I quickly got up and grabbed the knife. I cut Blaire loose and pulled the tape off her mouth as gently as I could.
“Ryan! Ryan! I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said over and over again.
“Don’t be sorry,” I murmured.
“Are you okay?”
I wasn’t okay. Every part of me hurt. But the only thing that I could think about was how happy I was to see her alive. I nodded.
“I’m fine. I’m going to hold him down in case he wakes up. Can you call the police?”
The police arrived fifteen minutes later. By then, the man on the floor had started to wake up. I’d asked Blaire who he was and she’d told me that he was some guy that had asked her for her autograph twice. But other than that, she had no idea who he was or what he wanted. He’d surprised her at her house and immediately tied her up before she could get any answers out of him. When the police arrived, I noticed that one of the guys was the same guy that we had talked to the first time that we had gone in asking for protection. The guy had the decency to look embarrassed, especially after I shot him a dirty look.
“You don’t look too good,” one of the men said. “Are you injured?”
I nodded. I showed him my wound on the side and told him that I was feeling lightheaded. However, it wasn’t just the stab wound that was bothering me. It was my head, which had not stopped throbbing since the man had head butted me. I’d never felt anything quite like it. It was like a migraine, only ten times as bad.
“Okay, we’re going to take Miss Kaplan in for questioning, and take this man in too. And we’re going to take you right to the hospital.”
I nodded, kissed Blaire, and told her that I’d see her soon, and then I climbed into the police car. I’d obviously been trying to be brave in front of Blaire the whole time because the moment I got into the cop car, my body started to tremble. The policeman got into the car and looked back at me.
“Are you okay? The hospital is close. Don’t worry.”
I barely heard what he said. One minute I was listening to him, the next the whole world went black.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Blaire
I was nervous and excited to go to the hospital to see Ryan. The last time I’d seen him had been Friday night when the cop had taken him away in his squad car. It was now Sunday. I’d tried to visit him the moment I was finished at the police station, but the doctor wouldn’t let me. They’d informed me that Ryan had passed out in the car on the way to the station and that he had gone into a coma. It had been the scariest moment of my life. And even though the doctor assured me that he was going to be fine, I still couldn’t get the fear and anxiety of knowing he was comatose out of my head.
But before I could go to the hospital, I was waiting for Reed to arrive. I’d called him on Saturday to explain what had happened and he’d told me that he would get the first flight that he could. I was so grateful that he was coming, and I knew that Ryan would be happy to see him too. He’d called me not so long ago to say that he was on his way.
I sighed with relief when I heard a car pull up outside. I opened the door and smiled as Trinity came running toward me. She gave me a huge hug, and I squeezed her back. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed her until that moment. I stood up and gave Reed a hug too. We were beyond the formalities of handshakes now.
“How’ve you been holding up?” Reed asked.
I shook my head. “Not so great. I mean, I’m glad that the man has been caught, but I can’t stop thinking about Ryan. I feel like I’m to blame for what happened.”
“No, don’t say that. You were doing the best that you could under the circumstances. It could’ve been a lot worse. And you’re fine, and Ryan is going to be fine. What’s the last you heard about him, by the way?”
“He came out of the coma this morning. So are you okay with going straight there?”
“Definitely.”
“Great. Well come on in and drop off your bags. Then we can all go together. I haven’t seen Ryan since Friday. I don’t know why but I’m so nervous about seeing him again.”
“You’ll be fine, Blaire. He’s going to be so happy to see you. And don’t feel like you’re to blame, okay? Ryan wouldn’t want you to think that way.”
“Is Uncle Ryan okay?” Trinity asked.
I nodded. I’d actually forgotten that Trinity was standing right there and listening to the whole conversation. She had been unusually quiet since arriving, and I think she was battling to understand what was going on.
“He’s going to be just fine. You know what he’s like,” I said.
“Yeah. He’s the strongest man in the whole world. That’s what he told me,” Trinity said.
I smiled. “Well, he wasn’t lying. And you want to know something else cool about him?”
“What’s that?”
“Your uncle also saved my life.”
“He did? Like a superhero?”
“Exactly like a superhero.”
“Cool!” Trinity exclaimed.
“Okay, should we go and see him?”
“YES!”
We got into the car and made our way to the hospital. Trinity seemed to have gotten her voice back, and she chattered the entire way there, telling me all about her plane trip. It was nice to have her there, and she helped to take my mind off of what was happening.
When we arrived at the hospital, Reed and Trinity stayed in the waiting room while I got the chance to visit Ryan alone. The doctor took me through and then told me to call him if I needed anything. Ryan was in bed with his eyes closed. I walked up to him, sat down on the bed and took his hand. He looked so peaceful lying there but just seeing him in a hospital bed made my heart break.
He opened his eyes and smiled at me.
“Sunny!” he said and tried to sit up. I stopped him.
“Don’t get up. I’m right here,” I said, and I squeezed his hand. “It’s so good to see you, Ryan. I’ve missed you so much.”
He looked a little confused. “Where’ve I been?” he asked.
