
"I don't know what you said to him, but he hasn't talked to me in three weeks."
"Well, get him talking. We're too close to the end and we can't have any mishaps," father instructs as I hand him back the file.
"I know," I sigh. "If you hadn't said anything, this could've been a lot easier."
"Since when have you been choosing the easy way out, Summer?" he questions as he puts the file back into his safe.
"I guess I'm just tired of it all," I admit.
"I don't doubt it, but you're a strong girl. I know your mother would be proud if she were here today," he smiles. "Are you sure you don't wanna attend the wedding? Anthony would want you there."
"I'm sure," I tell him.
"Okay then," he walks around and lands a kiss on my forehead. "I love you, Summer."
"I love you too, pater," I smile back.
"Sir, everyone's waiting for you downstairs," a guard enters. Father nods in response and we both head downstairs.
"Tell Anthony I love him."
"I will," father assures. Once he leaves, I lock the door behind him.
From there, I head to the kitchen where I pour myself some rice in a bowl and a glass of water. I take the food out to the dining table where I take a seat. As soon as I pick up the spoon, I see my reflection in it.
The last three weeks haven't exactly been easy, but that's exactly how I've treated them, like it's normal. Like it's normal to get into accidents, it's normal for people to blame me, it's normal to get mo
re scars on my body, it's normal to be in pain and it's normal to feel alone in a crowd of people.
This is all normal, is what I've been telling myself for the past three weeks to get through them; even though, it has been far from it.
I haven't talked to Anthony since the accident for two reasons one, Zoe doesn't want me seeing him and two, I blame myself for Anthony's condition. Yeah, August would've done something whether I was there or not to get the formula, but I still can't stop wondering what if I wasn't there? Maybe Anthony would've been less hurt.
Kai, as for him, I haven't talked to him. He's been around me when I'm not conscious, I know because his smell lingers behind when I wake up. It's not what I want, but it's what I need. Just knowing he's still here, has been my only comfort.
Out of everything else, the only other thing that gives me some satisfaction is the fact that the original formula is now locked up in our vault far from any of us.
At least one thing turned out how it was supposed to.
The spoon still in my hand, I snap out of my thoughts as I look around the empty table and lose my appetite.
Today is Anthony's wedding, and here I am, at home. Sitting, at the empty dining table with an untouched bowl of rice in front of me.
Now that I'm completely alone missing an event that will never happen again, I feel it all crashing. Not all at once, piece by piece in slow motion, I can feel each tear picking my soul apart.
With no real thought in my mind, I skid my chair back and grab the bowl of rice. I get up to walk to the kitchen, but as I turn around, I bump into the chair next to mine and drop the bowl of rice. The bowl shatters and the rice spills everywhere.
I look down at it, and not a single thought crosses my mind, I simply just walk over the glass, one step at a time, feeling the glass at the bottom of my feet but no pain associated.
I make my way out to the backyard. As soon as my feet land on the cool grass, my eyes close and a tear leaks through my lids. I open my eyes and I continue to walk. A few minutes later, I find myself standing in front of my mother's grave, once again.
Staring at her name plastered across the stone, imaging her body buried beneath the ground, every single word spoken to me, against me, and against my existence play themselves in my mind.
It's your fault she's dead, do you understand? You killed her.
Whore, come over here and show me what you're offering.
What do you know about family, Summer?
No way. She's fifteen with those títs? How much?
The scars on her body are too much, you gotta lower the price.
You fucking slût!
You killed her!
Please, please don't kill him. I'll pay off the debt, please!
The blood on your hands is there because of your actions. You're blood thirsty, Summer just like me.
You were born a killer.
In the midst of all the thoughts, an ear-piercing scream escapes my lips. My hands shoot up covering my ears as I drop onto my knees and beg for the voices to stop.
"Stop! Just fucking stop! I'm – I'm not a killer! I'm not a whore! FUCKING STOP! Stop stop stop stop stop just STOP!"
And everything stops. My heavy breathing, and the empty wind takes over, tranquillizing the noise projected in my mind.
After a few seconds, I hesitantly lift my head. Confirming that I'm still alone, I sit on my knees silently letting my tears fall.
In the process to gain my freedom, I'm losing everything and that's not what scares me. What scares me, is that I have to let everything go if I want what I need.
I'm honestly so fucking done. I just want it all to be over. When I told my father I'd be willing to do anything, I clearly underestimated the amount of patience it would take.
I don't know how much longer I can take it. If things don't turn out the way we want them to, I'll either end up killing myself or in an endless cycle of nothing but pain. At this point, I don't know which one's worse, but hopefully, I don't have to experience any of them.
The worse thing about all of this, is that the plan relies on the actions of one person. If none of this is set up properly, then nothing will be executed correctly, that's a given. But in our case, even if everything is set up perfectly, none of it matters as much as the decisions of this one person on the one day we'll need it most.
