Page 100 of Heartless

“She was. The best sister anyone could hope for.”

Not something my siblings would say if I died today.

“And umm…” I cleared my throat. “The baby. That must have been horrible.”

I knew that fishing for information instead of asking Parker directly was a bad move, but the man hid an important piece of information from me.

“Heartbreaking,” Ryan said.

We were almost at my door and I wanted to find out as much as possible. “I noticed Parker has only pictures of Franny in The Blue Diamond.”

“We have just one picture of him.”

It was a boy then. I wanted to ask about his name, but wouldn’t that seem suspicious. I should already know it.

“He was in the NICU. All those tubes…Parker is a strong man, but there is a limit to what a person can handle, you know. I think that’s his limit.”

“Yes. Of course. It’s…,” I paused trying to come up with a word, remembering what Clem had said. “It’s unfathomable.”

Ryan smiled politely, obviously not wanting to continue this conversation. “Are you sure you don’t want me to call Parker?”

“Yes. I’ll text him and then take a nap.”

“Okay,” Ryan took a step back from me. “See ya.”

I opened the door of my villa and slipped inside.

Why would he keep his son a secret? It’d been months since he told me about Franny. He had plenty of time to tell me the rest of the story. Did he not trust me? Did he think that I didn’t deserve to know?

The sense of betrayal mixed with empathy toward him. Losing your wife and child the way must have been unbearable. How did someone move on from that?

I took my clothes off, slipped into bed, and sent a short text to Parker, informing him I was sick and going to bed. I should’ve felt guilty about lying, but he was a liar too.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Parker

Iopened the door of the Pink Diamond and tiptoed inside. Ryan had told me he had seen her earlier and she seemed a little disoriented and pale, but otherwise fine. That was a good sign. When Franny got sick, it took people one glance to figure out she had a serious illness. And yet I needed to see Madison with my own eyes.

I gave her a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, but the fear I used to feel for Franny hit me with full force. It was like I was back in time and dreading falling asleep, because she might die while I slept.

A voice inside my head kept reminding me that people got sick every now and again and it didn’t have to end with me standing at a cemetery. But fear overrode every logical thought, and I snuck into The Pink Diamond.

I found Madison snuggled up under the covers in the dark room. Not wanting to wake her, but unable to leave her alone and go to The Blue Diamond, I took my clothes off as silently as I could and joined her under the covers.

My hand found hers in the darkness. Our fingers entwined without any effort.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She curled closer to me and her eyes fluttered open, revealing puffy red rims and swollen eyelids. “Have you been crying?” She shook her head and I had the feeling she was lying, so I pressed her. “Your eyes are swollen.”

“Allergies,” she croaked.

“I thought you were sick,” I placed a hand over her forehead. She definitely didn’t have a temperature.

“I told you I just needed to sleep it off.”

“Sleep then,” I said and held her closer to me. I wanted to protect her from everything that could possibly harm her. My past had shown me that I would never be able to protect her from everything, but I wanted to be her safe place. I wanted her to come to me and not hide alone in her bed.

I ran my hand through her hair. My heart beat slowed down eventually and with her body pressed against mine, the fear that had consumed me minutes earlier was slowly fading away, replaced by sleepiness.

---