Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
Pilar
“I heard you’re dating Drake.” Aramis’s voice was dry and low.
His words made me laugh, and then cry, and then laugh again. My brother looked awful, and I wasn’t just saying that because he was lying on a hospital bed with a cast on his left leg, and his left shoulder covered in bindings. His face was filled with tiny scratches from the broken windshield, and bandages covered the burns he’d acquired from the car that’d caught fire. Yet he was alive, and he was here, and he’d heal and be fine again, at least according to the doctors and surgeons. We were lucky. Two people had died, yet Aramis had somehow made it out of it.
“I’m so sorry.” I squeezed his hand. “If I’d been driving…”
“Don’t.” He shot me a look. “Don’t even think it. I would never trade places with you. I wouldn’t allow it. You’re my baby sister, and I need you to be safe. Always. I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” I began to sob, my chest heaving. “You’re completely messed up.”
“I’m always messed up, darling.” He winked, then flinched.
“Stop it.” I laughed as tears ran down my cheeks. I sniffled and wiped at them. “I told Amir to look into what happened. Ben has a crazy ex, and she confronted me before I went into the shelter. She knew which vehicle was mine. Knew that I was there alone.”
“You think she did something?”
“I don’t know what to think.” I exhaled. “I don’t know. What could she have done? Tampered with the engine? The brakes?”
“No.” He shook his head and then winced a bit. “It was none of those. It was almost as if…it was like the car couldn’t stay straight.”
“The tires?” I asked. I’d driven Audis for most of my adult life and I’d gotten flat tires on them. They weren’t quick to give out, even with a nail embedded in them. I said that aloud, and Aramis shook his head.
“This wasn’t a nail, Pilar. It had to be a slash.”
My heart stopped beating. “Could she want me out of Ben’s life that badly?”
“She must.” He stared at me for a beat. “The question is, do you want to be in this relationship badly enough to put up with people like her?”
My knee-jerk response was “ of course ,” but seeing my brother like this…I wasn’t so sure.
“How’d that happen anyway?” he asked.
“What?”
“You and Ben.”
“That’s really the first thing you’re going to ask me about?” I laughed. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“I think it’s worth discussing now, seeing as I have nowhere to go.” His lip twitched, but his eyes were dull and remained sad.
“Well.” I cleared my throat. “It just happened. I guess it started as us just having fun, but it may have become something more.”
“You guess?” Aramis raised his eyebrows and cringed with pain. “Are you having fun or not? It’s that simple.”
“I am.”
“But it’s not serious? Or is it?”
“We haven’t discussed it.” I worried my bottom lip. “It’s Ben, you know. He has a reputation, and it certainly isn’t about being a serious boyfriend.”
“Just because he hasn’t been in a serious relationship, doesn’t mean he doesn’t want one.” He tilted his head. “Besides, he flew here the minute he heard that you were in the hospital.”
“He came to see you too.”
“I’m pretty sure he came here for you.” He winked. “He didn’t sleep beside my bed all night.”
“That’s true.” I worried my lip.
It was true, wasn’t it? He’d come here knowing full-well that he’d be seen and photographed. He’d stayed with me all night. He only left this morning because he had things to take care of, and I told him that I wanted to see my brother alone. I stood up and leaned over to kiss Aramis’s forehead.
“Get some rest. I’ll be back soon.”
“Yep. Resting. Don’t you worry, I’ll be back to normal and partying in no time.” Aramis winked and then cringed. “Fuck.”
“Stop winking and stuff,” I said.
“It’s hard.” He groaned.
“Elias says he wants you to go to the cottage in Roussillon when they discharge you so you can continue your healing.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. They’re going to banish me now for looking like this?” He raised his arm and gestured at his leg and face. “What? Does this not fit the narrative of what our family is supposed to look like?”
“It’s not that, you idiot. He wants you to get one hundred percent better. You’ll need physical therapy for your leg.”
“I’ve broken a leg before. I’ll live.” He rolled his eyes.
“Stop being so stubborn. I’ll see you soon.” I walked out of the room and saw that Elias and Adeline were still with my mother. I walked over to them. “He’s doing okay.”
“We heard about Kayla,” Elias said. “Why didn’t you tell us?” He looked at Amir, who stood near the elevator. “I haven’t addressed this with him yet, but I will.”
“Don’t. Don’t get Amir in trouble for this. It was my fault for not making a big deal of it sooner. Do you think she slashed the tires or something?”
“How could Aramis have driven that far without noticing?” Adeline asked.
“If he’d been in any other car, it likely would have been impossible to do,” Elias said. “But that one…” He shook his head. “Do you think she’s capable of slashing your tires?”
“Yes.”
“We need to have her arrested.”
“Eli.” Adeline grabbed his arm. “We can’t just arrest her before we inspect the car.”
“The hell, we can’t. I’m the king, and my brother is in the hospital. My sister could have been killed.” He yanked his arm away from Adeline.
“She’s right, Eli.” I licked my lips. “If you arrest her, it would be like Father all over again. Your people will lose trust in you.”
“I don’t like knowing she’s out there.” He scowled.
“We’ll have them inspect the tires immediately,” Adeline said. “In the meantime, we have a public engagement and need to keep unrest at a minimum right now. “I’ll be back later to visit with Aramis while you meet with Parliament.”
We said our goodbyes and I stayed behind with my mother.
“It’s such a shame,” she said.
“What?”
“That you have to leave Benjamin because of his ex-girlfriend.”
“What?” I said again and blinked. “I’m not going to leave him because of her. He has nothing to do with her anymore.”
“Does she know that?”
“If she didn’t before, she will now.” I kissed my mother goodbye and walked over to Amir, ready to leave.