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SARAH
After everybody had left including, Cullen, his father, the doctors, and the guards. I was left in the room with only two people.
Dad and Ronan.
My father stood in the middle of the room for a moment, just staring at his son, eyes hard and unreadable.
“What?” Ronan barked.
Then he pushed himself off the edge of my bed and wandered back toward the seat he’d taken earlier. The one by the wall, just across from mine. The one where I first woke up and saw him watching me.
He dropped into the chair with a loud exhale, legs spread, body sprawled like he owned the place.
Dad didn’t move until Ronan had fully settled. Only then did he turn toward me. His expression shifted, softening, and the cold in his eyes evaporated.
He stepped forward and leaned down, brushing a hand gently over my forehead. His fingers swept back a few strands of hair, tucking them behind my ear in a calming gesture.
“How are you?” he asked quietly. “How are you feeling?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m okay.”
His brow furrowed. “What happened?”
He sat down at the edge of the bed, closer now.
“I was told there were screams. That you were screaming. What was that about?”
As soon as he asked, my eyes flicked toward Ronan....I didn’t know how to answer.
I still didn’t understand why he did what he did. He hadn’t hurt me, not physically. But I didn’t know why he’d told me to scream. Was it a trick? Did he know Cullen was coming? Did he want him to walk in and see us like that?
Why?
He was watching me now, knife in hand again, flipping it open, then shut. The sharp glint of it caught in the fluorescent light, and his eyes never left me.
He looked curious. As if he too wanted to know what I was going to say. I couldn’t look at him anymore.
I turned my face back to Dad. His presence grounded me. Hi
“I… I don’t feel so good,” I whispered. “I think I need to lie down.”
His face tightened immediately, concern deepening. “It’s okay,” he said gently. “I’m going to get the doctor.”
He stood and walked out quickly, closing the door behind him. A few moments later, the door opened again. The doctor stepped in, followed closely by my father.
He moved to my side and began his routine checks, listening to my heartbeat, checking my pulse, gently lifting my arm and feeling my temperature. It was all clinical, precise. But there was tension in the room. Something lingering that neither of them addressed right away.
Then the doctor finally spoke.
“I don’t like this,” he said flatly, not looking at me, but at my father.
“I know you already told me how displeased you were by the disturbance in the room.” my father snapped.
“It wasn’t a disturbance,” the doctor said sharply, his voice low but firm. “She’s still recovering, and a fight...that kind of fight should never happen in a hospital. Not in her hospital room.”
His jaw clenched. “That could have greatly affected her.”
“I understand,” the doctor said carefully, as if he didn’t want to push too hard. “You’ve made your point.”
“Then just tell me,” my father said, exhaling. “How is she? Will she be able to move?”
The doctor sighed. He glanced down at the clipboard in his hand, as if weighing every word.
“Everything looks good,” he said at last. “Her vitals are strong, her response to medication is consistent, and physically, she’s progressing. I’m sure everything will be okay.”
My father gave a short nod. “Thank you.”
“The nurse will be back shortly to administer her medication,” the doctor added.
With that, he turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
My father came to my side again and took my hand in his. His grip was warm and steady.
“I love you more than anything in the world,” he said. “And I will do anything and everything to protect you.”
“I know,” I whispered.
And this time, I meant it. I knew.
After everything Ronan had said, after the horrible things I’d heard, something finally made sense.
Why Dad had always hovered near but never close.
Why there was always something in his eyes when he looked at me. Why love had felt like distance.
Now I understood.
It hurt. God, it hurt but it was real. And I knew now that he had been protecting me all along. I wasn’t sure about much anymore. Not about my future. Not about where I was going. But knowing I had him in my corner?
That meant everything.
A few minutes later, a nurse entered. She gave me my medication, speaking softly as she worked. Her presence was calming, gentle.
I must have fallen asleep after that. Because the next time I opened my eyes… I was no longer in the hospital.
But then it made no sense. Because I couldn’t be awake. Because everything around me felt too familiar.
This wasn’t the hospital. It wasn’t the cold, sterile air or the sharp scent of antiseptic. This was soft. Warm. This was my room.
Not the bedroom I’d shared with Cullen, not the guest suite at the villa. No.
This was my bedroom. My childhood room. My teenage sanctuary. My world before the wedding, before the chaos, before everything that followed.
I recognised everything instantly. The posters I used to beg Dad not to take down. The bookshelf with spines cracked from rereading my favourites. The desk I had insisted on keeping even when it had wobbled like a drunk stool. My jacket, lazily thrown over the back of
The old, lumpy, pillow one I’d had since I was six, the one my father always teased me about, threatening to burn it behind my back. But he never did. And now here it was, waiting for me. Like everything else.
It was all untouched and unchanged. Like someone had pressed pause on my entire life. No… It couldn’t be.
This had to be a dream.
“What am I doing here?” I whispered, barely able to trust the sound of my own voice.
Before the thought could even settle, the door creaked open and then I saw him. My father.
He stepped in slowly, calm, composed. He was smiling.
“Good,” he said gently, “you’re awake.”
I blinked at him, as the world inside my head spun.
“I think I’m dreaming,” I muttered, my voice thick. “Because… this looks like my childhood room.”
His smile deepened, that soft, fatherly smile I’d spent years reading and never fully understanding.
“You’re not dreaming,” he said. “You’re home.”
I froze. My eyes widened.
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