Broken Bonds

Chapter 66

Reine Parker

After Vince went out to alert others about it, the flashbacks of what happened slowly filled my mind. The rescue. Shoot out. Alexander got shot. I shot her. 

As though on cue, my heart monitor sped up the moment I tried to get off the bed and Elijah walked in. 

"What are you trying to do?" He questioned, as he stepped forward to stop me from getting off the bed. 

"Where's Alexander?" I asked worriedly, he may not have been a great brother, but he pushed me away like what Lorenzo did and took a bullet for me.

Elijah made sure I got back onto the bed before moving over to unveil the curtain, showing Alexander who was right beside me. 

"How is he? Did he wake up?" Elijah shook his head lightly, as he explained his condition to me. Alexander had an oxygen mask strapped to his face, and a heart monitor to indicate the sign of life. 

After doing a thorough check up on me, Elijah commented, "You're healing fine, just make sure to not run around to prevent reopening of the wound." I nodded.

"Did she..." Not before finishing my sentence, Elijah seemed to understand what I was heading to and nodded his head at me. 

"She died, it's over now." I did not answer him but somehow it felt strange in my heart. I was happy to hear the news, just that everything felt like a dream. At least, I got a closure to the deeply tied knot in my heart. 

Elijah then went out to inform other members. One after another came into the room to visit me, though all of the visits ended up awkward because they didn't know what to say to me. Roman chided me like a mother because he was angry that I made such a rash decision to even face off a crazy woman. 

I was thankful for a fact that they did not try to avoid the topic and let me accept the fact that she was finally out of our lives. Ari came into the room last and her face was already stained with dried up tears. Everyone left the room upon her arrival and left the both of us to talk. 

"I'm fine Ari, you should dry those tears of yours." I chuckled lightly at her red and swollen eyes and she blew into the tissue again. 

"I'm sorry, it was just because me that both you and Alex were hurt but yet I couldn't do anything to get myself out of the situation." She sniffled, blowing into a new piece of tissue. 

"It's not your fault, she would have done this sooner or later. You heard her loud and clear back then, she would have killed me with or without kidnapping you." I pointed out the fact. 

After a short while, we ended our talk and Ari left the room. My gaze wandered upon Alexander, who was still soundly asleep ever since he was shot. Slowly getting off the bed, I inched myself carefully towards the seat placed beside his bed and sat down.

I fidgeted with my fingers and somehow the cuticles of my nails became so interesting for me to look at. The door handle creaked softly as someone entered the room and Mateo walked in as he  looked at me in surprise. 

Holding up one finger to my lips, I signalled for him to lower his volume before he even spoke. 

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" He inquired softly, as he walked up to me. 

Ignoring his previous question, I asked, "Do you think he will wake up?" He hesitated for a moment before replying,"He will, definitely will. He will be happy to see you worried for him." 

"I'm not worried. I just don't want to owe him any favours." I muttered, while he merely smiled at my failed attempts to pretend that I was not worried. 

Days passed and the only good news was that he was able to breathe on his own so he was taken off from the ventilator. But he was still not awake despite all of the commotion that we have made, everyone entering and leaving the room everyday. 

I had recovered from my injury, though Elijah was still keeping an eye on me to not do any strenuous activity. Worse of all, he even got Vince to monitor me. 

I was busy sorting out the books in my room when a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in." I said, without looking away from the huge pile of books beside me. The door opened and someone walked in. 

"Are you busy now? If not I can come back in later." Ezra asked, as I finally looked up from the books. Shaking my head, I got up from the desk as I guided him to the edge of the bed and we sat down. 

"How are your injuries healing so far?" He attempted to start a small talk but I could sense the nervousness oozing out from him. 

"It's healing pretty smoothly, you don't have to worry about it." I replied, not able to look at him because it felt strange and not as familiar as it did when I was young.

"I'm sorry. For not being the reliable uncle who should be there for you when you needed him the most. I'm sorry Avery, and I don't know what other words I should say to compensate for all the things that you went through." The atmosphere between us was tensed and awkward, and I had long ago lost count of the times that I've been through such situation. 

Peeling the side of my cuticle, I begun, "I'm fine now, and I believe that's the only form of assurance which could get us to let go of the past and move on now, no? I'm sure dad wouldn't want to see all of us to continue living so miserably even after getting rid of people who hurt us."

His eyes lit up in happiness as his lips curved into a wide smile, "So you mean..."

I tilted my head at him and raised my eyebrow at him, "Did I mention anything about forgiving yet?" His smile faded slightly but picked up again, "It's fine, we will wait until the day you're ready. Just remember to inform me at my grave if I happen to drop dead before I can hear it from you." He joked.

He placed both his hands on his knees, ready to get up from the bed, "All right, I will leave you to sort your room out now. Just let me or your aunt know if you need anything." Turning around, he reached for the door handle as I spoke up, "Uncle Ezra." 

He froze, before turning back to face me with a pair of widened eyes. I stood up from the bed, heading towards my closet and dug for the teddy bear which he had given me on my fourth birthday. 

Passing it to him, I said, "The threads are falling apart. Do you think you can get it fixed so that I can hug it again?" His eyes instantly moistened as the wrinkles around his eyes started forming. 

"Of course I can. I will make sure that the threads are strong enough to hold each and every piece of cotton together." I smiled at his words. 

Both of us looked at each other for a brief moment before bursting into laughter. 

It felt familiar all over again.

double update! 

Happy reading! -31/12/22