“I know you do not trust me, Javier,” said Aimee once Nurse Jo had left. She was sitting on the sofa with her hands clasped on her lap while Javier was sitting on the chair next to Ella’s bed. “And I do not blame you after what has happened between us but you should know that this is work. I would never implicate anyone’s life or health.” When he did not say anything and still kept his eyes on Ella, she continued talking, “It has been ten years. You should forgive and forget about it. I have lost count of how many times I said that I was sorry. It was a careless mistake. I should not have done it. If that did not happen, perhaps—” she took a pause and let out a sorrowful sigh, “perhaps you and I are still together. Maybe we are even married and have one or two kids.”
Without even looking at her, he muttered under his breath, loud enough for her to hear, “Stop talking.”
Yet Aimee continued with her chatter as if she had
It felt like a dream. Except for the fact that he had not slept the entire night and even though the sun rose up, nothing changed. Ella was still lying on the bed unconscious. Javier had kept a close eye on her, watching her the whole night and hoping that she would move a muscle or even better, open her eyes, and yet there had been nothing thus far. He would have been worried that he had lost her if it was not because of the steady rhythm of her heartbeat on the monitor. Moving his gaze from Ella, he watched Damon and Tanner sleeping on the couch. Tanner was sleeping in a seating position while Damon put his head on Tanner’s thigh and occupied the rest of the sofa. Tanner had one hand over Damon’s eyes and forehead and under different circumstances, Javier would have laughed picturing Damon as a naughty brat and Tanner as his mother who tried to make him fall asleep. Ella had great friends. Javier was very grateful for their presence. He was not sure he could have gone through the
There was no day. There was no night. There was just darkness. Pitch black was all she could see. Well, now that Ella thought about it, she couldn’t really see anything. For all she knew, her eyes could just be closed, and she could be staring at her eyelids. Faint voices. She was not even sure whether they even were even voices at all. That was what she thought going on. They were so faint at times, it was like she couldn’t hear them at all. It was almost as if she was imagining it. But at other times, it was incredibly loud. So loud that she felt as if she were about to go deaf at some point. Yet she could never get the voices to be at a medium volume. She could not truly decipher what they were saying, or talking about. But what she was sure of, was that it was not just one voice or different voices at different times. It was more than one voice. Normally it would be a man’s deep voice, or two men’s voices, or sometimes even a woman’s voice and another woman’s voice but sounded m
Ella stiffened at the man’s voice but did not bother to open her eyes as she lay on the hospital bed. Him. The man she had heard the nurses called as her fiancé. The one she couldn’t remember no matter how hard she’d tried. “Come on now. Open your eyes. I know you’re awake,” his voice softened and for a moment, she was not sure why but she felt that he was smiling. “You know I could always tell, Ella.” Feeling that there was no use in pretending to be asleep or unconscious, she slowly opened her eyes. The second her eyes registered her surrounding, especially the man who was currently standing next to her bed, her pulse kicked again. She pressed her fingers to the space between her brows and wondered for a moment why the man’s face had such an unsettling effect on her. Did she know him? There was something about his voice, something that tugged at the fringes of her memory. But whatever it was, the memory stayed just out of reach. Giving up, she tried to focus on her own dilemma. But
Eyes narrowing, desire still glittering in those baby blues as he watched her with the same intensity that he had kissed her. Out of nowhere the image of a predator stalking its prey raced through Ella’s head. Whoever this man was he was dangerous. Maybe not physically, because she didn’t think he would harm her, but on some deeper, more personal level. “I asked who you were,” she said, unnerved by his silence. “Javier.” “Javier,” she repeated, sampling the sound of his name on her lips. She waited for some flicker of recognition, some memory to go with the name. When none came, her head began to throb in earnest. Pressing her fingers to her temple, she closed her eyes and ran his name, his face, his kiss through her mind again. Nothing. No inkling that she knew him, that she remembered him. All she encountered were more blank pages. Her heart picked up a panicked beat at that realization, and she was forced to acknowledge that her memory was filled with far too many blank pages. S
C H A P T E R 1 4 : O V E R D U E R E U N I O N A N D F O R G I V E N E S S E L L A S T A N F O R D Ella looked at her mother, Eleanor Stanford, for a few seconds before finally dragged her gaze back to her father, Derek Williams. Both of them were staring back at her expectantly as if waiting for her answer however she did not have any. In the end, she asked them a question instead, “What are you asking me to forgive you?” Her mother blinked. Once. Twice. Then she turned to her father. “How much have you told her, Derek?” “I did not get a chance to tell her much. I think Javier might have told her something beforehand,” he replied and when he saw Eleanor was about to interrupt him, he quickly added, “which I have no idea what.” 
C H A P T E R 1 5 : F A M I L Y A S A W H O L E E L L A S T A N F O R D There were two reactions: a sharp gasp from Ella and a low grunt from Derek. The rest of the room stayed still. “Oh my gosh, Momma, I am so sorry,” muttered Ella softly. Feeling bad that she had more or less pushed her mother into revealing this traumatic experience, she opened her arms and reached out to her mother. Eleanor held Ella’s hand, a sad smile was on her face. Derek stood still like a statue for one full minute before he could form a response. “I am sorry, Eleanor.” He shook his head. Guilt and contrition were in his eyes. “I have failed you, haven't I? I was supposed to protect you.” “No.” Eleanor shook her head slowly as she fina
C H A P T E R 1 6 : L U N C H D A T E W I T H C L A R A B E L L EJ A V I E R S U M M E R S“Brother?” Clarabelle tilted her head and frowned before calling her brother again by his full name, louder this time. “Javier Rainard Summers!”Her brother who had been staring blankly ahead this whole time with a forlorn look on his face blinked then turned his gaze to Clarabelle. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Clarabelle Anneliese Summers?”“I am not,” she replied back with a huff. “Stop calling me by my full name. You know I hate my middle name.”“You started it,” commented Javier quietly.“Only be
C H A P T E R 1 7 : F O R G I V E B U T N E V E R F O R G E T J A V I E R S U M M E R S By the time Javier had returned, both of Ella’s parents had left and she was sleeping. He brought himself slowly down to the seat on the left side of her bed. His elbow was placed on the arm of the chair while he rested his head on his palm as he continued to stare at her. The memory of their life together flashed before his eyes and it brought a small smile to his face.