[Morning, sleeping beauty! Julian is making me breakfast in bed. Pancakes and fresh coffee. He's such a domestic god! You know, he never did these things for you. So sad!]
A disgusting, overly bright picture of a breakfast tray resting on white satin sheets. Julian's hand was visible, pouring syrup, wearing the wedding ring I had put on his finger.
I wanted to throw the phone across the room, but my hand was frozen, compelled to scroll. Lesley's messages were a steady stream of calculated cruelty, designed not just to inform me, but to dismantle my self-worth piece by piece.
But, I was desperately looking for some news about my brother. I did not know how he was.
Seeing no texts or calls from the police station or Julian, I quickly got up from my bed.
Doctors told me my body was weak and they could not discharge me yet. But, I insisted.
Once I signed all the necessary documents and came out of the hospital, I rushed to see my brother in the police station.
"Your brother's breathing was unstable. We had to shift him to the hospital two weeks ago."
My whole body began to shake. With trembling hands, I saved the location of the hospital my brother was admitted to and rushed to meet him.
Lesley’s vile taunts and Julian’s final, crushing betrayal had been momentarily blurred by a single, terrifying truth: my brother was in a hospital.
Not the luxurious private clinics Julian frequented, but a state-run hospital. Just like the one I had just abandoned.
I clutched the address the officer had given me, a crumpled piece of paper that felt like a lifeline. I hailed the first available cab, barking out the location, the urgency in my voice startling the driver.
The drive was a blur of traffic and anxiety. Breathing unstable. The words spun in my mind. Deccan had promised to make him pay for interrupting their sick game.
Had Liam been beaten? Was he... molested? My failure to protect him weighed on me, a monstrous counterpoint to the rage I felt for my husband.
Liam was the only family I had left, the only person who had stood between me and that vile man.
When the cab pulled up to the second hospital, I paid the driver and practically fell out onto the pavement.
My legs stumbled as I watched my brother lying on general ward, abandoned and uncared.
"Liam..." I rushed to his side. He barely managed to open his eyes to see me once before he closed them again, relieved.