Chapter 79 079
EMILY
My mother’s voice was the first thing that snapped the tension in the room.
“Try it,” she had said.
And suddenly everyone had gone quiet.
I looked between the three women standing in front of me and felt something ugly twist in my chest. My head was already pounding from the noise and confusion. The machines beside my bed beeped softly, but even that sound felt too loud.
The woman standing closest to me, Emily, looked like she had been hit with a hammer.
Her hand was still half raised, her chest rising and falling quickly like she had just run a marathon. Her eyes were red, her cheeks wet with tears, and for some reason the sight of that made something shift inside me.
I did not understand it.
I did not know her.
But something about her hurt expression bothered me in a way I could not explain.
My mother stepped further into the room, her heels clicking against the floor with slow confidence. She carried herself like she always did, completely in control of the situation.
Miranda stood beside her, quiet but watchful.
Emily lowered her hand slowly. Her eyes flickered between my mother and Miranda, then finally landed on me.
There was something in that look that made my chest tighten.
Hope.
Desperation.
Like she was waiting for me to say something that would fix everything.
But I had no idea what that something was supposed to be.
My head throbbed harder.
“Mom,” I said sharply.
All three women looked at me.
“Get out.”
My voice came out colder than I expected, even to my own ears.
My mother blinked once.
“Ryan—”
“I said get out.”
The command left my mouth automatically, the same tone I used in boardrooms when I expected people to follow orders without questioning them.
Even in this hospital bed, even with my head wrapped in bandages, that instinct still lived inside me.
My mother studied my face for a moment.
Then she smiled softly, the kind of smile that looked gentle but carried something sharp underneath.
“Ryan,” she said calmly, stepping closer to the bed. “You’re confused right now. That’s understandable. But you need to understand who you’re dealing with.”
She gestured toward Emily like she was pointing out a stain on the floor.
“That girl ruined our relationship.”
The words felt heavy in the air.
Emily inhaled sharply.
My brows pulled together.
“What?”
My mother sighed as if she hated having to explain it.
“You used to be close to me. You trusted me. Then she came along.”
Her voice softened.
“And everything changed.”
Emily shook her head immediately.
“That’s not true.”
My mother ignored her completely.
“She kept you away from your own daughter for 3 years.”
The sentence landed like a bomb inside my head.
Daughter.
The word echoed through my mind.
“You have a daughter,” my mother continued gently.
My chest tightened.
“She made sure you never saw her.”
Emily stepped forward.
“That’s a lie.”
Her voice shook but there was steel underneath it.
“I never kept him away from his daughter.”
Miranda’s expression hardened slightly.
My mother sighed again, like Emily was being dramatic.
“You see what I mean?” she said to me. “She does this every time.”
Emily looked at me again.
“Ryan, please listen to me.”
Something about the way she said my name made my pulse jump.
But my mother continued speaking before she could say more.
“She threatens Miranda constantly,” she said calmly. “She threatens you too.”
Emily’s eyes widened.
“That’s not true!”
“She cannot accept that you moved on,” my mother said. “That you chose Miranda.”
My head started pounding harder.
The room felt too small.
Too loud.
Emily looked desperate now.
“Ryan, you know me.”
Her voice cracked.
“You love me.”
The words stirred something uncomfortable deep in my chest.
But I did not recognize her face.
I did not recognize her voice.
All I saw was a stranger standing in front of my bed claiming a life I could not remember.
Anger rose quickly inside me.
“I said get out.”
My voice came out sharp this time.
Emily froze.
“I’m not leaving,” she said quietly.
The stubbornness in her voice irritated me instantly.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed.
Pain shot through my head, but I ignored it.
Miranda gasped softly.
“Ryan, you shouldn’t—”
But I was already standing.
Emily stared at me like she could not believe what I was doing.
“You heard me,” I said coldly.
“Leave.”
Her eyes filled with tears again.
“You don’t mean that.”
I took a step toward her.
The movement made my head spin, but the anger kept me steady.
“Get out of my room.”
The words echoed in the silence.
Emily looked like I had just slapped her.
For a second she did not move.
Then something changed in her expression.
The hurt turned into something colder.
Something harder.
She looked at my mother.
And that was when my mother leaned slightly toward her and whispered something too quiet for me to hear.
Emily’s entire face changed.
Her eyes sharpened instantly.
She looked at my mother like she wanted to burn her alive.
Then she turned toward me again.
The look she gave me was full of anger, betrayal, and something else I could not name.
“See you in court,” she said.
The words were quiet.
Deadly calm.
Then she turned and walked out of the room.
The door closed behind her.
The silence that followed felt heavier than everything that had happened before.
Miranda moved immediately.
She rushed to my side and placed a hand on my arm.
“Ryan,” she said softly. “Are you okay?”
The moment she touched me, the pounding in my head grew worse.
I pressed my fingers to my temple.
“Yeah.”
But the word came out strained.
Miranda’s expression softened with concern.
“You shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.”
She gently guided me back toward the mattress.
I sat down slowly.
The room spun slightly.
Miranda sat beside me and brushed her fingers lightly through my hair, careful around the bandage.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” she said quietly.
Something about her voice felt steady.
Safe.
My chest tightened with guilt.
I looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Her brows lifted slightly.
“For what?”
“For everything I put you through.”
The words felt strange leaving my mouth, but they also felt right.
Miranda’s expression softened immediately.
“Oh, Ryan.”
She cupped my face gently.
“All is forgiven.”
The warmth in her voice made something inside me relax.
Before I could say anything else, she leaned forward and kissed me.
The kiss was soft at first.
Comforting.
But even as our lips touched, something strange twisted in my chest.
Because for a split second, an image flashed through my mind.
A different pair of eyes.
Red from crying.
A different voice whispering my name like it meant everything.
Emily.
The thought vanished as quickly as it came.
Miranda pulled back slowly, her hand still resting on my cheek.
“Everything is going to be okay,” she said softly.
I nodded.
Because part of me believed her.
Part of me believed my mother too.
Their story made sense.
It was logical.
But another part of me felt unsettled.
Like I had just thrown someone out of my life without fully understanding why she had walked into it in the first place.
I looked toward the closed door.
And for the first time since waking up in this hospital bed, a strange thought crossed my mind.
What if the woman who just left was telling the truth.
And what if, somehow, I had just been unfair to the woman sitting beside me?