Chapter 134

Chapter 134
NAYA'S POV

The hospital lobby was strangely quiet, the kind of silence that wasn’t peaceful but heavy, waiting to be broken. I sat beside Stella, our shoulders almost touching, both of us staring at the reception desk as if the nurse behind it held the entire weight of our fears in her hands. Jordan had been in there for hours, and every minute felt stretched thin, like the walls themselves were breathing down on us.

Stella looked calmer now, or at least she was doing a convincing job of it. Her hands, which had been trembling earlier, now rested neatly on her lap. After a moment, she leaned toward me and whispered, “I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom.”

I nodded without looking away from the nurse’s desk. “Okay, I’ll be here.”

Her footsteps clicked softly against the tiled floor until they faded into the distance. I exhaled, leaning back against the chair, trying to will away the restless energy eating at me. That was when Stella’s bag, sitting at her side, began to vibrate. At first it was just one sharp buzz, and I ignored it. But then it didn’t stop. The phone kept shuddering, rattling faintly against the zipper of her bag like it was demanding attention.

I hesitated. My instinct told me not to touch her things, but the longer it went on, the more out of place it felt. Maybe it was something urgent. Maybe the hospital was calling her directly. I leaned forward, pulling the bag closer to me, intending only to grab the phone.

But as I unzipped the bag, a corner of folded papers poked out, worn and crumpled at the edges. Something about the way they stuck out felt wrong. Not like casual papers, but like something hidden—tucked in too carefully, as though meant to be kept from sight. Against my better judgment, my fingers slipped past the phone and pulled them free.

When I unfolded the first sheet, my chest tightened. My eyes scanned the familiar headers, the signatures, the property details. I blinked rapidly, disbelief thick in my throat. It was part of the estate documents—Arthur’s estate documents. Incomplete, missing sections, but unmistakably from the same collection Arthur had been agonizing over.

My stomach dropped. Why on earth would Stella have this?

I flipped through page after page, my pulse loud in my ears. Each detail confirmed it wasn’t some coincidence. She had them. And she had them tucked away like contraband.

The sound of approaching footsteps made me snap my head up. Stella had returned, her eyes falling immediately on the papers in my hands. She froze mid-step, her face draining of color. For a split second, she looked like a child caught red-handed, torn between running and confessing.

Her hesitation stretched long enough for me to rise slowly from my chair, the papers clutched tightly in my hand. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “Why do you have these documents with you, Stella?”

Her lips parted but no words came at first. She closed her eyes, almost wincing as though the question itself stung. Finally, in a low trembling voice, she said, “To be honest… I knew about the estate documents. I just pretended that I had no idea.”

The words punched the air out of me. My brows knitted in disbelief. “You knew?”

She nodded, her eyes filling with tears as her composure cracked. “My uncle… he threatened me. He threatened my siblings too. He told us the only way he’d finally leave us alone was if I found a way to get him the estate documents. He… he kept saying he was the rightful owner, that everything was stolen from him. I didn’t want to steal, Naya, I swear I didn’t, but my siblings begged me. With my uncle breathing down my neck and my mother’s illness getting worse, I felt trapped.” Her voice broke, spilling into sobs as her shoulders shook. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

I swallowed hard, my heart pulling between anger and pity. “So you really were going to give him these?” I lifted the papers slightly. “Even after Arthur promised to handle it? After everything?”

Her head snapped up, eyes wide with urgency. “No! I thought about it, I really did, but after I took them… and after what happened to Jordan, it hit me. My uncle doesn’t care about us. He’s cruel enough to follow through on every single one of his threats. Even if I gave these to him, he’d still hurt us. That’s why I was so scared earlier. That’s why I panicked. I knew he wouldn’t stop. And then I was ashamed too, because—because I’d already stolen them from Arthur’s study.” She buried her face in her hands, sobbing harder. “I didn’t know how to return them without facing his anger, without facing yours. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Her words, broken by the weight of guilt, tangled in my chest. I stared at her, unable to shake the sting of betrayal but also unable to ignore the desperation in her voice. She wasn’t lying. Every sob, every tremor in her body was too raw to fake.

I sighed heavily, lowering the papers to my side. “Stella…” I whispered, the frustration in me giving way to something softer.

She looked up, her eyes swollen and wet. “I didn’t want this, Naya. I just wanted to save my family.”

