Noah POV
I was staring through the window of the hospital room.
My brothers were asleep.
Liam and Ezra were sitting in the chairs, gripping Lucy’s hands in theirs, with their heads laid on the bed next to her legs. Theo was sitting on the bed next to her, leaning on the headboard with his head hanging on his chest. That position couldn’t have been very comfortable, but I didn’t want to wake him up. He needed sleep.
I needed it too, but I couldn’t force myself to close my eyes. I needed to be alert in case someone came in here and tried to hurt her. I would never let anyone hurt her again.
My stomach twisted painfully.
I made that promise already.
And I broke it.
And now she is laying on a hospital bed.
Fuck!
I need to be a better brother. I need to be more careful. I need to be more protective. I need to be more selective about people around her. I need to make sure she will never be in any kind of danger again.
A small whimper startled me. My eyes darted to Lucy. She turned her head into my direction and groaned.
“Lucy?” I whispered quietly, caressing her cheek.
She opened her eyes, and my heart started beating a mile a minute.
She was still confused and disoriented. She blinked a few times and looked at me, confused, through her half-opened eyes.
“Hey, love.” I smiled as a tear fell on my cheek.
“Noah?” I heard her say quietly.
“Yes, Lucy, it’s me.” I sobbed, cupping her face in my hands, and kissing her forehead. “It’s me, love. You are safe.”
She started shaking. Whimpers and sobs escaped her lips, and tears started falling down her cheeks.
“It’s okay, Lucy.” I sobbed with her. “It’s okay, Sunshine. We are here. You are safe.”
Our sobbing woke my brothers up.
Theo flinched, looking around confused until his eyes fell on Lucy.
“Lucy!” he gasped, taking her from me. “Oh, my God!”
She reached out for us, and we carefully pulled her in a hug. Hearing her sobs broke my heart.
“Hi, love.” Liam said, kissing the top of her head, his voice trembling. “You are safe now, baby.”
“Ezra?” she asked quietly, taking deep breaths between her sobs.
“I’m here, honey.” Ezra said, leaned over Theo so she could see him better and caressed her cheek softly. “I love you so much.”
“I’m going to get Nate.” Liam said and walked out of the room.
Theo lifted his head and looked at her. “Nothing and no one will hurt you ever again. I promise. I will never leave you alone again. I shouldn’t have let you leave. I should have fought them. I am so sorry, Lucy.”
He leaned his forehead on hers, his shoulders shaking.
“No, Theo.” Lucy said, shaking her head. “It wasn’t your fault. It was only theirs. They would have found another way to get me, Theo. You couldn’t have stopped that from happening.”
My heart was clenching painfully. She is wrong. They couldn’t have taken her if we were there.
Lucy gasped and looked at us, wide-eyed. “Is grandpa okay?”
“He is fine, honey.” Ezra said, giving her a small smile and kissing her hand. “The injury wasn’t bad.”
“Oh, thank God.” Lucy sighed in relief and winced.
“What’s wrong?” Theo and I shouted at the same time, looking her up and down.
“My ribs hurt.” she said just as Liam and Nate walked in the room.
“Hello, kid.” Nate smiled. “I missed you.”
“Hi, Nate.” she smiled back at him, trying to breathe through the pain.
Nate motioned for us to move away from the bed so he could check on her. We took a step back reluctantly.
“What hurts, kid?” Nate asked as he checked her IVs.
“My ribs and my head.” she said.
“I will give you something for the pain, okay?” Nate smiled at her. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really.” Lucy said, shaking her head.
“Okay.” Nate nodded, looking at her chart. “You are getting vitamins and minerals through the IV, but you will need to eat something a little later, okay kid?”
“Okay.” she nodded.
“I’m going to go get a painkiller.” Nate smiled at her. “I will be right back.”
She nodded, and Nate walked out of the room.
We were around her in a second.
“I missed you so much, love.” Liam said, caressing her cheek.
“How long had I been gone for?” she asked.
“Two fucking days.” Theo grumbled, kissing the top of her head repeatedly.
I saw Liam frowning at his cursing, but he didn’t say anything. I’m guessing he knew it was pointless right now.
