𝐂𝐎𝐙𝐄𝐍

1

My head is tight and scratchy, and my teeth feel like rubber. I open my eyes slowly, like it takes pliers to peel them open or something. They aren't crusted, just...extremely, extremely heavy.

"Welcome to the world, baby girl," a man cooes.

Oh fuck, it's another one of my demented dreams.

"I'm just jokin', I uh, probably shouldn't have did that. You're not a baby, Ms. Cerbey, and this certainly isn't a side effect of the drugs. You're at the hospital...Oared General Hospital, to be exact."

Had the past few months been real?

"I don't know how much you might remember, but...your father, Jarvis Cerbey, your siblings, Ali and Amina Cerbey, and your step mother, Hadassa Cerbey were all slain by your hand. I found you swiftly after the gas station explosion that Cordyte Cerbey set up, and rescued you just as she put a bullet through your head. Thankfully, nothing major was damaged, and you'll make a safe recovery. Although...they are worried about your ears. You'd been at a hospital in Arizona, before being transferred to the one here in Oared. I figured you'd feel more at home here."

I grunt, groaning and clearing my throat until sound can come out. "Is that bitch dead?"

My eyes focus on the man by my bedside, an un-loosened tie on, his jacket thrown across the back of his chair, and formal attire. His eyes were dark brown and accented by perfect eyebrows, that were mostly straight and trimmed. His lips were perfect too, just the right size and smooth-looking, his skin a nice dark brown that made his chestnut eyes stand out. The man's hair was piled on top of his head in black locs, the sides cut off and lowly cut, the side visible to me baring a little design. He leaned forward, peering at me. "You can...hear me, right Ms. Cerbey?"

"Yes," I croak.

"Good," and his face smooths out into a smile, "You were in a coma for a better part of the new year, but thankfully you're all back. It's September again."

"Sep-September," I whisper. I stare down at my lap, an ugly hospital blanket, too thin to provide any warmth. I slowly raise an arm, my skin dry but not bruised or anything. I touch my face, finding gauze there.

"That can't be possible. Why do I still have the gauze on? Why are you here? Who are you?" I demand.

"Take it easyy, Ms. Cerbey," he mutters, "Don't want you all frazzled."

"Who are you? I've had people after me for some time, so I'm naturally frazzled." My eyes narrow, "You're a cop huh? I guess I deserve that. I only stole that lady's car to get away," I explain.

It was all coming back to me, the deaths, Dieson, M's army, all of it.

"I'm not a cop," he shakes his head, "I'm one of Freddie Simons' sons."

I still, not that I was doing much moving before anyways. "Why are you here?" I ask again, this time more hesistantly.

"We look out for our own," he tells me, looking away, and across the room into nothing, "It was always the Simons' and the Cerbey's feuding. Now we have a new player in the game. Your sister hasn't been found, so you're still technically the heir to the throne. But she will have to be defeated for you to have any respect in this world, otherwise your word doesn't stand with anyone," he explains, "Our families have to stick together...according to my father, so that we can defeat this invisible enemy, just until things go back to normal."

"But the enemy isn't invisible, Cordyte is the one who killed my aunt Malina, and she's the one who kidnapped NJ Robinson-Velasquez," I explain.

"It's been found that she wasn't the one," he informs.

"Well, neither am I, and she still saw fit to put a bullet in my head," I state.

He lets out a half-chuckle before rising. "I'll come back later on to check in on you, Ms. Cerbey."

"How is NJ? Where is he?" I ask suddenly.

"He couldn't be located. I'm sorry," he admits. "It seems that he won't be found."

"No. He's still alive. Maybe they want money. Whoever took him probably wants money. I have that now. I can get him back," I realize.

"You'd have to find out a way to contact them first," he suggests. "I had assumed...you would be more concerned about your husband, than his younger brother?"

"My husband?" my face twists up, "Ion got no husband."

"Dieson Velasquez?" he throws out into the air.

"We're not married," I state firmly.

"Oh, I heard about a ring-"

"Yeah, and somebody stole it."

"Strange," he muttered, "I found one right at your bedside as soon as you were moved into this room." He holds said ring between his rings, dropping it on my lap. "You had just been transferred, it was my first time seein' you at Oared General."

Asany. Was she in on any of this?

"We're still not married," I declare.

He smiles like he doesn't believe me. "That man seems hell bent on having that be so."

"So he's well, and out of the hospital himself?" I confirm.

"Yes," Freddie Simons' son nods.

"I'll pay for NJ to be returned," I come back to the topic, "Maybe you could get the word out there for me?"

What'd you know, a Cerbey workin' with a Simons!

He sucked in a deep breath, genuinely looking regretful to reveal this to me. "I'm sorry to have to be the one to inform you, but...it was found that the Cerbey value, is nonexistent."

"Nonexistent?" my face twists up again, "Well, what do you mean?"

"You don't have anymore money to your name than when you did as...an exotic dancer. Your father was sitting on an empty throne." He moved for the door, the sunlight falling just perfectly upon him, "My father and I have decided to keep this information
a secret. He's payin' for your room," he gestures to me.

"All that...for nothing," I whisper.

He leaves the room as my reality sets in once again.

I'm not a real Cerbey anyways, according to Cordyte, and not only that...I'm still just as broke.