The doctor told me that he might take a little while to comprehend what had happened. They’d tried to explain it to him earlier, but he’d been too out of it. They said he was finally coming around again though, so hopefully I could talk a bit of sense with him.
“You’re in the hospital. It’s Sunday now.”
“Sunday?”
“Yeah, you slipped into a coma on Friday night, but you came out of it this morning. When the doctor told me that you were out of the coma, I was so relieved. I don’t think I slept a wink last night. You had me so worried, Ryan. I thought . . . oh . . . I’m so sorry about everything.”
“In a coma,” he said. He shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know. I’m just so glad to see you. You’re beautiful.”
I smiled. “As are you. I really am sorry about what happened. I shouldn’t have just left like that. I wish I hadn’t left.”
“Why did you leave? I got the note.”
I told him the story about the phone call and how the guy had threatened to kill both of us.
“You said it was Katie on the line.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. But at the time I honestly thought that I was doing the right thing. He seemed so angry that I was with you, and I knew that I was putting you in danger. I couldn’t do that to you, Ryan. That’s why I left. I figured it would be better for me to sort this out by myself. I didn’t want you to be in any danger. I couldn’t do that to you. But . . . you saved my life.”
“You are my life,” he said in a dreamy voice. He seemed to move between being completely with it to being a little out of it constantly.
I smiled. “And you’re mine too. I feel awful that I put you in this position.”
“No, you didn’t do this. That man did it. Not you.”
“Thanks, Ryan. Oh, and there are some other people here to see you. Are you ready for a bit of company or is it too early for that? If you want
to rest, you must just let me know.”
“I don’t want to rest. Who is here?”
“Give me a second. I’ll get them.”
“Don’t go.”
“I’ll be right back. I promise.”
I quickly rushed out and called Reed and Trinity to come with me. I smiled as Ryan beamed with happiness at the sight of his niece.
“Trinity, be gentle. Uncle Ryan is in a lot of pain.”
“I think they drugged me up,” Ryan said. “I feel good. Thanks for coming, Reed. I would say you shouldn’t have come all this way, but I’m too happy to see you all right now to even say that.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Trinity asked.
Ryan smiled at her. “I’m going to be fine. Now, tell me all about the plane. Did you have fun?”
We talked for a little while longer, until the doctor walked in to see if everything was fine. Ryan was feeling more himself and he wanted to know what was going on.
“I got stabbed. Was it bad?” he asked the doctor. “Is that why I passed out? Did I lose too much blood?”
The doctor shook his head. “No, that’s not why you passed out. In fact, the stab wound wasn’t all that bad. He didn’t go in very deep at all, and we stitched you up in no time. I’m assuming the man hit you in the head or something?”
Ryan looked to me as if he couldn’t remember and I nodded. “Yeah, he head butted me pretty hard,” I said.
“That knock to your head was almost fatal. I spoke to your brother here who informed me of your head trauma. All I can say is that you are a very lucky man, because that blow to the head could’ve been the end of you. Your body responded by shutting down, but thankfully you managed to come back from it. But no matter how well you are doing now, we need you to get a bit more rest, and we need to run further tests on you. I’ll leave you all to say your goodbyes, and I’ll be back in ten minutes. Reed, you’re welcome to stay if you’d like. You know his history a bit more so that might help.”
I looked at Reed and nodded. “You stay with Ryan. I’ll take Trinity home. Mind if I have a few minutes to just say goodbye alone?”
“Of course,” Reed said and took Trinity outside to wait.
The moment they were gone, I leaned in and kissed Ryan gently on the mouth. I suddenly couldn’t stop the tears that were falling down my face.
“Oh Blaire, why are you crying? You can see that I’m fine.”
“Yeah, but you could’ve died, Ryan. I didn’t realize just how much I cared for you until now. I should’ve told you not to fight Ron. I should’ve made you stop. I thought I was being supportive, but I was only making things worse.”
“What? No, you weren’t! And anyway, this has nothing to do with Ron. I’m not in here because of the fight.”
“I know that, but it just made me realize how bad this fight could’ve been for you. Please don’t do it, Ryan. Please. I can’t lose you. I just can’t. Ryan, that fight is just not worth it. Not if I lose you. Please.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Ryan said sadly.
“I just don’t want you to fight anymore. Just think about it, okay?”
He nodded. “I will. Don’t be upset, Blaire. Please, I can’t stand to see you sad.”
“I just don’t want to lose you. I can’t. That’s all. Anyway, I better go. Listen to what Reed and the other doctor have to say, okay? And get lots of rest. I will spend the evening with Trinity and come and visit you again tomorrow. Okay?”
“Okay. Thank you for everything, Blaire.”
