Page 79 of Vengeful Lies

Beg her to understand he’d been trying to protect her.

Beg her not to leave him like Gretel had.

Then, as he continued to smooth the wet cloth on her too-hot face, he did what he knew she would do for Essie if his daughter was sick and started to sing.

September 22nd

8:47 A.M.

Pain still pulsed through her body, but for the first time in weeks, it felt like maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Gabriella knew she’d messed up.

She should never have allowed herself to get so sick that she just gave up.

As badly as she felt and as uncertain about her future as she was, she didn't really want to be dead.

All she wanted was to not be alone anymore.

Was that really too much to ask?

Everyone else seemed to have someone and she was so sick of always being left out in the cold.

Which only made her feel guilty because she knew she had lots of blessings, and she didn't like to wallow in self-pity when she had a lot more than so many others had. She just didn't want to face life alone anymore.

Sounds outside her hospital room had her turning her head on the pillow to look at the door. It had been almost forty-eight hours since she passed out and had been found unconscious on her hotel room floor. Those first hours were a complete blank. She didn't remember the ambulance ride to the hospital, didn't remember being examined in the ER. It wasn't until several hours later she woke up to find she was no longer in her hotel suite.

As well as the infection ravaging her body, she’d been severely dehydrated, and the fact that she hadn't been eating orsleeping had her so weak her body just couldn’t compensate any longer.

With heavy-duty antibiotics being delivered via IV as well as fluids, she was slowly improving but still found the tiniest of movements a tremendous effort.

There had been a steady stream of visitors in and out of her room.

Apparently, Cade had found her and called in reinforcements. Other than when a doctor examined her, one of the Charleston Holloway brothers was with her.

It was odd, but not unpleasant.

And she didn't have the energy to figure out why Cade had been in her suite.

What possible reason could he have to come to the hotel to see her?

“I’ll go check it out,” Jake told her as he crossed the room and disappeared through the door.

A moment later, she heard the distinct excited squeal that could only come from Essie.

Her heart squeezed painfully. As badly as she wanted to see the little girl, there was no way that Essie was there without her dad, and she just wasn't ready to face Cade. A conversation was going to have to happen at some point because she needed to know why he’d gone to the hotel, but she wasn't up to it yet.

When Jake returned a minute or two later, he had a fierce expression that she recognized as his protective look. Jake could be similar to Cade. Both were gruff, could be intimidating, and didn't bother to mince their words. But both were also compassionate and loyal. They loved their family with everything they had, and right now, she knew that she was the focus of every one of Jake’s protective instincts.

Even though she knew this wasn't the best thing for her long term to have Cade’s family hovering around her. It was too easyto slip back into old ways of thinking and go back to considering them hers.

But they weren't hers.

Not really.

She didn't get to keep them.

So, it was better to maintain the clean break she’d initiated, but somehow, she couldn’t seem to make herself do it. She was so weak, making her even more vulnerable, and she was lapping up their attention and care like she was starving. And she was, she wasn't denying it. A lifetime of having to be self-sufficient to survive meant she couldn’t be anything but.

---