Chapter 300 - 293

Selena Hayes stood a short distance away, speaking quietly to a doctor who had come to collect information about Adrian.

Emilia had only managed to explain what happened in fragments.

And the terrible moment when one of the security men arrived with Adrian unconscious in his arms.

Emilia still remembered the sight of him.

His face had been bruised, his clothes torn, and blood had darkened the fabric around his shoulder. His breathing had been shallow enough to make her forget how to breathe herself.

She had run toward him.

Someone had caught her around the waist before she could reach the stretcher.

"Let them work, ma’am."

"Adrian!"

She had fought the hands holding her back.

"Adrian!"

He hadn’t moved, or opened his eyes. He hadn’t heard her.

They had taken him into another treatment room while Selena held Emilia tightly enough to keep her from following.

Then the doctors had come out and told them he was alive.

Alive.

The word had been the only thing Emilia could hold on to.

He had sustained serious injuries and needed immediate treatment. He was unconscious, and they were monitoring him closely.

They had taken him to a room next to Kylie’s.

Now Selena sat outside Adrian’s room, her hands clasped so tightly that her knuckles had turned pale.

Emilia had tried to stay with her.

She had tried to divide herself into two people, one to sit beside Selena and one to wait for Kylie.

But when a nurse came to tell them that Kylie had been taken into surgery, Emilia had felt the ground disappear beneath her feet.

She had gone to Kylie’s room as soon as the operation was over.

Now, with Christian beside her and the doors still closed, she felt the familiar terror of waiting for someone she loved to wake up.

It was different from waiting for a phone call.

Different from waiting for an apology. Different from waiting for a person who had chosen to leave.

This waiting had no answers hidden inside it.

"Emilia."

She looked up.

Selena stood in front of her. "Have you heard anything?"

Emilia shook her head.

Selena’s face tightened. She sat beside her daughter. For a moment, they watched the closed doors together.

Then Selena reached over and brushed a strand of hair away from Emilia’s face.

"You need to eat something."

Emilia stared at her. "Mum."

Selena’s hand paused.

Emilia immediately regretted the sharpness in her voice, but she couldn’t find the energy to apologise.

"I can’t eat."

"Then drink some water."

"Mum, please."

Selena withdrew her hand.

The silence that followed was painful.

Emilia looked at her mother and saw how tired she was.

The woman who had spent years trying to protect her from a father who had made protection feel like another form of control was now sitting in a hospital corridor, waiting for the man she loved to wake up.

She had her own fear. Her own pain. And yet, she was still trying to take care of Emilia.

Emilia’s eyes filled. "I’m sorry."

Selena shook her head. "Don’t be."

"I didn’t mean to snap at you."

"I know."

Emilia leaned into her mother’s shoulder.

Selena wrapped an arm around her.

Emilia whispered, "I don’t know what I’ll do if they don’t wake up."

Selena closed her eyes. "Neither do I."

The honesty hurt. But it was better than pretending they weren’t afraid.

Selena kissed the top of Emilia’s head. "We’ll take it one moment at a time."

Emilia nodded against her shoulder.

......

The operation lasted longer than Christian expected.

He didn’t know how long he had expected it to last.

An hour, perhaps.

Two.

He had never paid attention to the duration of an operation before. He had never sat in a hospital corridor with his life divided into the minutes before and after a door opened.

Now he watched the clock as though the hands were deliberately moving too slowly.

At first, he tried to remain standing. He paced the corridor.

He called his head of security.

He demanded a full account of what had happened aboard the ship, who had been arrested, who had escaped, and whether anyone had located Noah’s uncle.

He asked about Dante.

He asked about Adrian.

He asked whether the hospital had received any additional information from the trauma team.

Then he called the hospital administrator and asked if there was anything else the medical team needed.

Money. Specialists. Equipment. Whatever it was, he would provide it.

The administrator assured him that Kylie was receiving the care she needed.

Christian thanked him. Then he paced again.

After a while, he stopped in front of the vending machine and stared at the rows of bottled water.

He couldn’t remember when he had last drunk anything. He couldn’t remember when he had last eaten.

He bought a bottle of water, twisted the cap open, and took one sip.

Then he set it on the chair beside him.

Emilia watched him from across the corridor.

She had been trying not to stare.

But there was something unbearable about seeing Christian in a state of distress he couldn’t disguise. His shirt was still stained with Kylie’s blood. Someone had brought him a clean jacket, but he hadn’t put it on.

He had refused to change.

When a nurse suggested he might want to clean himself up, he had looked at her as if she had asked him to go home.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

Emilia understood that.

She wanted to be beside Kylie, too.

The clock moved.

"How long has it been?" he asked.

Emilia checked her phone. "Two hours and twelve minutes."

Christian’s face went still.b"Two hours."

"Yes."

He rubbed his hands over his face.b"They said the bullet missed her major organs."

Emilia nodded.

"They said they were going to remove it and control the bleeding."

"Yes."

"They said that."

"Christian—"

"They said it was possible." His voice grew quieter. "They didn’t say she was going to be fine."

Emilia had no answer.

He looked at her. "Why didn’t they say she was going to be fine?"

"Because they don’t know yet."

"Then they should find out."

Emilia flinched at the desperation in his voice.

Christian immediately looked away. "I’m sorry."

She shook her head. "You don’t have to apologise."

"I shouldn’t be taking this out on you."

"You’re not."

He sat down again.

His hands were shaking. He folded them together, trying to hide it.

Emilia pretended not to notice.

For a while, they sat side by side.

Then Christian said, "She was afraid of the jump."

Emilia turned to him. "What?"

"When we got to the stern. There was a boat waiting below us, and the drop was high. She looked down, and she froze."

He stared at his hands.

"She asked me what would happen if she missed."

Emilia’s eyes filled.

A tear slipped down Emilia’s cheek.

"I should have got her off that ship sooner."

"Christian—"

"I should have found another way."

He looked at her. "She trusted me, Emilia. She was terrified, and she trusted me enough to jump."

His voice broke.

"And now she’s in there, and I don’t know if she’s going to wake up."

Emilia stared at him.

For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

She wanted to tell him that he had saved Kylie. That he had gone after her when other people might have sent men in his place. That he had jumped into the water with her and held her while she bled.

She wanted to tell him that the bullet wasn’t his fault.

But she knew that no amount of reassurance could make him stop imagining all the ways the night might have ended differently.

So she did the only thing she could.

She reached for his hand.

Christian looked down at their joined fingers.

"She loves you," Emilia said quietly.

He shut his eyes.

Emilia drew a shaky breath.

"Kylie doesn’t say things like that unless she means them. She can flirt with someone for an entire evening and forget their name the next morning. She can make a joke out of almost anything. She can act like nothing matters because she doesn’t want anyone to see when something does."

Emilia smiled faintly through her tears.

"But she loves you."

Christian stared at her.

"She was terrified of being known by someone who could hurt her. Not because she doesn’t want love. She does. She just doesn’t always know what to do when it stops being something she can laugh off."

He looked toward the operating room.

"And she chose you."

Emilia squeezed his hand.

"She chose you, Christian." She paused. "She chose you because you make room for her to be herself."

Christian’s face crumpled for a fraction of a second before he forced it back into stillness.

"Then she needs to come back and tell me that herself."

Emilia nodded. "Yes."

"She needs to wake up." He looked down at their hands. "And I need to tell her something."

Emilia waited.

Christian’s voice dropped.

Emilia’s throat tightened.

He rubbed his thumb over his knuckles. His jaw tightened. "I want to see her finish Law school."

Emilia leaned her head against his shoulder. "Then tell her when she wakes up."