Redress (gxg)

Chapter 19 "Smoothing Out"

As the nurse had finished patching up the small cuts on my face, courtesy of Mike's punches, I thanked her, and slowly slipped out of the room, stepping into the hallway as I fetched my phone at the same time to call Mike. Waiting for the line to go through, my mind briefly drifted to what happened hours earlier. We successfully got some information out of Ethan, and we had his recorded confession, all we had to do was to show the people the murder video, together with the record, and it would be enough to  taint the Coldwell name. And I must say, I was excited for that day to come.

After our fake escape, which took longer than I expected because of the dark and winding road, we went straight here in the hospital as what Ethan wanted so he could also be patched up. As we rode the car owned by a man who kindly took us here, I could barely keep my laughter in as I watched Ethan kept on prattling about how Knowles had hurt him, and did some damage on his face. The way he acted earlier, and the way he brought himself in front of other people, made me think if he had a narcissistic personality disorder.

Gently tapping my boot against the floor, I waited for him to pick up as I leaned my back on the wall, but it didn't take long when finally the call had went through.

"Are you guys okay?" I eventually asked, a bit worried for their safety.

"We're good, boss...We already burned down the building, and we're back here at the safe house," Mike answered calmly, making me sigh in relief.

"No one had seen you, or followed you, right?"

"No. We're clear boss."

"Good..."

"So, about the video, when are we going to show it?" he asked curiously.

"Soon Mike..."

"Just let us know...Anyway, um, how are you doing boss?" he asked timidly, reminding me about what I let him do earlier.

"I'll live Mike...So, um, I'm gonna call you back, okay?" After hearing his brief response, I ended the call, eventually letting out a sigh as I suddenly felt exhausted. Taking my time to relax for a bit, I took a seat on the waiting chair, and momentarily closed my eyes as I leaned my head back against the wall. I hadn't had enough sleep for the past few days, and right now my body was screaming for my bed.

As I felt myself began to relax, the sound of closing door snapped me out of my peaceful moment, causing me to eventually pry my eyes open to see a nurse came out of Ethan's room, which was beside mine, and I stood up, plastering a small smile at her. I headed towards his room, and eventually stepped in, making Ethan look up as the door closed with a thud behind me.

"Alexandra," he mumbled as he slowly examined my face.

"Ethan...You look--"

"Terrible? I know..."

"I was gonna say okay...but yeah, honestly, you look terrible," I admitted, causing him to eventually scowl, but it was for a brief moment when his expression faded to a blank one.

"At least you're honest," he mumbled, "Thank you, by the way, for helping me escape. I thought you're gonna leave me behind."

"I actually thought of that, after you baited me to the kidnappers...but I remembered your parents, and how they would be devastated if I left you behind," I lied, causing him to avert his gaze, and hung his head low.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking straight at that time, and I just...blurted it out."

I snorted bitterly, rolling my eyes, "Yeah, whatever..." I paused, and as I was about to ask him something, the door suddenly opened behind me, making me turn around, and saw Cliff and Amelia hastily stepped in, a worried look was written on their faces as they strode towards their son, passing by me like I wasn't in the room. Turning around to look at them, I saw Amelia hugging Ethan while Cliff was on their side, tapping his son's shoulder.