Chapter 11 #2
She looked so small in that bed. Mika, who had always seemed larger than life with her loud opinions and her purple hair and her absolute refusal to let anyone push her around.
Now she lay motionless under white sheets, tubes and wires connecting her to machines that beeped and hummed.
Her face was pale, her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling in slow, steady rhythms.
Alive. She was alive. The doctors had told us she was stable, that the surgery had gone well, that she was expected to make a full recovery with time and rest.
But seeing her in that bed, so still and quiet, made the relief feel hollow.
Vivi and I stood at that window for what felt like hours, crying and holding onto each other.
Noah hovered nearby, close enough to catch us if we collapsed but far enough to give us privacy.
At some point someone brought chairs and we sat, our hands still clasped together, our eyes never leaving Mika’s unconscious form.
I didn’t hear the footsteps approaching until a familiar voice cut through the fog in my brain.
“There you are!”
My heart clenched at the sound. Vivi and I both turned, and there was Sarah, bustling toward us with that determined expression she always wore when she was about to mother someone whether they wanted it or not.
She wrapped her arms around both of us before we could react, pulling us into a hug that smelled of lavender and fresh-baked cookies. The scent alone was enough to make me cry harder.
“Shh, it’s okay, girls,” she murmured, her hands rubbing soothing circles on our backs. “Mika’s a fighter. She’s going to be just fine.”
“What-” I pulled back, confusion cutting through my grief. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on a cruise for two more weeks.”
Sarah had worked so hard her entire life.
Taking care of me after my parents died.
Running her own business. Helping raise the twins when I’d needed an extra set of hands.
When I’d finally convinced her to take a vacation, to actually enjoy her retirement with her friends, I’d been so happy for her.
She deserved every second of relaxation and fun.
She wasn’t supposed to come back early because of me.
“Knox told me you were having a difficult time with the pregnancy,” Sarah said matter-of-factly. “So I returned quicker.”
I stared at her, mouth hanging open. “Why the heck would he tell you that?”
“Because I threatened him.” Sarah’s expression didn’t waver.
“I told him if anything happened to you and he didn’t keep me informed, I would make his life very uncomfortable.
And because he knows you’ll never tell me the truth on your own.
You’re too stubborn for your own good, Lina. Always have been.”
“I didn’t want you to worry-”
“Too bad.” She cut me off with that no-nonsense tone that had terrified me as a teenager and now just made me feel safe. “I would never forgive myself if you were hurting and I wasn’t there to support you. Seems I came back right on time.”
Her eyes moved past me to the window, to Mika lying in that hospital bed surrounded by machines. The sadness that crossed her face was genuine and deep.
“Tell me everything,” she said, turning back to me. “And I mean everything, Lina. No more secrets. No more protecting me from the truth. I want to know exactly what’s been going on.”
Oh, shit.
I looked at Vivi, who shrugged helplessly. I looked at Noah, who was suddenly very interested in his phone. No help from either of them.
Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “Basilinna Winters. Start talking.”
The full name. She’d used my full name. That meant she wasn’t going to let this go no matter how much I tried to deflect or minimize or change the subject.
I took a deep breath.
“Okay,” I said. “But you might want to sit down for this.”
“That bad?”
“Worse.”
Sarah pulled up a chair and sat, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on my face with the patient intensity of a woman who had raised a stubborn child and learned exactly how to wait her out.
So I told her. Everything.
The threatening messages that had started weeks ago.
“Wait, what?” Vivi’s head snapped toward me. “You’ve been getting threats? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I didn’t want to worry anyone. And Knox thought-”
“Keep going,” Sarah said firmly. “Both of you can yell at her later.”
The burned blanket on my doorstep. The note promising to hurt my children.
Vivi made a strangled noise beside me. “Oh my god, Lina.”
The lockdown that had kept me trapped in the pack house. Mary Thorne’s escape from house arrest.
“MARY?” Vivi practically shrieked. “Mary Thorne escaped? When? How? Why didn’t anyone-”
“Vivienne,” Sarah said calmly. “Let her finish.”
Knox keeping it all from me. Our fight. The dead rabbit that Thea had found.
“A dead rabbit?” Vivi whispered, her face pale. “In your backyard? While the kids were there?”
And now this, someone trying to burn down my shop and Mika getting stabbed trying to stop them.
By the time I finished, both Sarah and Vivi were staring at me with identical expressions of horror. Sarah’s mouth was set in a hard line and her eyes had gone flinty. Vivi looked ready to either cry again or punch someone.
“That boy,” Sarah said finally, and I knew she meant Knox, “is going to get an earful from me when I see him.”
“Get in line.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me any of this,” Vivi said, her voice hurt. “I’m supposed to be your friend, Lina. We could have helped. We could have done something.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I just... I was trying to protect everyone.”
“By keeping us in the dark?” Vivi shook her head. “Sound like anyone else we know?”
The pointed comparison to Knox stung, mostly because she was right.
“Oh, honey.” Sarah reached out and took my hands in hers. “I’m so sorry you’ve been dealing with all of this. You should have called me. I would have come back immediately.”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t call. You deserved that vacation.”
“And you deserve support. Real support. Not just guards and lockdowns and a husband who thinks he knows what’s best for you.” She squeezed my hands. “You’re not alone in this, Lina. You never have been. You just need to stop being too proud to ask for help.”
The tears started again. I couldn’t stop them. Sarah pulled me into another hug and held me while I cried, rubbing my back and making soothing noises just like she had when I was fifteen and my whole world had fallen apart.
“What am I going to do?” I whispered against her shoulder.
“You’re going to let the people who love you help,” Sarah said firmly. “You’re going to stop trying to handle everything yourself. And you’re going to trust that things will work out, even when it feels impossible.”
“And Knox?”
“That’s between you and him. But I will say this.
” She pulled back and looked me straight in the eyes.
“That man loves you more than life itself. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.
The way he’d burn down the world to keep you safe.
He made a mistake keeping things from you, a big one, but he did it because he was terrified of losing you.
That doesn’t make it right. But it might make it forgivable. ”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. So I just nodded and wiped my eyes and turned back to the window where Mika was still sleeping.
“She’s going to be okay,” Sarah said, coming to stand beside me. “That girl is too mean to die.”
I laughed despite myself, the sound coming out wet and broken. “She really is.”
“Now.” Sarah’s voice shifted into command mode. “Have you eaten anything tonight?”
“I...”
“That’s what I thought. Noah!” She raised her voice slightly. “Find me a vending machine or a cafeteria. These girls need food.”
Noah, who had clearly been eavesdropping despite his pretense of phone-focused distraction, nodded and disappeared down the hallway.
“You’re going to eat,” Sarah told me and Vivi. “You’re going to drink some water. And then you’re going to rest, even if it’s just in these uncomfortable hospital chairs. Your friend is going to need you when she wakes up, and you can’t take care of her if you’ve run yourself into the ground.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Vivi said quietly.
“What she said,” I agreed.
Sarah nodded, satisfied. Then her expression softened again. “Knox is going to be here soon, isn’t he?”
As if summoned by her words, my phone buzzed with a text. I looked down and saw his name on the screen.
Thirty minutes away. Are you okay?
I stared at the message for a long moment, all the complicated feelings I had about my mate swirling in my chest. Anger. Hurt. Love. Fear. Everything tangled together until I couldn’t separate one emotion from another.
“He’s almost here,” I said.
Sarah put a hand on my shoulder. “Remember what I said. Forgivable. Not right, but forgivable.”
I wasn’t sure I was ready to forgive him yet. I wasn’t sure I was ready to have the conversation we needed to have. But he was coming, and I was going to have to face him whether I was ready or not.