Everything happened because she’s gone. But why? Why didn’t Jackson tell me?
Stacey walked over to me and supported my body. I shook my head but no tears fell.
I kept replaying the scene of the last time I said goodbye to Macy in my head.
It was funny. I never expected the time Marcus brought me out for a walk would be the last time I saw her and Jackson.
I thought that once I recovered, I would be able to happily rejoin them and everything would be just like how it used to be.
I never could have imagined that that was the last time.
“Sienna!” shouted a doubtful male voice from behind me.
I turned but my eyes hurt so badly that I couldn’t open them. Through the blinding sunlight, I managed to make out the figures of two people.
Nick and Jackson!
They didn’t bring the child!
When was the last time I saw them? It hadn’t been very long, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” The voice that escaped me was raspy and pained. I struggled to breathe.
Jackson walked towards me and helped me up from the ground. He tried to clear his hoarse throat as he said, “She hoped you would focus on recovering and told us to only tell you after your condition improved!”
I smiled and gazed at the black-and-white photo on the headstone. I couldn’t even squeeze one tear out. Yet, my heart was bleeding. I knew that she was just afraid that I wouldn’t be able to take the blow of her passing so soon after losing my child.
“Did she say anything at the end?”
“She said that she wanted you to raise her child. You can choose the name. You don’t have to be worried about being lonely with the child by your side.”
Jackson spoke calmly, as though he had rehearsed this speech a hundred times.
My body was freezing, but my forehead was sweating profusely.
I fought the pain in my chest as I smiled and replied, “Okay!”
The moment I spoke, I tasted an acrid sweetness for a second.
I coughed and blood spewed from my lips.
An agonizing pain in my chest followed. The pain was so intense that even my bones felt like they were being rattled.
“Sienna!”
“Ms. Stanhope!”
Jackson held me in his arms. His eyes flashed red as he bellowed at Stacey, “Don’t you know she’s depressed? Did you bring her here to push her over the brink?”
Stacey was stunned and she shook her head dazedly. “I didn’t know. I thought that you guys had some reasons for not telling her, so…”
“Send her to the hospital!” Nick, who had been silent till that point, roared. His face was as white as a sheet.
There was a buzzing noise in my head and the pain in my chest was so excruciating that I couldn’t breathe.
I was loaded into the car in a blurry daze by Jackson. Shortly after, we arrived at the hospital.
I initially assumed that I would be able to remain conscious until we arrived at the hospital. Alas, I fainted before we arrived.
It was as though I had fallen into a deep slumber that lasted a lifetime.
When my eyes slowly blinked open, the first thing I registered was white ceilings. It took a while for me to realize that I was in the hospital.
“She’s awake! Letty is awake…” Jackson cried out. Stacey and Nick’s voices soon joined his.
I looked dumbly at them while my brain processed the situation. “You’re all here?”
Stacey’s eyes were red as she looked and me and said, “You vomited blood and have been unconscious for a whole day.”
I was stupefied. My head still throbbed terribly. I fought through the discomfort and said, “How did she die?”
Jackson pursed his lips and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he answered, “Letty, let’s not talk about the past, okay?”
I stared at the ceiling. Every inch of my body cried out in pain. “I know what you’re worried about. But I don’t even know how she died, Jackson. How will I be able to continue living my life peacefully?” I said calmly.
He hung his head and cradled it between his hands. His slender fingers were pressed into his hair as he said raspily, “During the day of your incident, she was tricked and ended up fainting at Nick’s door. Later, someone told her that you had been kidnaped by Cameron after coming out of the Featherstones’ residence.
She found out about how you almost lost your life too and knew that it was her fault. At that moment, she became overwhelmed and blood started pouring out of her when she went to look for you. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it and entrusted her child to me. She instructed me to have you raise the child.”
He choked out, “She was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to handle the blow of her passing so soon after the loss of your child. Hence, she asked me to raise the child for half a year first before telling you.”
In the short span of a year, I had experienced the woes of grief. I kept my gaze locked on the ceiling. My eyes hurt and my vision was slightly blurry. However, no words fell from my lips.
After a period of silence, I finally found my voice and asked, “Who told her about me?”
She had been pregnant. In the month after my incident, I stayed with Marcus. During that time, I had attempted to take my life through various methods.
Marcus was busy taking care of me and did not have time for anyone else. Given his character, if I hadn’t insisted on seeing Macy, he would not have sought her out on his own, much less provoke her intentionally.
Such an evil deed…
“It was Jared’s assistant Kristina!” He blurted, his tone cold.
Kristina!
I frowned and thought about the well-dressed young lady. The same young lady that had been humiliated by Rylee at Imperial Hotel.
“Her?”
Jackson nodded. “She went to see Macy. I’m not clear on what exactly transpired between them, but Macy’s mood soured after their conversation. Just as Macy was about to leave, she said to never tell Jared about the child.”
Never tell Jackson about the child?
I stopped speaking. In life, one needed to be at least a little fierce. If you show how weak you are from the beginning, everyone will zero in on you as prey who could be easily taken advantage of.
Jackson watched as I went back to staring at the ceiling with a blank expression. He called out softly to me, “Letty, you…”
“I’m fine!”
I pushed down all the surging emotions within me and said to Stacey, “You might need to help me with this.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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