Blessing in Disguise (MM)

Chapter Forty Three

NICK'S POV

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There is a knock at my office door and I glance up from my desk to find Robyn smiling at me. "Declan is here to see you," she says, stepping out of the way to reveal my brother as he walks into my office. "I'll leave you guys to it."

"Thanks, Robyn," I nod and lean back in my chair as Declan shuts the door behind him. "To what do I owe this pleasure? I'm surprised you're not at work. I've got a busy day, so please can we make this quick?"

I focus on his dark eyes as he stands at the edge of my desk. "You're a real asshole, you know that?"

My entire body flinches from his cold words. "Excuse me?" I stand from my seat and walk towards him.

I've never seen my brother's eyes look so deadly. But when he shoves my shoulder and I stumble back into the wall, I know that he's not in a good mood. "You really do love to destroy anything good in your life, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" I scowl, flicking my eyes between his rapidly.

"You never stop to think about the whole story or give them the benefit of the doubt," he hisses through his teeth. "You always jump to conclusions. It's what you're good at."

My eyes narrow into slits. "What the fuck are you talking about, Declan?"

"Aris," Declan's voice booms across the room. "I'm talking about Aris."

"Look, I text him this morning apologising for what I said because I know it was harsh. But he didn't pick Elodie up from school, he didn't answer his phone or ring me. He didn't even think about trying to explain himself." I respond. "He should have been more responsible."

Declan barks out a laugh that makes my ears ache. "Explain himself? He didn't have time to explain himself whilst you were too busy shouting at him to actually hear what happened. But none of that really matters right now because there are bigger things at hand."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that he's in the hospital right now."

My eyes widen and I feel my shoulders droop. "What? What are you talking about?"

Declan shakes his head in disbelief. "He had a heart attack last night."

Everything inside me stops. I freeze. My lungs tense up.

"What?"

"He had a heart attack, Nick."

I lick my dry lips and move my head, attempting to get blood flowing again. I suddenly feel like the floor beneath me is about to concave and I don't have an ounce of balance right now. "I heard you," I exhale painfully. "Is he okay? Fuck. I need to go and see him."

Declan shoves his hand to my shoulder and slams me back in the wall. "I doubt he'll want to see you, not right now anyway. He's resting."

"You've been with him?" I ask through a strained throat.

He nods once. "Luca and I spent the night with him. Luca is still there now. I don't know when Aris will be discharged. Luckily it was only a small heart attack but that doesn't mean he's in a good way."

I run a hand through my hair, struggling to catch my breath. "Oh my God. H-how did this happen?"

Declan scoffs sourly. "Are you seriously asking me that? Especially after the shit that you spurted at him."

"I did this?" I recoil from his statement.

"The stress that you caused him!" He exclaims. "Aris was on the way to pick Elodie up but his car broke down along the country road, he didn't have his phone on him because he accidentally left it at home. But as soon as the car broke down he said he ran for miles to get to Elodie's school because he didn't want to let her down."