I closed the distance between us and, almost instinctively, wrapped my arms around her trembling frame. She sagged into me, crying into my shoulder. “I know,” I murmured, stroking her back gently. “It’s not your fault. You were cornered. You were desperate. And desperate people make choices they never would’ve otherwise.”

She clung to me like a drowning person clings to air, whispering through her sobs, “I didn’t want to betray Arthur. I didn’t want to betray you.”

My throat tightened. I held her a little tighter, even as part of me still ached with questions. “We’ll figure it out. But from now on, you have to be honest with me. No more secrets, Stella. We’re in this together.”

She nodded quickly, her tears soaking through my blouse. “I promise. No more secrets.”

And in that fragile moment, with the papers still heavy in my hand and her sobs echoing in my ears, I realized just how tangled the web had become.

The warmth of Stella’s body trembled against mine, her sobs soft but raw as she clung to me like someone terrified of letting go. I kept rubbing her back gently, whispering reassurances I wasn’t even sure she could hear. My mind was still racing with everything she had just confessed, the weight of those papers still lingering in my hand, but in that moment—when she seemed so small and broken—all I could feel was compassion.

Just then, a nurse in pale blue scrubs approached us, her voice low and steady, as though she understood the storm we were both caught in.

“Excuse me,” she said, her eyes flicking from me to Stella. “Jordan has been treated. He’s stable now, but he’s sleeping.”

I felt Stella stiffen in my arms before she slowly pulled away, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve in a desperate attempt to hide her tears. Her voice shook a little when she spoke.

“Can we see him? Please… just for a moment?”

The nurse gave a sympathetic nod. “Yes, you can. But keep your voices down and try not to disturb him.”

Relief washed over Stella’s features, softening them even though her eyes were still red and glassy. She clutched my arm, as though she needed the strength of another person just to stand upright. Without thinking, I squeezed her hand back and nodded.

We followed the nurse down the quiet hallway, the sound of our footsteps muffled against the polished floor. My chest felt tight, as though every breath came with the weight of all the secrets and confessions that had been laid bare just minutes ago. I caught a glimpse of Stella beside me—her fingers twisting nervously in the hem of her shirt, her lips pressed together as if she was fighting back another wave of tears—and I wondered how long she’d been carrying all this on her own.

When we reached the door, the nurse pushed it open gently, and the faint scent of antiseptic filled the room. The steady rhythm of Jordan’s breathing was the first thing I noticed, and then the soft beep of the monitor beside his bed. He looked so pale lying there, his arm bandaged neatly, his chest rising and falling under the thin hospital blanket.

I felt a lump rise in my throat. Seeing him like that, fragile and asleep, made all the chaos and betrayal of the last few hours shrink into something small. At least he was alive. At least he was here.

Stella moved first. She let go of my arm and crept to the side of the bed, her expression breaking as she saw him up close. She reached out and brushed her fingers lightly across his hand, careful not to disturb him.

“Jordan…” she whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of love and guilt.

I lingered a step behind her, my own emotions tangling inside me. I wanted to be angry at her for what she had done, for stealing those papers and keeping it a secret, but right then, all I saw was a woman weighed down by fear and desperation, just trying to hold her family together.

I pulled a chair closer to the bed and gestured for Stella to sit, watching as she lowered herself slowly, her gaze never leaving her brother’s face. I stayed standing, crossing my arms over my chest more to ground myself than anything else.

“He’ll be okay,” I said softly, though part of me was saying it more for her than for me. “He’s strong. Stronger than any of us give him credit for.”

Stella nodded quickly, tears sliding down her cheeks again as she kept stroking Jordan’s hand. “I don’t deserve him. I don’t deserve any of you,” she whispered, almost like she was confessing to the room itself.

I leaned forward, lowering my voice so it wouldn’t carry. “You made a mistake, Stella. A bad one, yes. But don’t let it convince you that you don’t belong with the people who love you. We’ve all done things we wish we hadn’t. What matters is what you do now.”

She looked up at me with those wide, glassy eyes, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. I offered her a small, tired smile, trying to push past the heaviness in my chest.

In that quiet hospital room, with the soft hum of machines and Jordan’s steady breathing filling the air, I realized something—this wasn’t just about estates or threats or old documents anymore. It was about us. About how much we were w illing to carry for each other, and how easily fear could turn love into desperation.