Brianna slipped out of her heels and shrugged off her coat simultaneously, and then threw the coat on the armrest before plopping down on the couch with an exasperated sigh.
She laid back, facing the ceiling, and closed her eyes. It was ten minutes into 12p.m., and she had just arrived home from Ireland. Thankfully, her husband was at work and the kids were at elementary school, so she could catch a rest before the kids made their return.
Brianna barely slept the previous night, she was exhausted from the hectic evening she had and from travelling. And to top it off, she was losing her mind waiting for Javier to update her on his trip.
Her eyes were heavy and she was starting to drift off when her phone blared up, and she fumbled about and searched her coat, retrieving the phone and answering the international call.
"Javier!"
A soft chuckle sounded from the other side, and she slumped back in her seat, relieved to hear his voice. "Missed me that much?" He asked, humour in his voice.
"I was worried about you," she admitted. "How did it go? Is everything in place?"
"Well... so far so good, the plan is in motion. I'm keeping everything on the quiet. Thanks for the location, by the way, Danielle is going to see Samantha later."
She knew she did not need to tell them to be careful, Danielle knew better than anyone exactly what Samantha was capable of, and Javier would never allow for anything to happen to his wife.
Brianna had never been close to Danielle, but she could see her brother cared about her a lot despite her history with men and alcohol.
"How are things on your side? Any luck tracking down Sienna's kidnappers?"
The hope in his voice tied her insides in a knot, and she wished she had the answer he wanted. "No, nothing yet." The silence that followed was deafening.
Brianna could feel his pain and desperation, and she wished there was a way to lift it all off his shoulders. Everything that happened lately made her think about their relationship and how she always fought to keep him away instead of embracing him, and now, she wanted nothing more than to embrace him without having to hide her identity.
"Javier," she said after a while, his soft breathing was the reassurance she needed to know that he was still on the line. "I don't want to hide anymore, I'm tired of running away from who I am. I am tired of living in fear... I want to be free. And the price of freedom does not entail losing you. I realise that now."
"That's good, Brianna, that's good."
She relaxed as if a huge weight had just been lifted off her shoulders. "So then, would you like to join us for dinner sometime later next week?" He remained quiet, and she quickly understood why. "No funny business, I promise, Javier. I want to start on a clean slate. It's going to be me and my husband, and the two of you. You can also meet the kids."
"I'd really love that, thank you, Bree. Get some rest, I'll call you later."
The line died, and she laid back on the couch and prepared herself to sleep when her phone rang again.
“Hello?” She answered lazily.
“Hi, am I speaking to Brianna?” A woman’s voice asked, and Brianna sighed.
“I’m not interested in an insurance policy.”
The woman chuckled in humour. “Uhm… Miss? I’m calling from Ms Sienna Ortiz’s phone.” Brianna’s eyes bulged as she scrambled into a sitting position. “You are one of the only two contacts on her phone, so, I was actually just calling to let you know that Ms Sienna was admitted earlier today.”
Was it possible for a person’s inside to turn to clay? That was exactly how Brianna felt at that moment, like her stomach was hollow while her organs were sculptured into one nasty ball of discomfort.
“Hello? Miss, are you still there?” The voice tore her out of her stupor.
“Uh… yes! Which hospital was she taken to? Is she badly injured?”
She did not even think to call Javier right away as she rushed around the house to gather her things, and by the time she arrived at the hospital, she had already gone through all the worst case scenarios her brain could conjure up.
“Hi!” She said breathlessly, leaning against the reception desk. “Si-Sienna Ortiz!”
The receptionist smiled at her as if she knew her. “You must be Brianna. I’m Ruth, we spoke on the phone a while ago,” she spoke cheerfully. “I’ll take you to her ward.”
Brianna’s brows drew closer as she stared at the woman, and before she could say anything, another woman who looked more like the actual receptionist arrived and Ruth walked around the desk.
As if reading Brianna’s thoughts, Ruth spoke. “I am the night nurse, my shift actually ended earlier this morning, but I had to keep an eye on the desk for my friend. Please follow me.” She gestured with her head as she led her down a long passage.
They arrived at a ward where Sienna shared the room with three other people. She was connected to an IV, but she looked… unharmed?
Brianna turned to the nurse in question. “I don’t understand, what happened here?” She asked.
“Well… Ms Ortiz fainted. She was brought in by a certain gentleman who works at the hotel she stayed in. He was right here- Oh, there he is!”
Brianna spun around, and it felt as though her breath was knocked out of her lungs when she spotted the said gentleman.
The nurse said something, but Brianna barely caught a word she said before she left.
Everything happened so fast, her head snapped in the direction of Sienna’s sleeping form and turned backed to the so-called hero, and then she marched forward and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of eyesight.
“What the hell are you doing here?” She asked in a hushed voice.
She could never forget his face even if she tried, he was like a monster in her nightmares, he reminded her of the day she came face to face with MJ Billings.
The smug look on his devilishly handsome face told her that he knew exactly what was going through her mind. “I would be disappointed if you did not remember me,” the man she had come to know as Liam Auburn, said with a proud smirk, and Brianna knew she was screwed.
