Josephine's Secret

41. She's a Daddy's Girl

41. She's a Daddy's Girl: Josephine's Pov

QOTC- how do you think Archer will feel about marriage??

Chapter Goal: 250 votes

(six hours later)

"Come on, Sophie," Elia touches my arm, trying to get me out of my chair. I look over and see my brothers standing by the door of our dad's hospital room, ready to leave. "We'll meet Archer out in the hall."

I shake my head, not planning on moving from my spot by our dad's bed. "None of you are staying??" I ask, genuinely surprised that none of them are going to stay by our dad's side. Nate and I are the only ones who have been in the hospital all day long with him. Eric and Elia have only been here for about an hour and a half. However, I thought at least someone would feel the need to stay with him through the night too.

My older siblings all look at each other, trying to figure out what to tell me. "You and the pup need quality rest, sorellina," Nate is the first to speak up. "You're not going to get that here."

"He's our dad." I shake my head once again. "Growing up, he looked after us. Now it's our turn to look after him."

"He let all of this happen to our family." Eric argues, voicing his negative opinions on our father. "He stood by and let it all happen."

"It's not his fault." I whisper, remembering the two letters he wrote me.

"He let all of this happen." Elia takes Eric's side. "The target was you, and he didn't put his foot down to stop Mom from trying to get rid of you. What kind of father does that?"

I just sit there in silence as they criticize our dad for his actions, starting to question if I'm in the wrong for wanting to stay. No matter what, family is family, right? I don't support or condone what my dad did, but I understand why he did it. His reasoning still kind of sucks, but it's not his fault my mother was the way she was. He was just emotionally manipulated into letting her carry out her plan. Why don't the rest of my siblings understand that?

None of us shed a tear when the trained wolves at the scene took her down after trying to shoot at Nate and I. The only person I could concentrate on at the time was my dad. He was laying in a pool of his own blood while I screamed for someone to get him medical attention. One of the silver bullets grazed his side, but the other two were lodged into his body. Everyone knew there was a slim chance of him surviving, but he's made it so far. All he has to do now is wake up.

"You can't stay in here waiting on him all night, Sophie." Elia sighs, taking a seat next to me. "You have to put your own well-being first, especially for your pup."

"I'm gonna figure something out."

"Come on, sorellina." Nate holds out his hand for me to take. "Just go home, take care of yourself, then come back tomorrow."

"We don't know if he'll be here tomorrow." I shake my head.

"There are gonna be guards posted out the door." Eric tells me. "Dad's not going anywhere."

"I meant alive. We don't know if he'll be alive by the time we come back." I clarify. "What if we all go home and come back to find him dead? What happens then?"

I take deep breaths to calm myself down, knowing it's the hormones amplifying my emotions and making me snap at my siblings. "I'm sorry." I apologize, now feeling bad for letting my emotions get the best of me.

"You're alright." Nate reassures, walking towards me like he's going to sit down and stay too. However, he stops in front of Elia and I and takes my arm, trying to gently pull me off of my seat.