I walked out the room and told Trinity and Reed that they could go back in. Trinity wanted to say goodbye too, and it would give me a chance to calm down before spending the evening with Trinity. I didn’t want her to see me looking so sad. But it wasn’t easy to feel okay about everything when all I could think about was how Ryan was lying in a hospital bed because of me. Not just that, but he still hadn’t promised me that he wouldn’t fight.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ryan
I still could not believe that I had been in a coma and that it was now Sunday. The events from Friday were fuzzy but they were slowly coming back to me. Waking up in a hospital was one of the strangest feelings, and I was only just starting to understand the severity of what had happened. But waking up to see Blaire in front of me and knowing that she was okay was good. It was more than good. I didn’t really care where I was, as long as Blaire was okay. I watched as she walked out and then smiled as Trinity came running in to see me.
“Blaire’s crying,” she said in shock as she jumped on the bed.
“Trinity! Don’t jump on the bed,” Reed said. “Remember, Uncle Ryan is not feeling well.”
“Sorry, Uncle Ryan,” Trinity said. “I forgot.”
“That’s okay, my girl. I’m okay.”
“Why is Blaire crying? Is it because you’re sick? I thought you were okay? Can’t you come home with us? Please, Uncle Ryan. We will have so much fun. More fun than if you stay here in this boring bed. I will make you hot chocolate like you used to make me. Blaire can help me. We can even put marshmallows into the cup. Remember how cool that was when you did it for me? They got all soggy.”
I smiled. “You’re the nicest girl in the world, do you know that? Don’t worry; I’m fine. And the hot chocolate sounds amazing. Especially with the marshmallows. Why don’t we have that when I’m out of the hospital?”
“You’re not coming back with us?” she asked sadly.
I shook my head. “Not just yet. Soon though, I promise. But don’t worry. Daddy is going to stay with me and make sure that I’m okay. Remember, your daddy is a doctor, so he knows what he is doing. He’s the best doctor in the world. And there are lots of doctors here, which means I’m in good hands. I’m going to get better, I promise. You can go home with Blaire and keep her company.
“Blaire is sad!” Trinity said. “I’m sad too.”
It broke my heart to think of my two favorite girls being sad because of me, but I forced myself to smile.
“You don’t have to be sad. And tell Blaire not to be sad either. I was sick, but now I’m in the hospital, and they are fixing me up. There’s nothing to worry about at all. I promise.”
“Come on, Trinity; it’s time to go. We have to make sure Uncle Ryan gets better. Say goodbye now,” Reed said and shot me an apologetic look.
“Bye Uncle Ryan. Come home soon.”
“I will. Thank you for coming. You’re going to have so much fun with Blaire. Remember, she’s your big sister now.”
Trinity giggled. “Oh yes, I forgot.”
“Love you lots, Trin.”
“Love you too, Uncle Ryan.”
I waited until I was sure that Trinity was out of earshot and then I turned toward Reed.
“Reed, I’m so sorry about all of this. I didn’t mean to frighten you all. Did Blaire explain what happened?”
Reed nodded. “She did. I still cannot believe what that guy did. He actually had her tied up to the chair? That’s disgusting. What’s wrong with people? There are a lot of crazy people out there in this world. I’m just glad you were there to stop her.”
“Me too. Although, I should’ve never let her out of my sight.”
“No, don’t say that. Blaire is also blaming herself what happened to you. The two of you need to stop blaming yourselves; you’ve both done the best in this situation. It’s not exactly something that you can prepare for. Nobody expects to have a stalker after them.”
“He got me good, though. I don’t even remember him hurting me. I mean, I remember the stab to my side. Man, that was painful. But I don’t remember him getting my head.”
Reed sighed. “He got you good. Listen, I’m going to talk to the doctor soon, but he already took me through a lot of what happened. You could’ve died, Ryan. Either that or been a coma for a lot longer than just a day. You had a lucky escape. But that’s really all that it was—pure luck. You might not be so lucky next time. You can’t do this fight, Ryan. You j
ust can’t.”
“Blaire said the same thing to me. She begged me not to. It’s the first time that’s she’s actually asked me not to fight.”
“She’s right, you know. This isn’t just your life that you have to think about now. You need to think about Blaire. You need to think about me.”
“You?”
“Come on, Ryan. I know that we were never the closest out of all the brothers. But you have to know that I still care for you. In fact, that week that you spent with me was one of the happiest weeks of my life. I didn’t realize how much I missed having you around. And if you don’t want to do this for me, then do it for Trinity.”
I sighed. “I know. I know. You’re right. Blaire’s right. You’re all right. But what do I do about Ron? I don’t want him to win. I don’t want to come off as the person that couldn’t stand up to him. I hate all the things that he’s been saying about me. And if I don’t fight he’s just going to call me a coward. And the whole world will simply just believe what he says.”
“Who cares, Ryan? Who the hell cares what Ron says about you? Or what the world thinks about you? The only person that you should worry about is yourself and your family. And Blaire. That’s all. Anyway, I’m going to let you get some rest while I talk to the doctor. Think about what I said. I’ll be back a bit later, okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep. I had already been asleep for so long, and I now had too much on my mind. But the moment Reed left, I closed my eyes and immediately started to feel myself nodding off. It didn’t take long for me to fall into a deep sleep all over again.
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