Time passed slowly.
There was a dull ringing in my head as the ambulance arrived at the hospital, us not too far behind. The flashing blue and red lights lit up the otherwise dark streets as the collection of buildings came into sight. After that, it was a series of events that registered in slow motion in my head as we entered the chaos of the hospital. People spoke, but I didn't understand what was being said. I saw things, but my mind refused to process them because everything else was drowned out by the same scene that replayed in my head every minute.
The waiting room of the hospital was quiet.
There was an old couple sitting at the right side, near the door, and a mother with her child on the opposite side. Other than that, it was just my family.
Caleb took the seat on the left side of me, while Ethan sat in the chair across from us. Elijah had been coming and going. He was juggling multiple tasks at the moment; talking to the doctors, signing paperwork, staying with us, and heading off to answer the phone calls he got every minute that I didn't ask about.
There was nothing else on my mind apart from that one moment playing on repeat in a torturous cycle. Nothing else besides my scream as the bullet pierced through Kaiden's chest, inches from his heart.
At least, I hoped that it was inches from his heart because then he'd have a chance at survival. It wasn't likely, but if it missed, then there was a chance and I needed to believe in that more than anything.
I remembered only some of what happened before the ambulance arrived. Everything was hazy.
After Lucas had shot Kaiden, he'd left in the blink of an eye. No one had stopped him, but I didn't think that it was on purpose. The only thing that had been on everyone's mind was Kaiden as he collapsed and his blood marked the walls and floor of our house. It stained everything.
I'd never seen so much of it.
I vaguely remembered Amina scream, and then it was all chaos. Ethan had rushed to get the phone and call 911, while everyone else had dropped to the ground next to Kaiden, trying to do everything they could.
Roman and Alastair couldn't help. They had to get rid of Will's body before assisting with Kaiden until the ambulance arrived. But there wasn't much we could do anyways, apart from checking to see if he was breathing until help arrived.
I'd never forget hearing Elijah say that he couldn't find a pulse.
I'd never forget the panic that had surged after. It had seemed like hours passed before the ambulance had arrived, but it was only minutes.
I'd lost all hope as they took him away in the emergency room, not letting us follow, and I believed that it was truly the end.
Right now, my brothers and I were waiting like we had been since the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Hours had passed, and we received little to no updates.
All I knew was that Kaiden was alive and he was undergoing emergency surgery.
The bullet had missed his heart.
That was what we'd been told towards the start when the paramedics brought him in and it allowed me to breathe a little more. They'd done all the tests necessary to make sure.
He had more of a chance at survival now, but it wasn't over. There were other structures that surrounded the heart and chest that could mean life or death. If any major blood vessels, the heart itself, the pulmonary arteries, or any major organs had been grazed or hit, it would be fatal. We'd also been told that there was the possibility that it hit bone and deflected out of the chest. Overall, I'd learned that a gunshot wound to the chest didn't always mean death, and that was the hope I needed.
All we could do now was wait.
"Izzy."
I startled and my head snapped over to the side to see Elijah take a seat next to me.
"You should get some rest," Elijah said, his voice husky from exhaustion.
I shook my head, my eyes half-lidded. Ethan and Caleb had fallen asleep in their chairs since it was around four in the morning now, but I'd remained awake, alert. Elijah had stayed up, too.
"I'm not tired," I muttered back, resting my head against the wall and Elijah leaned back in his seat, glancing over at me.
"You look like you're gonna fall over any second now," he replied evenly, running a rough hand through his hair. Our attention snapped over to see a nurse walk past us and head over to the mother sitting with her child.
I looked away. "I'm fine."
I could feel him studying me, but he didn't argue and I realized we'd never really gotten a chance to talk or acknowledge the fact that he was back after being gone for so long.
There was nothing we else could do at the moment, so I decided I'd take the chance to talk to him. I looked over to see him on his phone, his brows furrowed as if he was irritated by something.
"Elijah?"
"Hmm?"
"I thought that you were dead."
I didn't mean to start off that way, but it was the first thought that came to mind and I regretted it instantly.
He'd let us all think that he was dead. It had been the worst week of my entire life, and that said something because I seemed to have a lot of those.
Elijah's gaze snapped over to me, but I looked down at my hands. "Why would you let us believe that? I know that you were...handling Lucas and whatever, but still. Why couldn't you tell us?" I asked in a small voice. "You sent me out of that place thinking that it was the last time I'd ever see you."
I looked over to see him open his mouth to say something, but he caught sight of the people around us and he hesitated. I bit the corner of my lip as he suddenly stood up, and reached out a hand for me to take. I did a double take, my forehead creasing as I looked between him and his hand.
"I know we have a lot to talk about, so let's go for a walk," he said quietly, and I straightened in my seat.
"Outside?"
