Wrongfully Claimed

Chapter Thirty - One

Still shaken from the ordeal, Aurora awoke from a troubled sleep. Having grown so accustomed to waking up with this constant feeling of inexplicable dread sitting in the pit of her stomach every day, everything seemed different to her now.

There was no sign of Ryder hovering over the foot of her bedside anymore, taking advantage of her while she was incapacitated and unable to fend for herself.

And Christian was no longer reviling and belittling her for failing to follow through with every ludicrous demand he threw at her when he wanted her to do something she didn't want to do.

At first, she thought this was her vivid imagination running wild with her again until she saw the grey and white colour scheme, hospital room and nurse, standing next to her brother Shaun, checking her heart rate on the heart monitor.

He was holding a bouquet of flowers and a pink, plush teddy bear in his hands, reminding her of the one she used to have back at home as a kid and that's when she knew this nightmare was really over and that everything was going to be okay.

"Hi, Sis, it's so good to see you," he said spinning around to face her as he moved his chair closer to her and took in a deep breath as if he were trying to think of what to say next to her.

Shaun looked a lot older and different to how she remembered him.

His once dark blondish, brown hair had tiny flecks of grey, revealing through the front of his receding hairline now and the lines around his eyes became more prominent each time he smiled, making him look a lot older than his actual age.

She could tell just by looking at him that the stress had weighed heavy on her brother and taken its toll on him, during the time they'd been kept apart, from not knowing, if she was dead or alive or if he'd ever get to see her again.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, handing the beautiful arrangement of carnations and roses to the nurse so she could go put them in a vase full of water beside her bed.

Worn out, battered, damaged, a complete and utter trainwreck, broken beyond compare, she wanted to say, but she stiffed up a lip and forced a smile, not wanting to tell him how she truly felt deep down inside.

"I am okay. I am just tired and feel like I haven't slept in weeks."

She had a slew of questions she wanted to ask her brother after being apart from him for so long, but then the one thing she wished she could eradicate from her mind, came creeping up to her like a bad dream and hit her with a bang.

Ryder.

The thought of him still being out there, somewhere, waiting to make his next move, so he could ensnare into his evil web again, sent an icy cold surge of terror running up her back just thinking it.

"What happened after I came here?" she questioned him, hoping he had some good news to tell her. " Please, please tell me they arrested, Ryder?"

"I don't know sis," he said, in a rushed voice. "I am still waiting to back hear from the police, but none of them have been taking my calls. I heard one of the officers who found you is due to come and see you later today. So hopefully we will get some answers then."

He tore his eyes off her for a moment and his lips grew thin with anger.

"You have no idea how badly I wanna fucking kill that son of a bitch for what he did to you!" he seethed with nothing but agony in his tone. "I can't promise you that when I see this man who did this to you, I won't tear him apart. It's gonna be real fucking, hard when this goes to court and I see him there. I am not gonna lie."

Aurora looked at her brother, stupefied, unable to recall the time she'd ever actually heard him swear in her presence before.

"I still can't believe Christian was in on this too," he continued to say through clenched teeth. "I never in a million years expected him to do something like that to you. I mean the guy had been in love with you since the third grade. He always told me when we used to go out and play pool together, how much he loved you and wanted to marry you and spend the rest of his life with you, so it makes no sense to me why he would stoop so low and do what he did to you. What a fucking asshole. I am glad he's dead. Good riddance."