Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Zarah
I wake up in a small bedroom, vases of bright, cheerful flowers covering every surface and sunlight shining in through a gleaming picture window. A short stack of books is positioned near a decorative pillow on a bench at the foot of my bed. I don’t know where I am, and I’m missing something, someone, I can’t describe.
A blonde woman who has bright blue eyes sits next to me on a pretty pink and cream chair. Holding my hand, she speaks of things that mean nothing to me. She explains that people are waiting for me to get better, and it won’t be long, only a few days. They questioned someone, Dr. Stephen Mallory, and he helped scientists formulate an antidote. A man named Ashton Black told my brother they made one along with the drug they tested on me.
I’m to take it every morning for the next two weeks.
“What’s your name?” I ask the moment I open my eyes and see her there, comforted by her presence even though I don’t know who she is.
“Stella.”
One day I wake to see her sitting near my bed as she always is, the sunlight glinting off her hair, and I don’t have to ask her name because I remember.
I’ve been taking the antidote for nine days.
Stella keeps me company, and every day the things we talk about make more sense.
“Where’s Zane, Stella?”
She shakes her head. “He’s not sure you want to see him.”
“Why?”
“You don’t remember everything yet.”
“No.”
“Wait, okay? Wait until you do.”
“Okay.”
I’ve been taking the antidote for twelve days.
Stella is my constant companion, and I speak to an older lady named Alice who has kind eyes and a gentle smile. No one wants to call her what she is—a therapist, a psychiatrist.
Jerricka Solis has poisoned us all.
We speak about rape and what Ash made me do. I remember almost everything now. The shame, the pain, the men who did it to me...and their names.
As we walk through the woods behind the bed and breakfast Zane bought to give me privacy to convalesce in, I talk to her about Gage and the way he handled me. “Your call, every time,” he would say, always giving me control. He didn’t care about what those men did to me, he loved me anyway.
I miss him.
I take the last dose of the antidote on day fourteen.
Alice and Stella have been by my side through the past two weeks, giving me their support, keeping me steady as my memories returned, and I remember everything.
“Stella, please tell Zane I want to see him now.”
“I will.”
“Do you want me to stay with you?” Alice asks, sitting in a chair in the corner of a cozy library.
I don’t need a buffer. I’m not scared of Zane and don’t fear us being alone. He’s never hurt me, even if he thinks he has. “No. It’s okay. Dr. Alice, you can go.”
She tilts her head and studies me. “You don’t mean for the hour.”
“No.”
Smiling, she crosses the room and rests her hands on my shoulders. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Yes, I will. Thank you for everything.” I kiss her cheek goodbye.
“You’re welcome. Good luck, my dear. Contact me if you need.”
“I will.”
We both know I won’t.
Alone, I look into a decorative mirror hanging on the wall. My hair is shorter than I’ve worn it in the past, but I like it. I’m not wearing any jewelry, but there’s only one piece I want to wear and he hasn’t given it to me yet.
Zane tentatively shuffles into the library carrying a tray and coffee service.
“Stella,” I say to his reflection, nodding at the coffee. She always thinks of everything.
“Of course.”
He’s nervous. His hands shake as he sets the tray down on the coffee table, and he smooths his tie even though it doesn’t need it.
I pause for a moment and then rush into his arms.
We stagger backward and fall onto a couch, and he wraps his arms around me and sobs into my hair. “I’m so sorry.”
Leaning away, I ask him to look at me. “It’s not your fault,” I say, drying his cheeks.
“Yes, it is. Believing Stella and Sergio Cardello ran away together, using Nathalie. Giving Ash power of attorney. Our friendship. All of it.”
“I believed everything he said. All the nasty lies he told about Mom and Dad, about how if I said anything he would destroy our company, ruin Mom and Dad’s reputation, and smear our name. He threatened to kill you if I talked. I wanted to keep their memories safe, keep you safe, and he twisted that to make me do what he wanted. I should have talked to you, but he convinced me that you wouldn’t believe me. I let him take Stella. You aren’t the only one who’s guilty.”
“You don’t hate me, then?”
“Ash kidnapped Stella that night at the Lyndhurst, and that’s my responsibility, my burden. She’s the love of your life. I was selfish and scared, and I traded her freedom for mine. Do you hate me?”
“I could never hate you, Z, and she wouldn’t want us to hang on to the past. She’s managed to forgive me, forgive everything I’ve done.”
We sit in a heap, my head on his shoulder. I twist the wedding band on his finger. “You two are married now.”
“Yeah, thanks to you. It’s the only good thing that came out of this whole mess.”
My head pops up. “That’s not true. We stopped Clayton and Ash from doing some terrible things, not only murdering Mom and Dad. They hurt a lot of people, and they were working for Rourke. What did he want with the Alzheimer’s drug?”
“Before Clayton and Ash were arrested, while you were at Quiet Meadows, they were formulating a drug they planned to use on the president.”
“The president of the United States?”
“Yeah. Clayton was selling weapons to other countries to help them go to war against us if President Williams didn’t do what Rourke wanted him to do. Rourke was conspiring with Vice President Andrews to keep trade open between us and China, and the president wanted it restricted to keep jobs here in the States. Companies like ours and Clayton’s depend on exporting and importing, and it could have cost us billions in revenue if the president had gotten his way and the bill passed.”
“What happened?”
“President Williams took the war threat seriously and killed the bill, but by then, Max knew our parents’ deaths were a coverup, and he started investigating. Clayton and Ash were arrested, and Rourke promised them he would continue the development of the dementia drug and use it to manipulate the president into giving them pardons for their crimes. Eventually, they were going to discredit the president and force him out of office. Vice President Andrews promised Rourke he would be his running mate when he ran for re-election.”
“But then Gage finally took care of Max’s estate and started going through what Max left him,” I say.
“Yeah, and the fact that Gage is Rourke’s stepson made it that much worse for Rourke.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gage fell in love with you, and you started spending a lot of time together. They needed to resume the trials and wanted to continue with you because you had the favorable reactions they were looking for. That’s why Jerricka was telling you to date other people. She didn’t want you and Gage together. Gage and Linc kept snooping around, investigating the deaths of those other women, and it made Rourke nervous. They were desperate and fucked up when Jerricka convinced you to go with her. We never would have let you disappear like that.”
I sigh and slide Zane’s tie between my fingers. “Rourke was one of my jobs.”
“He confessed to all of it. He’s going to get a lot of years in prison for the things he’s done.”
“How’s Gage handling it?”
Zane looks away. “He’s been keeping an eye on his mother. Whenever I call, he never answers. I’ve left him messages, letting him know how you are and that the antidote was working, but he never calls back.”
My heart cracks. “He doesn’t want me anymore.”
“I don’t know, Z. He never said that.”
Lifting my chin, I say, “I’ll figure it out. I need my phone. I want to hold a press conference.”
“Are you sure?”
“I want the whole world to know I’m back.”
“And then what?”
With more bravado than I feel, I say, “I’m Zarah Maddox, and I always get what I want.”
Zane brushes his thumb over my cheek. “That wouldn’t be a man who has tattoo sleeves and a dog named Baby, would it?”
“I can’t live without him,” I whisper.
“Then be prepared to fight and prove it to him.”
I nod. “Until I’m down on my knees and I can’t take it anymore.”
A shadow drifts across my brother’s eyes. “He loves you, Z, but remember, love doesn’t always erase the past.”
“What are you talking about?”
He lifts a corner of his mouth. “Nothing. I’m glad you’re okay.”
I hug him tightly, a flutter of worry in my heart. I don’t know what he meant, and I’m scared that soon I’m going to find out. “Me too.”