He nodded. I glanced over at Caleb and Ethan who were still asleep.
"What about Kaiden?"
Elijah raised his eyebrows. "Where's he gonna go?"
Despite how awful it was, I found myself holding back a pathetic smile at how he could make light out of something like this. That was how Elijah had always been. He handled everything the same way and rarely showed any emotions beside a few. It took people by surprise how calm he could be even at the worst times, but I was used to it.
Before I could overthink it, I grabbed his hand and he pulled me out of my seat.
My hair nipped at my face as the cold air slammed into us as soon as we passed the sliding glass doors. It was mostly quiet out since it was hours after midnight and the hospital was in a suburban area. The parking lot was dark, and there was no one outside aside from the two of us. There was a path carved into the perimeter of the building, so we started walking alongside it.
I slipped my hands into the pockets of my thin jacket as I silently treaded next to Elijah.
"I couldn't risk being traced," he started explaining. "No one knew I made it out except for Roman. After I sent you away with Alastair, I realized that it was too dangerous for me to take on all of them myself. You were right, I would've been killed, so I only dealt with anyone I ran into on my way out."
I glanced over at him. "How did you leave? Did you see the building collapse?"
Elijah nodded, his gaze tracing one of the cars that sped into the parking lot and to the emergency entrance. "I got out from the back. It was after you left. Roman had left a car there for me and I made it out." He looked over at me. "I didn't want to leave you thinking that something happened to me, but I didn't have a choice, Izzy. I didn't have the chance to kill him, so I had to find another way to bring him down. I started traveling right away."
I nodded, inching closer to him as we turned at one end of the building.
"I'm sorry about Sebastian," Elijah murmured and I swallowed hard. He wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled me into his side as we walked. I rested my head against him, basking in the warmth his hold offered.
"Because he's dead or because you knew that he was only using me to get revenge on you?"
Elijah drew in a long breath and tightened his arm around me. "Both."
"Is that why you always told me to stay away from him? Because you knew?"
Elijah nodded when I looked up at him and I pulled away a bit, but his arm still stayed around me. "I didn't wanna pull you into this mess, so we always pretended that it was always some other reason. My mistake though. If I told you the truth, maybe you would've actually listened and we could've avoided all of this."
I stayed silent for a few moments until I caught sight of a bench. Elijah didn't protest as I dragged him along with me and we sat down.
"I have a lot of questions," I said, peeking over at him and Elijah's lips twitched in amusement. "I didn't get the chance to ask Ethan about everything."
"I know. Go ahead."
I hesitated as a certain thought pricked at the back of my mind. "You won't lie to me?"
Elijah's smile disappeared and he frowned. "No, Izzy, I won't."
I still didn't make any move to ask, and Elijah briefly closed his eyes, before reaching over to grab my hand. It was limp in his as he squeezed in comfort.
"I don't blame you for not trusting me anymore," he began quietly. "And I'll admit that I've fucked up a lot. I thought I was protecting you, so I always ignored what I was doing to you by doing the things that I did. I thought that it was better than you getting hurt or worse because that's always been my number one priority. Keeping you physically out of harm's way and safe was always the first thing I had in mind, so I always did whatever I needed to, even if it meant ignoring your mental health. It took me a while to realize that what I was doing wasn't okay and I should've found another way. I'm sorry."
I stayed silent and Elijah's hand fell away from me.
He leaned back and rubbed a hand over his jaw. "I'm sorry, Izzy. For everything. I can't go back and change anything that happened, but I'll try to be honest from now on."
I raised an eyebrow. "Try to?"
Elijah chuckled lowly and glanced over at me. "Yes. I'll try. But you need to try and understand that there's things I can't tell you because I don't want you to have to carry them with you. I know that it may seem unfair, but you still have a chance, Izzy. The rest of us are already fucked up, and I don't want you to go down the same path by knowing things that will only hurt you."
I frowned. "All of you are not fucked up."
Elijah smiled, his eyes glinting with amusement that I could see even in the dark.
I rolled my eyes and looked away, taking a deep breath as I debated what to ask first.
"Why did you have Amina's parents killed?"
Elijah seemed unfazed by my question. "Lucas gave the orders. It was either Amina or them. I had to make the choice," he paused. "It wasn't a hard one."
"What?" I asked and then added. "Why?"
Elijah sighed and leaned forward on the bench, his elbows resting on his knees. He held my gaze blankly. "Amina never knew this, but her parents were a part of a pretty fucked up business. They disguised it as a company, but they were traffickers. They provided drugs, weapons, information, and other...things to Lucas. He found out that they made a deal with some of his rivals, and he acted impulsively and gave me the orders to either get rid of her or them as revenge. I was busy the night he wanted it done, so I sent Sebastian out to do it."