I've never been a fan of gambling and this is just that. If I ever had a choice to play a real game in the casino over this one, I'd choose losing billions of dollars over lives any day.
I stay outside for hours until the sun drops and the moon takes its place. Playing every aspect of the plan in my head over and over and over again, trying to comprehend the different ways it can all end, I mentally prepare myself.
"Summer?" Dean's voice from behind, startles me. "Everyone's been looking for you, what are you doing outside?"
I don't reply. I sit there hoping that he'll leave me alone, but he doesn't. Instead, he takes a seat next to me.
"You know, I love coming out here too. Makes me feel like I always have someone to talk to," he shares. We sit there in silence for a while as I don't make up the courage to talk.
Lately everything that comes out of mouth feels like a lie, and I just wanna save myself from lying to another person I care about.
"I know we didn't get off the right foot when you first came, but I've been trying. After we thought you died, I was fucked up. I started doing drugs. My addiction got so bad, that father had to kick me out of the house to make me realize what I was doing to myself. I got into rehab and father took me back in. I got my shit together, at least, until you showed up. All the feelings I felt, just fucked me up. I blamed you for them, because I was tired of blaming myself."
"What I'm trying to say is that I fucked up and I'm sorry. I miss the way we used to be. I just want it back, you were my girl and I was your boy. We used to tell each other everything and now, we try to avoid each other like the plague."
"I can't do it anymore, I miss you too," I admit breaking down once again. "I'm so sorry, Dean. I'm so sorry for all of it."
Watching me break down, he wraps his arms around me.
"It's okay, Summer. We all are," Dean whispers back.
After a while, we both end up going inside and decide to watch a movie in the theatre room. We talk more about the wedding and everything else than paying attention to the movie, but neither of us complain.
Spending time with him makes me forget for a while and we talk until we both fall asleep.
Chapter 59
"Yeah, this one's it," I tell Amelia.
"You said that to every single dress you've tried on, Summer. You're only gonna have this day once in your life, and you couldn't be any less interested."
"I told you, Amelia. I don't care what I'm wearing or how lavish everything is, my family needs the business."
"Fine. But, if you had to choose one out of the seven, which one would you choose?"
"The fourth one. The train wasn't long and I like the net embroidery and that it's backless, I can show off my tattoo."
"Okay, I'm confirming that one. The red ink will stand out so elegantly," she replies.
"I know," I reply as she exits the dressing room. Once she does, I strip out of the dress and change into my clothes. I exit the change room and head to the front.
"So we come back to try it on in three days, to make sure that the fitting is proper and then we're set for the wedding. You are, but I still have to confirm the guest list, catering and make sure you get a pastor for the wedding as well."
"Hey, you still have three weeks," I try to lesson her tension.
"That's only a quarter of the stress, I still have exams, graduation, and prom to worry about," she groans as we take a seat in our car and the driver starts to drive home.
"Oh, yeah, but no one has even asked you to prom yet."
"So?"
"Isn't a big thing for girls to go with someone to prom?"
"Well, I thought I'd
go with you but if you're not up for it, then I guess I'll just go alone," she rolls her eyes.
"No, that's not what I meant. What I mean is, so many girls hype the fact that they need a date, I thought you would too," I explain.
"Nah, it'll be more fun going with your friends."
"True," I laugh. We talk the rest of the way until we arrive at our house a few minutes later.
"You're not coming?" Amelia questions.
"No, I have to go to the library for the psychology research project," I inform.
"Oh, okay. Bye," she waves.
"Bye," I reply.
Once she leaves, the driver takes me to the library.
"I need a couple of hours, I'll call you when I need you."
"Alright, ma'am," the driver nods before leaving.
Once he departs, I head inside the library where I print a few papers off my USB. I review them quickly before grabbing two files from the front and organize the papers in the two files for safe keeping.
After I'm done in the library, I head out and walk a few blocks down to a small cafe and choose to sit at the back, where I can see everyone else.
"I didn't think you'd show up," Mrs. Maxwell comments as she takes the seat across from me. "How are you doing?"
"Not well," I admit.
"Hi ladies, anything I can get for you?" A waitress interrupts us.
"Yes, a medium cinnamon macchiato," I order.
"I'll take a medium black coffee."
"Alright, I'll be right back with those," the waitress smiles before leaving.
"So, what can I help you with?" Maxwell smiles. "You haven't been in school lately. Noticing the bandage on your arm and the stitches, I see why."
"I thought your job is to make me feel better about myself, not worse," I state lightheartedly.
"It was lighthearted, please don't take it offensively."
"It's okay. I've actually been having a rough time with everything lately."
"Yeah, anything in specific?" She questions, just as our drinks arrive.
"Kai, he's in my class. You know him, right?"
"Yes, I do," she says.
"Yeah, I think... I think we should cut the bullshit. I know you're working with my dad," I try to lie at first, but I choose to get straight to the point instead. Her face drops and she tries to cover it up, but her facade is now blown.
