Ruin The Wedding (The Murphy Brothers #1)

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to have lunch with Charlie and the girl and he had barely had time to even send an apology message. She answered with a simple It's okay but he was worried that she was annoyed, maybe even angry with him.

That worry ended quickly because when he finally had time to call her at 2pm to apologize, she stopped him before he could even utter a word. And that's when he heard what had happened during the night, a good ten hours ago. And he hadn't heard anything, not even through messages.

"What the fuck? How could you keep this from me? You should have called me the minute it happened! I don't care that it was night or that I had a meeting in the morning, she's much more important! If you still don't get it..." Fabian was shouting at her, raising his voice and getting furious at her. He could almost feel himself shaking with anger and worry.

"I'm sorry," Charlie whispered through the phone. "I really thought that I was doing you a favor because I didn't want to distract you from your meeting. There was nothing you could have done here."

"How would you feel if I did the same to you? If I was with them and one of them got sick and I'll just say that I didn't want to bother you and that there wasn't anything you could have done either way so you don't have to know. Dammit, Lottie, I can't believe this! All those messages and not a word about Jules!"

"That's different, I'm their mother and you're..." Well, there it was. Maybe he didn't mean as much to Charlie and her daughters as he had hoped for because as far as he was concerned, they were his world. To have her say that he was only, what, some guy she was kissing here and there broke his fucking heart.

"Yeah, I'm just... what?" Fabian asked, feeling a stab in his heart. "I still want to come to see Jules if that's okay with you?"

"Of course, you don't have to ask permission. I know that she would want you here," Charlie explained with a shaking voice.

"Maybe I do. I don't want to overstep because I'm just me," Fabian mumbled bitterly, hating himself because this was the last thing she needed right now. Her daughter was fighting to stay alive for the second time in her short life and here he was, giving her attitude only because his feelings were hurt.

Still, he didn't take the words back. Overwhelmed with emotions and his frustration and even betrayal, he hung up and closed the laptop before telling his assistants to re-schedule the next meeting for whenever was free.

Then he started to drive toward the hospital while trying to get rid of the image of Juliet in pain, begging for someone to help and he wasn't there. He had left her, all of them alone, and for what? So he could get a better sleep? Fabian already knew that he could never forget this, forgive himself.

No matter how little Charlie thought about him and their relationship, Fabian knew for sure that he would do anything for those girls. And yes, that also included their stubborn, annoying, frustrating, very beautiful, and amazing mother who he couldn't live without anymore.

Maybe she still didn't understand that or maybe she did and just didn't care. Either way, Fabian needed to have one serious conversation with her. She had to learn that he was crazy about her and that he would like to know immediately if one of the girls he had started to consider as his own was at the hospital.

The longer he drove, the less angry he was and by the time he got to the hospital, Fabian had calmed down. At least a little bit, he was still worried as hell but no longer he would start shouting at Charlie. That was just unacceptable and nothing like the man he wanted to be for her.

After asking where their room was, Fabian didn't bother to wait for the elevator. Instead, he ran the stairs up to the second floor. There he ran even more, searching for the right room which was at the back of the hall.