I was speechless as I stared back at him.
Elijah rolled his eyes as he realized I was watching him with horror. "Don't look at me like that. I never said I was a good person, but I'm not exactly the monster you think I am. I wouldn't kill innocent people."
"I never – I never thought that you were a monster," I trailed off, even though we both knew it was a lie. I had thought that until I realized that there was more to it.
I didn't know if any of this was okay. I didn't know if Elijah was a good person, and if eliminating the bad ones out in the world made him any better than them. The lines and morals were all blurred with what they did for a living. I didn't know what to make of any of it.
"Anything else?" He asked, and I shifted on the bench as one thought came to my mind.
"What business did you have with Mia's parents? Since, you know, you were there that night and I wasn't crazy like you made me believe I was."
Elijah cocked an eyebrow. "You didn't find out when you looked through all my stuff?"
My face heated up and I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and just answer me."
Elijah grinned before he explained. "Her parents own a hotel in New York that I need for something. We made a deal a while ago and I needed to make sure they wouldn't back out now."
The Adler Hotel. I remembered reading about it on a piece of paper I'd found in his study.
I scowled. "That's it? I went through all of that because of that? You couldn't have just told me about a stupid fucking deal?"
Elijah's jaw clenched. "No, and even now, I'm saying way too much. I'm sorry about the way I lied to you and what it did to you, but I'm not sorry about trying to keep it from you. I'll tell you everything else, Izzy, but just let this go."
"You blackmailed her parents?" I continued anyways, remembering the way Mia had broken down in front of me. "You got Olivia to turn on her own family because of this so-called deal involving their hotel? You know you have them terrified, right?"
Something in his eyes shifted. "She told you?"
"She cried to me about it. Mia told me that her parents are fighting because of you. You're destroying their family, Elijah. Why do you have to scare them? What's the big deal about this hotel?"
Elijah's eyes hardened. "I thought I told them to keep their mouths shut," he said so quietly, I almost didn't hear him.
"Elijah. Answer me. What's so important about the place that you threatened her family?"
Elijah's jaw tightened. "Izzy, let it go. I told you that this is the one thing I can't tell you."
He sounded so serious, I decided to finally let it go.
"Fine," I muttered. It was quiet for a while, and then I asked. "So...what you told Lucas – about you being in control now. Was that true? You're the boss or whatever it's called now?"
Elijah nodded.
The thought was insane to process. I didn't know everything about what they did, but the person at the head clearly had a lot of power and influence, and now that it all belonged to Elijah... I didn't know what to make of it. And he was only twenty-four, so –
I gasped, moving so I was facing him. "You're twenty-five now!"
Elijah raised his eyebrows. "I'm aware."
I ignored him. "I wish you had come home before your birthday. Did you do anything for it? I know you were busy, but still. Oh, and, I got you a gift."
Elijah hooked an arm around my back and slid me closer to him on the bench, pulling me into his arms. I realized that this was the first time I'd hugged him since he'd returned and I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek into his chest.
"Thank you, baby, but I don't need anything," he said evenly, kissing the top of my head once before he let me go. I wasn't surprised; Elijah didn't care much for occasions like birthdays. I decided I would give him the gift anyways. He glanced behind him and stood up. "We should head back in just in case he's out of surgery."
I instantly stood up and fell into step besides Elijah, wrapping my arm around his.
We had almost returned around the front of the building once again when I broke the silence.
"I missed you, Elijah," I began quietly and his footsteps slowed a bit, but he didn't stop. I glanced up at him. "I know we weren't on good terms, and there's still a lot that we all need to fix, but please don't ever disappear on us like that ever again."
Elijah was silent, but he stopped right before we reached the entrance of the waiting room, and pulled me into his arms once again. I stumbled into him, but quickly recovered and hugged him back, squeezing my eyes shut.
"I love you," he mumbled against my hair when he finally decided to respond. He pulled back a little and I looked up at him. He brushed some of the loose strands of hair out of my face and held my gaze as he said. "I'll do better at showing it from now on. I promise."
I pulled him through the sliding glass doors, noticing that Ethan and Caleb were awake now.
"You better."
***
A few hours later, we were still in the hospital and there were still no updates about Kaiden.
Caleb had gone home for a while, but the rest of us stayed back. I'd managed to fall asleep for a few hours after my talk with Elijah, but now I was wide awake once again.
I spent most of my time thinking because there wasn't much else to do while we waited.
I was in the middle of debating what the deal he'd made with Mia's parents could be about when I noticed him and Ethan walking off to the direction of the hallway that held the bathrooms. I didn't think it was suspicious until Ethan glanced behind him as if he was making sure no one was following.
I waited until they disappeared around the corner, and then I instantly jumped to my feet, following quietly.
