Sorry, this chapter is probably really bad, I'm just trying to get back into it, I was a little stuck with the plot 😖
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The hug lasted more than any other would and should have, mostly because I sincerely hoped it would work its magic, like every other time Chris took me in his arms. Yet it didn't. I did feel slightly better, but it wasn't as reinvigorating and refreshing as it had always been. Too much time, too much water under the bridge, I guess.
When Chris let go, he remained next to me, holding my hand. "How are you feeling?" He asked lowly, barely looking at me.
"Like a stupid fool." I sighed, falling back against the pillow yet not leaving his hand.
"What ... exactly happened?"
I eyed him for a moment. "You don't know?"
Chris took a deep breath, shaking his head. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm considered Undesirable Number One here." He bit his lips. "Laura, she ... she told your parents about ... what happened between us."
"Oh."
He winced. "Yeah, uh ... your dad managed to forget our entire history the moment he was told I broke your heart."
"Did he ..." My dad isn't a violent type, I doubt he would, but at this point you never know. Chris did look like he'd taken a beating from someone bigger than him, and my dad is quite the big bear type of man.
"No, no," Chris shook his head, his lips curling in a tight smile as he pointed at his black eye, "this ... was Shay."
"Shay?" I gasped, confused.
"We had ... a bit of a quarrel."
"That's an understatement." I frowned. Shane is never violent, for him to resort to this kind of confrontation, he must have been seriously mad. I mean, this is the guy that takes particular care of his hands because 'the hands of a surgeon are more precious than a pianist's ones". Granted that he's not a surgeon yet and he's often changed idea about the specialization he's actually going for, but that's what he usually says.
"It doesn't matter." Chris shook his head, squeezing my hand. "I want to know what happened."
"A car accident." I minimized, not wanting to say the full truth, which implied not only me dating once again the wrong man, but definitely falling into a trap of some sort. You'd think that at the age of 25, I'd have learnt to trust no one, but I guess I never will.
I might say that I've always been kept safely far from harm due to the man that was sitting beside me right now and that that's why I'm such a fool, but it would be unfair. I was blinded by the looks, the charms, the need to get away from my broken heart. That's all there is to it. And now I wound up in a hospital and pregnant.
"I heard he was ..." Chris bit his lips, as if wondering whether he should bring up the topic, since the last time we talked about Sebastian, we had our last fight.
"Yes, Sebastian was driving." I filled in, eyes on our entwined hands. I felt the heat, I felt the value of that connection, and yet it wasn't like in the past. Something was missing, better yet, something had cracked inside me, and it didn't allow me to fully benefit from that touch.
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know." I shook my head. "They said he was detained by the police, but I don't know why."
"I do."
Shocked, I looked up at Chris. His countenance showed a lot of emotions altogether, but mostly anger. "You do?"
Once he'd taken a deep breath, Chris nodded, inching closer to me. "Remember that buddy of mine? We were in college together, then he decided to join the police."
I raked my mind to remember, but I wasn't sure. "Not really."
"Well, anyway, we still hear from each other now and then. And ... he did me a small favor ..."
"Chris ..."
"Just because you closed the book on me, doesn't mean I walked out of your life, Vivy." Chris stated solemnly, and for the first time tonight I felt my heart truly warm up to him.
"Did you have me followed?" Wait, was it him? Or his cop buddy? Did I see one of them following us tonight?
"No," he shook his head, "but I did ask Greg to ... do a little digging."
"On Sebastian?" I blinked my eyes, marveled. I almost left his hand, but he didn't let me. "Is that a habit, Chris?" I immediately wondered. "Do you normally ask your cop buddy to investigate my boyfriends?"
"I wouldn't say investigate," he pursed his lips, "more of a ... background check."
"Are you kidding me?" I did leave his hand now. Mostly because I remembered why we fell out in the first place. Above all, one simple realization hit me like a ton of bricks in the past weeks: was he overprotective or just plainly manipulative? There's a fine line between protective and possessive.
"Look, we can talk about that later," Chris grabbed my hand again, "but you need to know the truth about Sebastian Woodthorne – or rather, Tyler Banks."
My eyes widened as I gasped loudly. "What?"
"That's his real name," Chris nodded. "Tyler Banks. Illegitimate son of Colton Woods."
"I ... I don't understand?"
"Colton Woods, Viv." Chris insisted, taking out his phone to show me an article. "The deceased CEO of Woods Inc."
"That's ... that's not possible ..." I shook my head, "no, come on, that's ... that's not realistic ..." I couldn't accept it, even though I had been having my own doubts since I still had no idea where Sebastian got all his money. No gardening job pays enough to afford a penthouse. At some point I wondered whether his 'I do whatever Mrs. Woods requires' implied that he slept with the old woman, basically working as a gigolo, but it felt crazy. But now that idea was mild compared to the actual truth.
Chris showed me an article about Colton Woods. "Here," he said, hinting at the brunette next to him, "that was his secretary."
"You mean ..."
"Tyler's mom."
I couldn't believe it. "You're telling me that Sebastian was the lovechild born from an affair between Mr. Woods and his secretary?" I recapped, just because I couldn't believe I was processing everything right.
