Chapter 379: It doesn’t matter

Braelyn’s POV

“Doctor, she’s drifting in and out of consciousness!” someone said with a hint of urgency. I could barely keep track of what was happening inside.

The world flickered in and out. I didn’t want to fight anymore. I was tired. Then a voice cut through everything. It was a broken wail filled with desperation

“Please… please let me hold her hand…”

The voice sounded familiar. My eyes struggled to focus, drifting weakly toward the door. A figure was there desperately trying to come in like he had lost his mind. Lucien, he looked like a complete wreck.

His face was pale, his eyes red-rimmed, his entire body trembling like he was barely holding himself together. “I’m begging you…” His voice cracked into a raw sob I could barely recognise. “Just once… please…”

A nurse tried to hold him back, but he resisted, his hand reaching toward me like I was the only thing anchoring him to this world. My fingers twitched weakly against the sheets.

I wanted to speak but my mouth was as heavy as lead. “Please don’t go Viper. I have already made them pay.” He begged.

“Please. Viper, I don’t know what I would do without you…” his voice broke again. “Please..”

The nurse pushed him..”Sir please you have to leave..”. She urged him

The darkness crept in again, slowly suffocating and pulling me under. I could faintly hear someone scream. “We are losing her again..” Then the darkness took over completely.

********

Beep

Beep

Beep

The steady rhythm of the machine filled my ears. My eyes slowly opened again, and the bright lights made me shut them before slowly opening them again. The curtains fluttered through an open window and cold winter air blew in. I open my throat to speak but it is too hoarse…

The raspy sound was loud in the empty room and I felt the hold on my hand tighten..”Viper, are you awake?” he spoke softly and I turned to face him.

I tried calling his name but my throat was too hoarse. Luckily he understood and quickly opened a bottle for me..”Please have some water.” He tilted his mouth to me.

“Take slow gulps.” He urged me. I drank slowly letting the water roll down my throat until it wasn’t hard to swallow

He pulled back the bottle. “Is that enough?” he asked tentatively. The concern in his eyes was overflowing. I took a moment to check him out. He wasn’t dressed for the office just in casual clothes and with the dark circles I could tell he had been in the hospital.

A knot loosened in my chest at least he was still alive. “I’m fine.” I managed to say but my voice was still a bit hoarse. He tightened the cap and nodded after which he placed the bottle back and adjusted my pillow.

“Do you need anything else?” He asked. I glanced at the open window.

“It is cold.” I simply said and he quickly got up to close the window. As soon as he was done he walked back to me..

“Don’t move too much. You were out for a while and almost died.” He said slowly. “I was scared out of my mind,” he admitted.

I pushed down a bitter taste in my throat. “What about the baby?” I asked straight away. He went silent

He did not answer.

His eyes dropped for a second before lifting again, but there was something in them now that made my chest tighten painfully.

“Lucien, answer me,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry, Lynn,” he said quietly after a long pause. His voice was careful, like each word was being chosen to avoid breaking me. He started telling me everything aside from what I actually want to hear.

“Everything is almost over, we destroyed them. Raphael is a wreck, the Orlov family and the Voss family have cut ties completely and Volkov Apex is at the brink of collapse.”

The words kept coming, but none of them reached me. He started narrating everything that happened in the 3 weeks I was unconscious. He woke up 2 weeks ago.

” Amelia has been arrested for Richard’s death and conspiracy. Natalia was the one who helped her frame you for cheating and supplied the drugs that caused your PCOS. There is a national manhunt for her, but she has disappeared.” He explained. My brows furrowed this wasn’t what I wanted to hear

“Lucien…” I called out but he avoided my gaze as if telling me about the wreck outside would compensate for the hollow gap in my heart.

He continued with a steady voice still not meeting my gaze. ” They did not make Amelia’s arrest public or the national manhunt for Natalia in order not to alarm her and lure her out. ” He paused for a moment before his voice trailed off again

” Amelia’s pregnancy was fake. The kidnapping and assault were staged as part of a fake miscarriage plan. Natalia was also the one who attacked me, and Raphael has been devastated after learning the truth. His mother colluded to destroy his marriage.” He paused slightly, his grip on my hand tightening again.

“Volkov Apex is at the brink of collapse,” he repeated softly, almost absentmindedly. It all sounded like noise. Like a story being told in another room. Like something related to a stranger

I stared at him with a blank expression listening but not absorbing. None of it mattered. I didn’t care Natalia worked with Amelia or tried to figure out why Natalia betrayed her family

All that mattered was one thing “My baby,” I said again, quieter this time. “What happened to my baby, Lucien?”

Silence stretched longer this time. He did not answer, but the truth was already sitting between us like something too heavy to move.

My breathing became uneven.

“Don’t dwell on her. ” he cupped my cheeks, placing a kiss on my forehead. “We can have another baby and since February is close we can travel to see the spring peach blossoms. They are beautiful..” he said trying to distract me. “Or the aurora up north. The Northern Lights are something to live for.”

“I don’t want another baby,” I said suddenly, my voice breaking as emotion finally surged through the numbness. “I want my baby girl. I don’t care about anything else, not the spring blossoms or the aurora.”

My voice cracked completely at the end, and the tears came before I could stop them. Lucien pulled me into his arms immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against my hair, his voice breaking as well. “I failed to protect you.”

I clung to him as my body shook, and grief consumed me completely. A wail left my lips. The gap in my heart started aching all over again. He just held me close whispering sorry over and over again

I had the revenge I wanted. Raphael was feeling as much pain as I felt then but it was meaningless. If I could choose between revenge and that baby girl. I would choose her without hesitation.

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