No response. But he never expected one. Not yet. "I ca early today," he said, trying to sound light, like this was normal. Like she would answer him any second. A faint smile touched his lips. "And today..." He paused.
Sothing shifting in his chest. "I felt your brother kick." His thumb brushed slowly over her small fingers. "It was amazing, Seren," he whispered, his voice thickening slightly. "Strong... stubborn." A small breath left him.
"You’d like him." Silence answered him. His smile faded just a little. "You need to wake up soon, okay?" he added, quieter now. "Daddy misses you." The word lingered.
Daddy. It didn’t co as easily as he pretended. It carried weight. Regret. Ti lost. "Elara..." he said after a mont, his jaw tightening slightly at the na. "She was a bad influence."
A breath. Slow. Controlled. "But mummy Amara..." His voice softened again.
"She loves you." That part. He didn’t hesitate. "And we’re going to be a family again," he continued, leaning forward slightly, as he needed her to hear this. "A real one." His grip on her hand tightened just a little.
"I promise you," he said, voice low but firm, "this ti... we won’t hurt her." Silence. "We were all deceived," he added, more to himself now. "By Elara." A pause. Longer this ti. "She gave birth to you..." His throat tightened.
"But Amara raised you." That truth sat heavily between his words. "And it doesn’t matter," he continued, his voice breaking just slightly. "Those adoption papers... they were fake." His eyes lowered to their joined hands.
"We were a family once," he whispered. A beat. "And we’ll always be one." The machines continued their steady rhythm. Unmoved. Unchanging. "Wake up soon, alright?" he said softly.
He sat there a while longer. Not speaking. Just holding her hand. Like if he let go. Sothing would break completely. Two years. And still. He ca back. Every ti. Waiting. Hoping.
Because sowhere deep down. He believed she could still hear him. And maybe. Just maybe. She was trying to find her way back. Sebastian didn’t move. He just sat there. Watching her. But his eyes weren’t seeing the hospital room anymore. They were sowhere else.
Sowhere louder. Colder. That night. The island still clung to him then, the salt in the air, the unfinished past, the weight of everything he had lost. And then. The news. Elara is dead.
It should have felt like an ending. But it didn’t. It felt like sothing breaking open. He had gone straight to the funeral. Not to mourn. No. He went for one reason. Seren.
He had stood at a distance, hidden in plain sight, watching everything unfold. Watching Shane. Watching the grief. Watching the chaos of a life unraveling.
And then. He saw her. Seren. Small. Fragile. Confused. Her eyes scanned the crowd, searching. And then. She found him.
Even now, sitting in that quiet hospital room, Seb’s fingers tightened slightly around her hand. "She saw ..." he whispered under his breath. He rembered it too clearly.
The way her face lit up while running away from Shane. The way she broke free. "Daddy!"
She was coming straight toward him. No hesitation. No fear. And then. The sound. Brakes. A horn. Screams. Seb’s jaw clenched. He had moved. But not fast enough. Never fast enough.
"I should’ve stopped you..." He murmured, his voice barely audible now. The mory twisted inside him, sharp and unforgiving. Blood. Panic. Her small body on the ground.
He watched Shane carry her to the hospital. While he went after them. And when they got to the hospital. That’s when he made the choice. The one no one knew.
"I saved you," he whispered, almost defensively now. "I did." He had been there. He had paid. He had made sure the machines never stopped. Even when he couldn’t afford it. Even when it nearly destroyed him.
And Shane. Seb’s expression hardened. Shane never knew. Because Seb made sure of that.
"I told them to say you didn’t make it," he admitted quietly, his voice low, almost hollow. "I couldn’t let him take you." It wasn’t regret in his tone. Not fully. It was justification. "I was going to bring you to her," he continued, his eyes flickering with sothing intense now. "To Amara."
A family. His family. His mind shifted again. To another mory. Amara’s wedding. Julian was standing beside her. The vows. The smile. Everything Seb believed should have been his.
"I rember everything," he said under his breath, his gaze never leaving Seren. His grip tightened slightly. "I’ve done so much for you, Amara..." Not spoken aloud to her. But carried in every word.
"You left ," he thought, his jaw tightening. "Yes, I lie, but our love never was a lie." A pause.
Sothing darker settling in. "it wasn’t." His eyes softened again as he looked at Seren. "And I’ll prove it." A slow breath. "It’s only a matter of ti," he whispered.
Until everything ca back to him. Until she ca back to him. "Until we beco a complete family again." The machines continued their steady rhythm. Unaware. Unmoved. And Seren. Still lay there. Silent.
Caught between a past she couldn’t rember. And a future soone else was already deciding for her.
–
The ride ho felt longer than it actually was. Not because of traffic. Not because of distance.
But because Amara’s mind refused to be still. The image replayed over and over again. Her mother’s study. Amira is walking out. The lie. The argunt. The missing piece.
If it wasn’t Amira... then who? The question circled endlessly, tightening in her chest, refusing to settle into anything that made sense.
She didn’t even notice when the car slowed. Didn’t notice the familiar gates opening. Didn’t notice the way the gravel shifted beneath the tires as they pulled into the driveway of the Pedro mansion.
It was only when Julian’s hand gently covered hers. Warm. Steady. Grounding. That she blinked. "We’re ho," he said softly.
Amara looked up, slightly disoriented, her eyes scanning the surroundings like she was seeing them for the first ti.
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