Chris shrugged, pocketing his phone. "The boss-secretary trope is a trope for a reason, you know. It stems from reality." He half smiled teasingly. "You should know, you're an editor."
"Was." I corrected bitterly. "And I worked in a scientific magazine, not for a romance publisher." For a moment, I thought about the job I left. With the London opportunity gone, I may have to grovel back to Cheryl and beg her to take me back. If there still is a place to go back to, since it was failing. Shaking my head, I forced my mind to remain focused. "What happened to the woman?" I asked. "To Sebastian-I mean ... Tyler's mom."
"Well, she and Mr. Woods had a relationship for some time, but then Mrs. Woods found out ..."
"Oh, no ..."
"Mrs. Woods chased out the woman, offering her a big sum to leave the city, which she did. But ... a few years later she came back."
"Because she had a child." I filled in, more or less connecting the dots in my head.
"Yep," Chris nodded, distractedly playing with my hand. "She wanted her son to have a father and she thought Mr. Woods would take in the boy at the very least." He sighed. "He probably would have, from all accounts, he was a decent man. But ... his wife got to the mistress before him."
"Oh, no ..."
"I don't know what it was, be it a matter of appearances, or the fact that a second son would have meant splitting the inheritance, Julia's son losing half of what was his, but ... well, to cut it short, an accident happened ..."
"You're not saying ..." I covered my mouth with my hand, unable to believe this could be the truth.
"I mean, officially ... no, she didn't. But my buddy thinks it was a big cover up and that Tyler-that is, Sebastian, knew the truth." Chris explained. "Imagine being 10, you're in the car with your mom going somewhere nice. Suddenly two cars block your way and drive you into a wall. You miraculously make it, but your mom dies on impact." Chris heaved a deep sigh. "That kind of trauma doesn't go away, Viv."
"What ... what are you implying?"
"You wanted to know where your Sebastian was," Chris said, no sign of emotion in his voice, and grabbed his phone to show me another article. "It's from right before your accident."
I squinted my eyes, trying to read the article, but be it tiredness, be it the toll that all those revelations were taking on my fragile state of mind, I couldn't. I did see a picture of a car accident, though, and when I looked closer, I saw Julia Woods' name on the title. "She ..."
"She's alive." Chris pocketed his phone. "Hence why your accident happened."
"No, come on, that's not ... it's not possible." I shook my head. "This is fiction material, Chris, come on, it can't be."
"But it is," he squeezed my hand in his, "your Sebastian tampered with her car's brakes in an attempt to kill her. Unlucky for him, she made it. A woman with her resources, finding out the truth was a matter of hours."
"You're saying ..." I gulped, feeling anxious for Sebastian, "you're saying Julia Woods is responsible for our car accident? That she tried to kill us as revenge?"
"Not both of you," Chris corrected, serious, "just him."
"But this is ..." I sat up, breathing heavily, "Chris, this means he's in danger! You need to do something, he could ... he could be dead by now."
"He's still in police custody."
"You know that means nothing," I scoffed, "we've both watched too many conspiracy movies to trust that there are no dirty cops."
Chris made me lie down and kissed my hair. "He's not my concern, Viv. You are."
I shot up again. "Whatever you think of him, whatever he did, he's still a person! You can't just let him die!"
"And what do you want me to do?" Chris scoffed. "Show up at the precinct and abduct him? Then what? What resources do I have to protect him?"
My thoughts ran wild, trying to get to a solution, but nothing seemed to work. No matter the idea, it ended inevitably with Julia Woods' goons assassinating Sebastian. My heart raced as I thought of the possibility that he could be already dead. Then it hit me. "Nurse Mona!" I yelled.
"Who?"
"Nurse Mona!" I repeated, scrambling to get to the button that would allow me to call someone from the hospital. I just hoped she was still on duty.
"Viv ..."
"Her friend, she ... she has a friend at the FBI!" I screamed, almost falling off the bed, in an attempt at getting out of it.
Chris pushed me back. "Viv, calm down."
"No, no ... no, this ... it's a human life, Chris!" I yelled, my heart racing. "It's ... it's my baby's father, I ... I can't let him ... no, no, he can't ... Nurse!!!" I was hyperventilating, all the worst scenarios chasing each other in my head, all of which saw Sebastian dead in a ditch, me raising our child on my own. I couldn't tell whether I was more worried about him because, as bad as he could possibly be, he was still a human being and his life was in danger, or more selfishly because I did not want my baby to lose their child before being even born.
"What's going on here?" Nurse Mona came in, sounding concerned. She looked at Chris. "You, who are you?" She came to break us up, but he'd already left my hand and was completely lost in his own thoughts. There it hit me. I revealed the news in the worst possibly way.
"Chris ..." I called, my voice feeble. He didn't react.
While he stood there, motionless, Nurse Mona came over to me and checked me up. "Jesus, girl, you're burning up. What happened?"
"Your friend at the FBI," I mentioned, trying to calm down, "we need her help." As I explained everything to her, Chris left silently. Part of me, I cannot deny it, felt somewhat glad. We were supposed to be over, even the craziest circumstances cannot change what happened, what he did. And yet why did I want to call for him, beg him to come back?