Chapter 6 - SARAH WAKES
Sarah was taken into surgery shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The wound near her temple required twelve stitches.
She had two fractured ribs, severe dehydration, and a concussion.
There were older injuries too.
A healed wrist fracture.
Damage to her shoulder.
Scars across her back.
Nathan stood beside her bed after surgery and wondered how many times she had needed him.
Seven years had passed while he convinced himself that anger was dignity.
Sarah woke the following morning.
She looked older than the twenty-nine-year-old woman he remembered.
Fear had carved itself into the spaces around her eyes.
“Nathan?”
He moved closer.
“I’m here.”
“Is Lily safe?”
“Yes.”
“And Owen?”
“Improving.”
“Ethan?”
Nathan hesitated.
“He is still receiving breathing support.”
Sarah turned her face toward the window.
“He was sick before the storm.”
“You carried three children through this alone.”
“I didn’t carry them.”
“Lily did.”
Tears filled Sarah’s eyes.
“I told her to run.”
“You saved their lives.”
“I sent a five-year-old into a blizzard.”
“You gave her the only chance available.”
Sarah began crying silently.
Nathan reached for her hand but stopped before touching it.
She noticed.
“You can hold my hand.”
He did.
“I am sorry,” he whispered.
Sarah closed her eyes.
“I wrote to you.”
“I know.”
“I called the hospital.”
“I never received the messages.”
“Marcus showed me your replies.”
“They were forged.”
“I know that now.”
Her hand tightened around his.
“He knew how to make your voice sound cruel.”
Nathan looked down.
“He did not need much imagination.”
Sarah opened her eyes.
“You were angry.”
“I abandoned you.”
“You warned me.”
“Then I punished you for refusing to obey.”
“I was twenty-two.”
“You were scared.”
“I thought Marcus loved me.”
“What happened after the wedding?”
Sarah stared at the ceiling.
“At first, nothing.”
“He apologized for losing his temper.”
“He promised the debts were temporary.”
“Then he began checking my phone.”
“He told me you hired investigators to destroy our marriage.”
Nathan remembered the report he had ordered.
It included Marcus’s arrests for assault, fraud, and illegal gambling.
“I did investigate him.”
“Marcus used that to prove you wanted to control me.”
“I wanted to protect you.”
“So did he.”
Her voice became bitter.
“That was the word both of you used.”
Nathan accepted the blow.
“What changed?”
“I became pregnant with Lily.”
Sarah wiped her cheek.
“I tried to leave.”
“Marcus told me you hated me.”
“He showed me letters where you called my child a mistake.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“I never wrote that.”
“I know.”
“When Lily was born, Marcus became worse.”
“He said she made me weak.”
“Then he discovered the foundation accounts.”
“How did he access them?”
“Through someone close to you.”
Nathan thought of trustees, attorneys, hospital administrators, and household staff.
“Who?”
Sarah looked at him.
May you like
“I never learned the name.”
“Marcus called him the doctor.”
