Chapter 41 – Lilah
Chapter Forty-One
LILAH
I hear the sounds of beeping coming louder and louder toward me. I take a deep inhale as I try to open my eyes, but nothing happens. I move my head from one side to the other to make sure I don’t get sucked back into the darkness.
I focus on the beeping beside me as I try to open my eyes. I moan when I feel a gentle hand take mine and then softly kiss it. “You’re safe.” I hear his voice, but I’m not sure if I’m dreaming it or if it’s real. “I’ve got you, baby.” I feel more kisses on my hand. “I’ve got you.” I feel pressure now on the hand he is holding.
My eyes flutter open, and I take in the dark room with soft light coming from the almost closed door. The sound of the beep is steady, the white walls look sterile, and when I turn my head and look at my hand, I see his head bent, and my hand pushes against his forehead. “Emmett,” I croak before I lick my lips. His head looks up, and I can see the worry all over his face.
“Baby.” His voice cracks, and he brings my hand to his mouth as the tears run down his face. “Baby.” I can barely hear his voice.
“Water,” I mumble as my eyes want to close as I try to keep them open. I lift my hand to touch my face, feeling if it’s still sore to the touch like it was for the last little bit. He lets go of my hand and walks out of the room. I look down at my arm, seeing I’m hooked up to an IV drip. The beeping is from the machine monitoring my heart. The burning in my side is a throbbing pain. Turning my head to the side, I rest my eyes when I hear boots coming closer to me. I open my eyes to see him walking back to me, holding a clear cup in his hand with a straw. I notice he’s changed his clothes since yesterday, even if I only saw him for a split second.
“It’s ice water.” His voice is soft and almost in a whisper. “You need to take small sips so you don’t make yourself sick.”
I nod as he holds the straw to my lips, and I take a sip. The coldness hits my tongue right away. I take two sips before I stop. “Thank you,” I say, and he puts the cup on the hospital table.
“How are you feeling?” he asks, his other hand coming out to sit on top of my head.
“Like I got hit by a train and left for dead,” I try to joke, but the minute I say the words, I see his face go white. “But I’m alive, so I guess I should be grateful. There is a throbbing pain?—”
I tell him the truth and slowly touch where the pain is coming from my side. “Feels like every single time my heart beats, it pulses there.”
“You were stabbed,” he says, shocking me. “Twice.”
“What happened?” I ask. “The last thing I remember is the sound of crashing.”
“We came in,” he starts, his hand tightening on mine, “and he had a knife at his side, like he always does.”
“Where is he?”
“Not anywhere near you,” he almost hisses. “He won’t get anywhere near you again.”
“I don’t understand. Why?” I shake my head. “He drugged me,” I fill him in. “I got to the barn earlier than ever and was shocked he was there. He made me coffee.” His eyes look into mine. “Told me to have coffee with him. He cut my hair.” I touch the side of my head and feel the hair is just under my chin. “He told me he was going to take me away from here and we were going to be in love. He wanted me to have his babies.” I shake my head. “I never even suspected him.”
“No one did. Not even Casey. He fooled us by giving us someone else’s information. The real Samuel Lennox lives in California and, as of last night, was unaware that his information was being used by Richard Granville.” I blink a couple of times, trying to get my head wrapped around all this information. “Richard Granville was released from prison eight months ago after serving a seven-year sentence for kidnapping his girlfriend. She finally escaped after two months of being held captive when he fell asleep beside her.”
“Oh my God. He said he was watching me”—I put my hand to my stomach, feeling it start to get sick—“even when I was sleeping. I don’t even know how many times he’s been in my house with me there, and I didn’t know. I don’t even know how I didn’t know he was messing with my stuff.” I exhale out of my mouth. “How long was I?—”
“Three days,” he answers before I finish my question. “Seventy-seven hours.” I can see the rage coming off him. “Seventy-fucking-seven hours, he had you and fooled us all. Seventy-seven hours of me searching every single fucking place I could search. Seventy-seven hours of wishing I could have you back for even one second. Seventy-seven hours of feeling the pain of not being able to keep you safe. Seventy-seven fucking hours of torture.” He shakes his head. “I wish?—”
“Stop,” I tell him, “don’t finish that.”
“I’ll never get those hours back,” he whispers. “For seventy-seven hours, the only thing that went through my mind was you not being safe. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t breathe.”
I close my eyes, my heart speeding up at his words, but then I remember how he said he couldn’t do this with me, his thumb rubs over the top of my hand. “What are you doing here?” I ask, and he just smiles softly.
“You’re here,” he states, and I try to pry my hand from his, but he won’t let me go.
I’m so tired, and my strength is just sucked away from me. “You said…” I remind him.
“I was wrong.” A heavy breath comes out of him as his chest puffs out. “I was so fucking wrong. I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you.”
“But—” I shake my head, wanting to believe the words but not sure I can.
“I was so scared.” His voice breaks. “Scared shitless of falling in love with you and then having you taken away from me.” The pain radiates off him. “So fucking scared, but now I’m more scared of living my life without you in it.” The stinging starts in my eyes, and I try to control the quiver of my lips, but I can’t. “I’m more scared of waking up in the morning and not seeing your face.” His own tears run down his cheeks. “Come home with me,” he begs. “Come home with me and Lucy, where you belong.”
My chest contracts at his words. Words I wanted to hear two weeks ago. “What if you change your mind?” I wipe the tears away from my cheeks, feeling my bottom lip tremble.
He shakes his head side to side adamantly. “That’s not going to happen.”
I look at him, this man I love with everything I have. The man who searched and rescued me. The man who when I close my eyes is the only one I see standing beside me. “I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you.”