Never the Same

Chapter 26

"Kaylee."

I stir awake. "Hmm?"

When did I fall asleep? I don't remember falling asleep. As soon as the lights went out, that was it. I fought hard to keep my eyes open but sleep won that round hands down.

"Kaylee, you awake?"

My face screws up at the soft female voice nearby.

"Kaylee, can you hear me?"

I know that voice.

"Kaylee, are you hurt?"

"A-Allison?" I groggily ask.

"Yeah, it's me." She confirms. "Are you okay?"

I try to move to get comfortable but it's no use. I'm in pain from sitting in the same position and from everything else that's happened to me. "Not really, no."

"I heard him bring you in but-"

"How long have you been here for?"

"I don't know. I remember walking into my flat two days after the accident and going to bed that night. Next thing I knew, I was waking up here." She stops speaking and I know she's looking around. "Wherever here is."

"I did call you to say I was back in London but you didn't answer," I inform.

"Greg took my phone." She grunts loudly. "He told me about your voicemail and said you returning here fell nicely into the plan they had."

"That would explain why he turned up to my office asking if I had heard from you."

"He was making sure we hadn't spoken."

"And told me that I should be very much afraid of him."

"Not just him," she adds.

Silence falls upon us until I hear Allison crying softly.

I let my head fall back against the post. "Allison, I know what you're thinking and it's not your fault."

"Kaylee, it is and I am so sorry. None of this would have happened if I didn't date Greg."

I shake my head. "It's not your fault."

"It is."

"It's not. Trust me." I take a deep breath. "It's my fault."

"It's not."

"It is. I'm the one who got back together with Luca. I'm the one who threw a spanner in Nadia's plan to walk back into Luca's life whenever she wanted. If it wasn't for me . . . none of this would have happened."

"Luca's entitled to live his life however he wishes. Nadia was expecting him to sit around and wait for her to return to him but he didn't. He went out and lived his life and took care of his daughter. He followed his heart when it came to you. He chose to pursue you. He wanted you and he got you. She's nothing but a jealous bitch who has thrown her dummy out the pram because she hasn't gotten her way."

I stifle a laugh.

"He loves you, Kaylee." She adds quietly. "He's always loved you and the voicemail he left you on your old phone states that."

I frown. "What voicemail?"

"You know the one."

"No, I don't."

If there was a voicemail on my old phone from Luca telling me that he loved me and always has then I would know about it. I've heard every voicemail on that phone, including the nasty one Nadia left me, and there's none from Luca. Not even one.