To Walk in Her Shoes

Chapter 19

One week had gone by but her father had not woken up. Brittney came daily to visit. The doctors had said he was out of danger and he will wake up soon. She was glad that Lawrence was always with her. She had not seen her step mother around and wondered why she was not by her husband's side.

"My love please go home and take a rest. You have been here for the past week never taking a break." Lawrence said to her hoping that she will listen this time and go home. She had dark circles on her eyes and looked very tired. "I promise I will remain here and look after your father." He added when he saw she was hesitant to leave. Ayden came to them when he heard the conversation.

"Yes sister, you should take some rest. Go clean up." He said with a smile on his face. "Are you saying that I smell?" She asked with narrowed eyes. "You can say that," Ayden added with mischief which mad Brittney to hit him on his arm and laugh.

The mood had lightened and Lawrence was happy to see her smile. "But seriously Britt, go home and rest. Lawrence and I will be here and we will inform you of anything." Ayden said with a serious tone that left no room for her to argue. She was surprised that he had called her Britt. She knew that she will not win the argument with two men who were stubborn.

"Alright I will go, but I will have my phone with me for any updates." She said looking at them both for assurance which they nodded. She picked her Handbag from the bench and gave both men a tight hug. She had never thought of ever hugging Ayden, but she was happy to have a brother's love, even if it came late at this point in her life.

Lawrence walked her out to the main parking area where her car was and hugged her one more time. "Call me when you reach your house." He said with a pointed look, knowing that she will forget. "Okay I will." She said with a smile while driving out of the hospital and looking at Lawrence from the rear view mirror as he waved at her.

She had just taken a corner from the hospital road when she felt a cold object at the back of her head. She panicked but the voice she heard made her still. "Keep driving ahead or this will be the last time you are alive." The person said.

Her hands were trembling and she did not know what to do so she kept on driving not wanting to die.

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Meanwhile back at the hospital the two men sat silently with their own thoughts. Ayden was thinking of how he could start a conversation, while Lawrence was thinking of Brittney. He was uneasy since she left an hour ago, but he did not want to disturb her least she was sleeping. He kept looking at his phone hoping she will call him.

This did not go unnoticed with Ayden. "So you like my sister?" Ayden asked making Lawrence to stop looking at his phone and stare at him. He frowned because he had not expected Ayden to start a conversation. Ayden chuckled; "Help me here man, I am trying to make our situation not seem awkward." He said.

Lawrence smiled at his effort. "I was not expecting this," he said pointing between them. "But to answer your question, I not only like her but love her. She is this person that lights up the room and it's so hard not to be drawn to her." He said.

"Indeed she is. I hope she gets the rest she deserves." Ayden said. Lawrence kept on looking at Ayden, who had closed his eyes and leaned on his seat. Guess all of them were tired. "What changed?" Lawrence asked him. He wanted to know why he was being supportive to Brittney unlike his sister and mother. At first, he had thought it was a sick game he was playing, but he had observed him for the past one week and he saw that he was genuine, but he had learnt not to trust people easily and had to put his guide up.

Ayden sighed and knew he could never get away from this conversation. He had never hated Brittney, in fact, he loved her more than Jane, but he hid it from their family to make his mother happy. After learning the true intentions of his mother, he could never play her game and he swore to protect her at all cost.

"I've always loved Britt, but it was easy to show that I resented her to please mother and get her off my back." He said with a shrug. Lawrence looked at him and nodded for him to continue. "She is a good sister and I have done things to her that I am not proud off, yet again I have done good things for her that she doesn't know off. Like one time in her high school a girl was bullying her because of her small stature. I made sure that the girl regretted it. I embarrassed her in front of the whole school by telling them that she wets her bed, and threatened to reveal more of her dark secrets. I also asked her to apologize to her." He said with a smile.

Lawrence smiled back knowing that Ayden was always looking out for his sister. "I know your secrets Lawrence, I could have used them against you but I knew that was personal and was never related to business. I know you hired Derrick to check me out, but trust me, I only gave out what I wanted him to know cause if either him or you knew about my deepest secrets, I would have to kill you." He said looking at him dead in the eyes with no emotions.

Lawrence was too shocked to give a reply to him. His mouth kept opening and closing but no word came out. "But if you hurt my sister, you will know the other side of me." Ayden added standing while looking at his watch. "May be you should go and check on Britt. It's been four hours since she left and she has not called." He told him as he left to go to his father's room.

Lawrence remained shocked looking at the direction he went. He stood up cursing. He had not noticed that time flied. He tried to call Britt while he left the hospital but she did not pick the call. He wrote Derrick a message to arrange a meeting with him while he entered his car. He called five times while driving but she didn't pick up and it went to voice mail. He had a bad feeling about this, call it intuition. He increased the cars speed hoping that Britt was okay.