I hid myself behind the wall, and unsurprisingly, Elijah and Ethan were talking in hushed voices in the empty hallway.
I leaned a little closer, trying my best to make out what they were saying.
"How did she even find out?" Ethan asked, his voice annoyed.
Elijah chuckled darkly. "How does Elena ever find out anything?"
I froze at the familiar name.
Ethan was silent as if he was thinking of something. "Amina told her, didn't she?"
"Of course she fucking did. Who else would?" Elijah scoffed and I frowned. "Those two never learn."
"You can't blame Elena for wanting to see her son."
"After this many years?" Elijah gritted out. "She doesn't have the right. I thought we made that clear. Besides, the bitch is still in New York. I checked a few days ago, she's not going anywhere anytime soon."
"She won't come here, will she?" Ethan asked hesitantly.
"For her sake, I hope she doesn't."
Elijah's voice sounded like he was giving a warning, but I barely heard it over the ringing in my ears as I stumbled back from the wall in shock.
Somehow, I found myself back in the same chair I'd been in for the past day. There were more people in the waiting room by now, but I barely processed any of them.
How did it take me this long to put it together?
It started with the note I'd found in my sister's room. That was the first time I'd seen the name.
Elena Manning F–
I never knew what the rest of the name had been because it was unfinished as if Sophia had been interrupted in the middle of writing, but now I knew.
Ford. It was Elena Manning Ford.
I'd brought it up to every single one of my brothers. They'd all claimed they had no idea who she was, yet Ethan's reaction had stuck out from everyone else's as if he knew who I was talking about, but didn't want to say. Now that I thought about it, Elijah's reaction had been strange, too. He'd been closed off when I asked and he'd brushed me off, claiming he had to go.
The next incident had been in the city when I'd stayed with Kaiden and Caleb.
I remembered only fragments of what Harrison had said to Kaiden as he held the gun to my head, but I vaguely recalled him bringing up the same name.
Tell us where Elena Manning is, was what Harrison had said.
Kaiden didn't know. He'd seemed confused at the time and it seemed genuine.
It made me realize that Kaiden was truly in the dark. I just didn't know how much he knew and what else he didn't.
After that, I'd come across her name once again while I'd gone through Elijah's study. I remembered the exact words as if it had only been yesterday when I found it.
The wife of Mr. Ford, Elena Manning Ford, was last seen in New York.
Lucas Ford had disguised himself as my uncle. It had only been a week since I'd discovered that he had a wife.
He had told me that her name was Elena.
I didn't believe in coincidences, and when I remembered what Lucas had told me about the affair...
I shot up out of my seat and rushed to the nearest bathroom, needing to be alone. The space outside was suffocating and I felt like I couldn't breathe with all the people around.
I paced around, my mind racing as I remembered everything I'd been told when I'd been taken.
Lucas had said that his wife had cheated on him with her sister's husband years ago. He'd told me that he wasn't my uncle. He wasn't my mom's brother like I always thought he was. He was her brother-in-law.
Your mother had a younger sister.
He hadn't been the only one who'd told me that. I remembered the incident at the club where I'd spoken to Nora. She'd tried telling me the same thing.
She was talking to me about my parents and how they never had a choice with the work they did. How Kaiden and Elijah never had a choice in everything that they did and –
They tried to fix what your aunt did.
I halted in the middle of my pacing in the bathroom.
I'd thought Nora was crazy and she didn't know what she was talking about. I'd told her that I didn't even have an aunt, when in reality, I'd been the one in the wrong. I'd been the one in the dark.
Elena was my aunt's name. The aunt I never knew even existed until now.
As more and more of the pieces began to connect in my mind, there were still some things that remained out of my grasp. Pieces that didn't fit in the puzzle or maybe they did and I just couldn't see how.
Why did Elijah hate her so much? Why did they all lie to me? Why was this woman supposed to stay in New York? Why did Amina have contact with her? And most importantly, what was Sophia trying to say when she started writing that note I'd found in her room?
From what I remembered, the ink had been smeared as if she'd been writing it in a rush. As if she was panicking.
The only question that remained was what had happened while she was writing it for her to not finish the rest?
I startled out of my thoughts when the bathroom door slammed open and I froze as Ethan came into sight, his eyes finding mine.
"What – " he cut me off.
"We've been looking for you everywhere," he snapped, glaring at me.
I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore my hammering heart and how nervous I really was. "What do you want?"
He held my glare for a few more seconds before he relaxed and gestured for me to come out. "It's about Kaiden," he began and I whipped my gaze over to him, my stomach sinking in dread.
I paused on my way out, holding my breath as I waited for him to finish.
"He's out of surgery and he's going to be okay."
***
A/n: I feel like I needed to end at least one chapter on a somewhat positive note lmao. Unless you wanted Kaiden dead then idk.