“Was anyone else hurt?” Lucy asked worriedly. “I didn’t see any of the guards. Are they okay? Is Reece okay?”
“Nobody was hurt, love.” Liam told her. “Don’t worry, okay? Everybody is fine.”
“Thank God.” she breathed out in relief.
She really is amazing. Here she is, lying in the hospital bed, worrying about other people’s wellbeing.
The door to the room opened and Nate walked back inside, carrying a syringe in his hand.
“I would tell your brothers to give you room to breathe, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon, kiddo. “Nate teased her as he walked to her bed.
Lucy chuckled and winced in pain.
“Hurry up, Nate.” Theo said, staring down at her worriedly.
Nate sighed, motioning for me to move so he could get better access to her IV.
I stepped away reluctantly. I needed to touch her to make sure she was really here. I was still terrified she would disappear.
“Here you go, Lucy.” Nate said as he pushed the liquid into the IV. “It should be better in a couple of minutes.”
He smiled at her and stepped away.
I was back next to her immediately. I carefully placed an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple.
She is really here.
Nate walked to the foot of her bed and took her chart, writing something down.
“Would it be okay for me to tell you about your injuries, Lucy?” Nate asked her, looking up. “We can do everything else tomorrow.”
Lucy nodded, grabbing Theo’s and my hand in hers.
“Okay, kid.” Nate smiled at her. “I will tell you everything we found and everything we did. If you need me to stop at any point, tell me. Deal?”
“Deal.” Lucy nodded nervously.
“We are here.” I said to her, kissing the top of her head.
She looked up at me and gave me a small smile.
God, how much I love her.
“You have two broken ribs.” Nate started. “You will have to wear a rib brace for a while, and you will have to rest. There are a lot of bruises and cuts on your arms, stomach, and back. We cleaned the cuts, and we’ve started you on an antibiotic. You were found on a basement floor, and we were worried about an infection.”
Nate stopped, looking at her to see if he should continue.
“I’m okay, Nate.” she said, giving him a small smile. “Go on.”
All four of us, gripped her tighter.
“You were unconscious when we found you, and you had a wound on your head.” Nate continued. “It was bleeding excessively, so we stitched it up. You have a small concussion. Do you know how that happened, Lucy?”
“I do.” she said quietly. “Jack smacked my head against the floor when he heard a noise from outside of the room.”
The anger that flared up in me almost made me jump up and break every piece of fucking furniture in this room. The only reason I didn’t was Lucy. I couldn’t bear to be away from her.
The rest of my brothers looked like they wanted to do the same. Theo leaned in, buried his nose into her hair, and took a deep breath.
Nate nodded and I could see he was as angry as we were.
“Okay, kid.” he said, forcing a small smile. “We did another exam, Lucy. Considering that you were unconscious when we found you and that you are a minor, we asked Liam to give consent for us to do a rape kit.”
Lucy froze and her breathing became erratic.
The four of us moved instantly, wrapping her in our arms.
“They didn’t do it, love.” Liam said frantically. “They didn’t do it.”
Lucy looked at Nate, wanting confirmation. Nate nodded. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. I wiped the tears from her face.
“Did they touch you, Lucy?” Nate asked.
She sobbed but shook her head. “No. At least not while I was awake. But I was asleep most of the time. They were giving me something.”
Nate nodded, and the four of us breathed out in relief. Although, that didn’t mean they didn’t touch her while she was asleep…
“They were giving you zolpidem.” Nate told her. “We found a lot of it in your system.”
Lucy nodded, fresh tears falling on her cheeks.
“I think that’s enough for now, Nate.” Liam said sternly.
“Of course.” Nate nodded. “Rest, Lucy. I am so glad you are back with us. I missed you, kid.”
“I’ve missed you too, Nate.” she smiled at him through her tears.
Nate smiled back, checked her IVs again, and left the room.
We were back at hugging her, wiping the tears off her face, and telling her how much we loved her.
She was finally back in our arms. No one will take her away from us again.
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I have an idea for a new story. 😁
I will probably start it tonight or tomorrow, but I won't update it as regularly as this one. At least not until I finish this story.
I'm really excited about it and I hope you will love it. 😊
Thank you again for all of your votes and comments! ❤