Trapping the billionaire✓

Chapter 42: You could have died

Ashley's POV

"Ashley!" I heard a faint whisper.

I felt numb. For the first time, I felt nothing. All my emotions had drowned along with me.

That was until my lungs were brought back to life. I was gasping for air, followed by water that was emptying out of my stomach and my airways. The burning sensation in my lungs returned as my eyes began opening slowly.

I still couldn't see clearly; my vision was blurred, and so was my hearing, but I could sense panic all around me.

"Thank God you are okay," I heard Tristan's voice.

The sunlight was blinding. I laid on my side trying to return to my normal breathing.

I felt hands in my hair, slowly calming me down.

"She'll be fine," another voice said.

I felt a towel wrapped around me. My eyes began to open, and I saw Tristan sitting right beside me. His clothes were completely drenched, and his hair was wet too.

Did he save me? I suddenly had a lot of questions. How long ago did he get here? How long was I passed out?

"What kind of idiot doesn't know how to swim?" I heard a whisper behind me.

I didn't care about much right now. I just wanted to rest. My eyes were closing again, and I was falling back into my floating bubble of sleep.

I felt arms around me, lifting me off the ground.

***

"She will be alright, her pulse and breathing are back to normal." I heard a mumbled voice.

There were a few sounds soon after, followed by the door closing.

I was feeling a lot better than I had earlier, as I began regaining consciousness.

"You are awake," Tristan said, his voice alarmed.

He began pacing up and down, looking over at me in a state of panic.

"What happened back there?" He asked as he continued pacing.

He barely gave me time to respond, he was already on his next point. "You should have been more careful. Your mother would have killed me if you had died."

"I'm alright," I answered as I sat up straight.

He paused, staring at me in disbelief. "Your face had turned blue. I thought you were going to die." He reasoned.

"I had a panic attack." I finally answered.

He sighed, his body relaxing a bit. He then approached me before settling himself right next to me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He offered.

I was silent for a while, fidgeting with my fingers, thinking about where to begin. "I nearly drowned once, I was seven." I finally answered. "I loved swimming as a child. It was around the time I had just learned how to swim, and I couldn't get enough of it. It was summer and my mother's boss at the time offered her to house-sit. She could bring us along. I was playing around, and I hurt my knee badly. I tripped and fell into the pool and I couldn't push myself up. I couldn't swim." I paused. "My stepfather was there and he did nothing." I paused. "He was just standing there and too drunk to even notice. I felt like I was reliving that moment all over again. I would have died if my mother hadn't gotten there on time."

I hadn't realized I was crying. Turns out, trying to hold everything together made me fall apart even further.

"I feel like a failure at everything. I can't do anything right even something that's so simple. I don't even know how my sister is. I'm losing my mind and this whole thing is just stupid. I'm just so sick of all the lies." I rumbled.