Chapter 105 Home sweet home
Chapter 105 Home sweet home
CHAPTER 105: Home sweet home
Vera
I was discharged from the hospital the very same day, less than twenty-fours hours after I was admitted. The air in the car felt brittle, stretching too thin between Silas and me. As the car pulled up to the familiar, looming silhouette of the mansion, I felt a feeling of relief and safety that was almost dampened as I stared at the steep stone steps leading to the front door. I was still weak and kind of woozy, and my heart sank at the thought of the physical exertion ahead.
Silas got down without a glance in my direction. I was reaching for the door handle, my movements slow and agonizingly stiff, but before I could grip the handle, the door was wrenched open and Silas was standing there.
I didn't have much time to react to the surprise, when without a word, he reached in and his large hands slid beneath my knees and back with a precision that brooked no protest.
I gasped, quickly hooking my arms around his neck as he hoisted me into his arms, carrying me bridal style toward the house.
“Silas, you don’t have to. I can walk,” I whispered, though the way my head spun at the sudden elevation betrayed my lie.
He didn't answer; his jaw remained a hard, unforgiving line of granite, his chest a wall of heat against my bruised side as he climbed the stairs with effortless, predatory grace. He didn't even look at me still, and it made something that had nothing to do with Damien’s monstrosity, pressing against my heart.
We crossed the threshold, the heavy oak doors swinging shut behind us.
Elena stopped short when she saw us, a stack of linens in her hand, definitely shocked by the bruises on my body.
“Madam—”
“Is the room ready?” Silas asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“You may leave.”
She cast one last look at me before she left. Silas was about to start heading up stairs, only to be stopped by the sharp, audible intake of breath from the top of the stairs.
Claudia stood there, her face draining of color as her eyes darted over the violent map of purple and red marring my skin.
“Goodness gracious! Oh my God... Vera?” she stammered, skipping the stairs down, her voice trembling with a mixture of shock and dawning horror. “Silas, what on earth happened? Who did this to her?”
I hid my face in the crook of his neck. I was in no mood to narrate the horrible ordeal I had gone through. Plus, I doubted that Silas would want his sister to know what really happened.
Luckily he came to the rescue, sidestepping as he continued up the stairs.
“Not now, Claudia,” he cut her off, his voice dropping into that low, lethal register that signaled the end of any discussion.
She followed behind him. “What do you mean? You both didn't come back last night. And you didn't take any of my calls. Now you arrive today with your wife looking like she was run over by a damn truck—”
“This is not the time,” he snapped, glaring at her.
Claudia didn't argue further even though she looked like she had a lot to say.
Silas neither slowed his pace nor looked back, his boots thudding rhythmically against the marble as he carried me up the grand staircase without another to his sister.
Finally, we reached our bedroom and it looked like it had been freshly cleaned.
“You can put me down now. I can manage from here,” I said in a low voice as soon as the door closed behind us.
He ignored what I'd said, almost as if I never said a word.
He carefully laid me down onto the silk sheets with the same tenderness that I had seen the last time we were intimate. It was almost alien, coming from a man that often radiated streaks of raw, suppressed violence.
“Thank you,” I breathed, my body finally sagging into the mattress. “I could have managed on my own.”
He had done so much for me—for us. I didn't want to keep being a burden or an inconvenience to him.
His eyes darkened with an unreadable glint as he loomed over the bed.
“Stop being stubborn. Just stay put.”
“But I don't want to be—”
“The doctor’s instructions were very clear. You do not leave this bed for any reason. You shouldn't put pride before the baby’s wellbeing.”
He was wrong. It was pride. It was shame. I was ashamed to have him caring for me after all that had happened.
He straightened and took a step back, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“I’ve already hired a private nurse. She'll be on call for you around the clock, stationed in the adjacent room.”
I looked up at him, my brow furrowing despite the ache.
“About that… Why did you push the hospital for such an early discharge? I thought I needed to be monitored there.”
He stared at me. “You’re safer here,” he said, his voice clipped. “The hospital is a public space. It’s vulnerable. The mansion is heavily guarded and so you’re safer here.”
Damien was still out there, and he didn’t want him slipping through the hospital security.
I nodded. “Alright. I understand.”
“Dr. Caleb will take over and make house calls every morning to check on you and the baby. You won't lack care, but you will stay behind these walls.”
“And Lily?” I suddenly asked. I hadn't seen my sister since we had arrived. I was worried about her. “Does she know? Is she okay?”
“She knows nothing,” he answered firmly. “I instructed Chauncey to keep her in the dark. The less she knows the better for her.”
Before I could press him further, the sharp vibration of his phone shattered the quiet.
He answered the call, and in an instant, his entire demeanor shifted. A cold dark look ignited in his eyes, chilling even the very air in the room.
“Excuse me.”
He didn't speak in front of me, instead, he stepped into the walk-in closet, his silhouette disappearing behind the heavy door.
I laid back against the silken sheets, every inch of my body aching, wondering who it was on the other end of the line.
It couldn't have been Natalie. He would have taken the call in the room.
When he returned moments later, the shadows in his eyes had deepened.
“I have to attend to something important,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. “Don't do anything outside the doctor’s instructions, Vera.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
He turned and strode out, the door clicking shut with a finality that left me shivering.
I stared at the ceiling, my mind racing with a thousand dark suspicions about where he was going and what “important” task required that look in his eyes.
Was it the fraud from the ball? Or was it Damien?
My heart was hammering a pulsing rhythm of dread against my ribs, until the door creaked open again.
I expected the nurse, or Lily,
but instead, a distraught, disheveled Cherry stumbled in, her eyes wide with horror as soon as they landed on me.