“What are you doing here?” She repeated.
“Didn’t the nurse tell you?” He waved his hands in front of him, showing off the security uniform he was wearing. “I was just about to start my shift early this morning when I found Ms Ortiz over here in an empty room in the basement at the hotel, she was tied to a chair and she had passed out, so I did what any good Samaritan would do and brought her to the hospital.”
Her heart dropped to her stomach as everything began to fall into place. “You are lying.”
Liam shrugged. “I am, except, that lie is exactly what you are going to tell Sienna and Javier, or anyone else if they ask.”
“Why… why is she doing this? I thought we were on the same team.”
“We are on the same team, which is why I am going to tell you this just in case you need ammunition in the near future, seeing as that woman has been giving you a hard time already.” He nodded towards Sienna’s room. “Your sister-in-law staged her own kidnapping.”
Brianna never imagined she could experience something that could be described as a moment between life and death, but she did as she staggered back and leaned against the wall, letting out a huge breath of air without replacing it, and when she finally realised that she could not breathe, she greedily breathed in and out over and again until she felt her breathing stabilising again.
She shook her head. “You are lying,” she said, the words stale in her mouth.
Liam’s shoulders shook as he laughed lowly. “Sure. I’ve heard that song before. Come on, even you can’t be that naive! How do you think MJ obtained all the information about your brother?” He challenged. “You have spent years trying to run away from your brother, and the fear of your past catching up with you increased when your children were born. What makes you think that Sienna is any different? Obviously, apart from the fact that she has the guts to do whatever it takes to eliminate her problems.” Liam winked at her and left.
Brianna was stumped. It felt like this was going to be an endless cycle of betrayal and lies, and what hurt the most was that one of them was going to get hurt in the end.
She was not sure she wanted to see Sienna anymore, she could not look at her and not call her out for her tricks. This was a low even for her, involving her kids in her schemes and faking her own kidnapping? She always knew that Sienna was dangerous, but Brianna also thought that she cherished her children more than anything in the world.
If Javier found out about this, he would not hesitate to blow her brains out on the spot, he was going to kill the mother of his children, and that was the last thing she wanted for him. Those kids would become orphans if he killed Sienna, and worst case scenario, he would drag them into his world of guns and drugs.
What was she supposed to do now? This was all her fault. If she had not called Sienna to spite Javier, none of this would have happened. Sienna would not have had to sell Javier's secret to MJ Billings, and MJ would never have found out about the existence of Sienna and the kids. If she had not hacked into MJ's firewalls in order to expose Samantha and protect herself, she would never have met MJ.
This was a complete mess!
"Hi!" Someone greeted, and Brianna looked up to see a young male nurse. "Are you looking for someone?" He asked.
Brianna forced a smile. "Oh! Uhm... I'm actually here for Sienna Ortiz," she said, gesturing towards the direction of the ward with her thumb.
The nurse's face brightened up. "Oh, yes! That funny lady, she has a roommates and nurses in stitches every other second."
"Yep, that sounds like Sienna!"
Not! Brianna cringed inwardly. Unless you are into dark humour, Sienna is not exactly a comedian.
"You may go in to see her, she's awake."
Brianna nodded. "Thank you." She bowed her head slowly before heading back to the ward, where upon entrance, Sienna's smiley face morphed into distraught.
"Bree, is that you?" She asked, feigning sadness as she grabbed Brianna's arm with both hands. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you! I thought I'd never see you again, and my children. Oh, my poor children, Bree! Do you know if they are okay? Please tell me they are safe." She cried crocodile tears.
Brianna had planned to let this go for now, but she was getting agitated with every word coming out of Sienna's mouth. "Sienna, I don't have the strength for your melodrama today. You know completely well that your children are safe!"
Sienna slowly released her hand and laid back, nodding into her pillow. "Well, that was unexpected. So, what now? Are you going to tell him?"
The knowing and proud look in Sienna's eyes was infuriating.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't?" She had to control herself from yelling, because it was earning them stares from the other patients.
"If you must know..." Sienna mused, "I'm just curious, what exactly are you going to tell him first, what I did, or what you did?" Brianna froze, her eyes popping out of her sockets. "Technically, we did this. But you started it. So, tell me really, are you going to tell him that you don't just work with her, but you work for her as well?"
Brianna felt tears burning in her throat, and she stepped closer and reached for Sienna's pillow, nudging it a bit, to the latter's discomfort. "Who knows? I must just do exactly do that," she said in a low, calculative voice, and watched as panic brewed in Sienna's face. "Get some rest, sister-in-law." She patted the pillow and spun on her heels, she could not stay there a second longer.
Sienna knew her secret. If it was not for the other patients in the room, Brianna would have suffocated her with that pillow and removed that devious look on her bloody face.
She had to cut ties with MJ Billings before Javier could find out the truth. Or maybe, maybe she should just tell him and get it over and done with, because at this point, she needed to have him on her side.
MJ was no safety net, she was the devil's reincarnate, and she wreaked havoc in other people's lives, unprovoked. She was a cancer Brianna needed to cut off, and she knew exactly what to do.