Secrets in her pocket

Part 48 : A good liar

Ashley's POV

Ever since I woke up, I have been surrounded and bombarded with questions by different nurses and doctors. And i haven't seen anyone else.

After a good twenty minutes, they all left and my brothers entered the room. Yes, Alan and Aaron. They both heaved a sigh of relief after seeing me.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Aaron asked, sitting on the stool next to my bed.

"Could be better" I croaked out and Alan handed me a glass of water. I gulped it down hungrily.

"Only family was allowed to visit and you can meet others after being shifted." Alan acknowledged. I nodded.

"This is getting out of hand, princess." Aaron exclaimed tiredly.

"We need to do something about it." He continued.

"You are right but that person wasn't there for me. That dagger was meant for Lucas." I told them both.

They both nodded like they already knew about it. Then Alan took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read aloud the words.

                Hello there, my darling!
    I see you have been doing well lately,
         with this pretty boy over here.
  I must say, you've got a brilliant taste!
                 Just like your mother.
    And all the pleasure would be mine ,
              ruining your happiness,
         after everything you did to me.
                                                        -- J.L.

"Our men found this after searching the park" Aaron told me.

I clenched my fists tightly. Of course it's him. This bloody monster would never leave me alone.

It was me who let him go.

I will be the one to find him.

"Inform the FBI and spread out search parties for him. Find him, dead or alive, doesn't matter. Arrange some secret bodyguards for me and the girls and i'll tell Lucas to get some too." I said, my voice coming out devoid of any emotion, lethal.

He shouldn't have crossed this line.

"You should have made this decision a long time ago." Alan smiled down at me.

"I'm realizing that now." I said, feeling exhausted all of a sudden.

I let him go because I thought that I did wrong by him. He lost both his sons because of me. But now, I have changed my mind. I'm not saying that he deserved it, but he had it coming either way.

After all the chances he got to live his life peacefully, he gave them all away. And now i know that he's a lost cause.

And i'll never forgive anyone who trys to hurt the people I love.

After a while, I was shifted to a VIP ward and both the girls instantly came in to meet me. I answered each of their concerned questions patiently because I knew that they care.

Finally, I raised the question that i had wanted to ask from the beginning.

"Where is Lucas?" I asked wearily.

Kelly and Julie has never before avoided my gaze like this. They looked anywhere, everywhere except me. Some Incoherent words came out of their mouths but nothing decipherable.

"C'mon, spill it." They didn't know but dread had started creeping in my veins due to their silence.

Did something happen while I was unconscious?

At last, Julie started to say something but the man of the question himself walked in. The girls instantly hurried out, making silly excuses and my heart instantly calmed down in his presence.

But bells of caution started ringing in my head as red rimmed eyes, pale skin and unruly hair came into focus. I knew that he would feel shitty after seeing me getting stabbed but his empty eyes didn't sit well with me.

Something had definitely happened, something wrong.

He just stood at the door, staring at my stomach where that huge bandage is supposed to be. He looked up at my face after nine seconds and i passed him a small reassuring smile.

"I need to tell you something." He said, and he finally looked away, as if preparing himself.

"I know, I believe you. It must have been a trick paige played to cause-Its true." I blinked twice. Not really comprehending what he said.

"What-what did you say?" I asked again.

"The photos, they are true and i am sorry." He said, his voice slowly breaking.

I stumbled upon words for a while as I was damned surprised. I couldn't believe it, now that everything was falling into place, I couldn't let it break again.

"N-no... Your lying!" My voice came out brittle.

"Look, I swear, it wasn't meant to go this far." He proclaimed like he hadn't just tried to crush my feelings.

I shook my head and blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall at any second.

"It was supposed to be a casual thing and feelings were not supposed to be involved. You know I can't stay with someone like you for the rest of my life and i am mainly sorry that somewhere along the way,i started to care about you and i didn't wanna hurt-STOP" I cut him off abruptly.

"You know you are hurting me by doing this, right?!" I prompted, my voice coming out flat.

"Please, I didn't want to hurt you but you deserve the truth." He mumbled, looking guilty.

"So, what you are saying is that you cheated on me. That time at the party, it was all an act!?! Yo-you were using me for your own amusement and you made me feel miserable an-and you made me love you." I could do nothing to stop the tears as they rolled down my cheeks.

"You never loved me, did you?" I asked again. So pathetic of me.

At that, his expression became hard and his answer was monotonous. "No, I never really loved you."

He never loved me..........

"None of it was real then." I voiced out my useless thoughts emotionlessly, the only thing I'm good at, not showing what I'm feeling.

He looked like he was in a daze until that mask similar to mine came back and his eyes too hardened. He then nodded to himself.

Feeling like a fool and a part of me still hoping he would stay, I told him "Then what are you waiting for, go away."

He hesitated only for a second before he went out without looking back. And then I let the tears fall freely, looking at the ceiling blankly, letting my mind wonder off to the dark places.

All in all, he is a very good liar.