The Dark Ghosts

89. True Love

Sadie's POV

I knew my face was the biggest giveaway of the fact that I had been crying the moment Nathan laid his eyes upon me. His worry-filled eyes didn't stop checking on me from time to time ever since he sat next to me in the waiting room, making sure I was doing ok both mentally and physically.

Xavier's surgery had finally ended a couple of hours ago and he was now admitted in the ICU. The surgeons managed to stop his bleeding and he's doing better now, but he still isn't out of danger, thus needing to be monitored by the hospital. The next few hours are crucial and will determine whether my brother lives or not.

Per Nathan's stubborn request, I had allowed a doctor to check my injuries after we were informed about Xavier and we knew we wouldn't be receiving any more news anytime soon except a tragedy happened. I did not have any serious injuries except a mild concussion due to Jett slamming the vase on my head. It hurt a little, I admit, but it's nothing I can't handle.

It was now late at night, the hospital's corridors were empty in exception of some doctors and nurses. The girls had come earlier accompanied by the boys after they cleaned the mess in my brother's apartment. And I admit them being here helped me crack a small smile.

What did I ever do to deserve them? None of them were obligated to come here, some of them had only ever seen my brother once, so the fact that they did come made my heart swell. And not only that, they made sure I was doing —relatively— fine, that I had been eating, that I didn't need anything, they tried to drive my mind away from the depressive, negative thoughts. Alec even told me that his dad has sent some of his best men to protect my brother and I from Nikolai and his men. I'm so fucking lucky to have them in my life.

And now, they left as I ordered. The girls put up a fight, hesitating on leaving me alone. They've been extra supportive and I was grateful, but it would be useless if all of us stayed. It's been a long day and they deserved a rest, I couldn't deprive them from that.

The only one I couldn't convince was Nathan. He'd been more than attentive all over the day that he almost made it hard to stay mad at him. I just found it so cute that he was so keen on staying by my side so he could make sure I was doing fine.

We were now alone with Emma, who was laying over the line of chairs and sleeping soundly as Nathan and I leaned over the wall. My eyes were still fixed on her stomach, which was covered by both of her arms, once again, protectively. That only fueled my theory of her state, but I was ordering myself not to dwell much on it. I just needed to speak to her and clear all of my doubts.

"Little genius?" Nathan broke the silence between us while staring ahead of us, making me let out a soft hum, asking him to continue. "I know that right now, for some reason that is still unknown to me, you're mad at me, but never doubt that I will be here for you, in whatever you need, Sadie."

My focus also moved from Emma to the same wall he was staring at as silence engulfed us once again. He slowly moved his hand until it was grazing mine, hesitantly moving to grab it in case I was uncomfortable and, when he saw I made no move on pushing him away, he held my hand and interlaced his fingers with mine. We stayed like that for some seconds before I took a deep, shaky breath, swallowing the lump inside my throat and finding the courage to ask the question I've been dying to ask.

"Why did you break our promise?" I whispered, still not looking at him.

His head snapped towards me, eyebrows furrowed and eyes swirling with confusion.

"What?" he asked, his voice right above a whisper.

"When I told you about my past, I only asked for one thing and that was for you to leave it alone. And you ended up agreeing, you looked me in the eye and promised you wouldn't search for those who hurt me." I looked at him. "But you still did."