My Enemy's Daughter (Edited)

chapter 41

Fiona's POV

The first thing I felt was the heaviness in my limbs, like I'd been asleep for years. My eyelids fluttered open, and the room came into focus—my bedroom. Confusion washed over me as I tried to remember how I got here. The last thing I recalled was stumbling into my house, barely able to stand, and then... Samuel.

I blinked again, squinting against the soft light filtering in from the window. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him sitting by the bed, watching me with an unreadable expression. He was here. Why was he here?

"Fiona," Samuel said softly, his voice cutting through the fog in my mind. "You're awake."

I tried to sit up, but my body protested, weak from days of neglect. That's when I noticed the IV line in my hand, a drip attached to it. Panic bubbled up in my chest as I stared at the tube. How had it come to this?

Samuel must have seen the fear in my eyes because he reached out, his fingers grazing my arm gently. "Don't worry," he said. "You fainted. I caught you just in time before you hit the floor."

I drew away from his touch, coldly. Grateful, but wary. The last time we'd spoken, it hadn't ended well. "I didn't ask for your help," I muttered, my voice raspy from disuse. "And I don't need it now. Didn't you say you hated me and never wanted to see me again?"

His expression flickered, something like guilt flashing across his features, but he remained composed. "I know what I said," he replied, a little more to complying than I expected. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... I should've heard you out properly." He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "Though you were the one who yelled at me first."

"Because I was hurt," I snapped, the memories flooding back in a painful rush. The accusations, the fight, the things we had both said in anger. "I lashed out because you didn't believe me. You acted like... like I wasn't worth hearing out."

"I know," he admitted, his voice quieter now. "And I was a fool for believing that you had to be... pure, or whatever ridiculous standard I had in my head. I get it now. I didn't see the full picture."

I swallowed hard, unsure of how to respond. His apology seemed sincere, but something about Samuel always made me wary. Maybe it was his smoothness, the way he could shift emotions and turn conversations in his favor so effortlessly. It made me question what was real and what wasn't.

We fell into a heavy silence. I kept my eyes trained on the IV, unable to look at him directly.

"Fiona," he said softly, reaching for my hand but stopping just short of touching me. "I realized something while I was away from you. All that time, all that anger... it made me see things clearly."

My heart thudded in my chest, a mixture of hope and fear swirling inside me. "What things?" I asked, though part of me wasn't sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

"That I love you," he said simply, the words hanging in the air between us. "I didn't want to admit it before. I was too stubborn, too focused on being right. But it's the truth. I love you, Fiona."

Those words, the ones I had longed to hear, made my heart flutter despite myself. But at the same time, a deep uncertainty gripped me. Samuel loved me. He was saying it now. But how could I trust that after everything that had happened?

I swallowed hard, my voice barely above a whisper when I spoke. "What about Clara?" I asked, the question hanging heavily in the air. "I've seen the blogs, Samuel. Your outings with her... it's all over the Internet."

He shook his head, a small, almost amused smile tugging at his lips. "Clara?" he repeated. "There's nothing between us, Fiona. I was only doing that to make you jealous."