Chapter 243 243

Chapter 243 243


The heavy doors slammed shut behind Olivia, sealing off the frantic, desperate shrieks until they died out into the quiet of the morning.

Silence fell over the foyer, heavy and sudden.

Blair stood completely still, staring at the wood. Her mother was finally safe. Olivia was gone. The weight of five long, agonizing years had lifted in a single morning, leaving a strange, hollow quiet in its place.

Her fingers slowly loosened, and the stack of medical records slipped from her hand, scattering across the marble.
Then the floor tilted under her feet.

Blair blinked fast, the room blurring into faint streaks of white and gray.

“Blair?”
Lucas’s voice sounded far away, muffled like he was shouting under water. She tried to turn her head toward him, but her legs gave out completely.
“Blair!”

Lucas lunged forward, a brutal spike of pain tearing straight through his side as his stitches pulled. He ignored it, dropping to his knees and catching her before she slammed into the stone.

Her head fell limp against his collarbone, her body completely unstrung.

Patricia gasped, stepping forward frantically. “Someone call the doctor! Right now!”
The staff scattered into a flurry of motion down the hall.

Lucas carefully lifted Blair, carrying her to the long velvet sofa near the archway, his face deathly pale. “Blair? Hey, look at me. Open your eyes.”
She didn't move.
His hand trembled as he pushed a damp strand of dark hair away from her forehead. “Come on. Please.”

Patricia knelt beside the sofa, her hands shaking as she wiped a tear from her eye. “She collapsed from the shock,” she whispered, her voice tight. “It was too much all at once.”

“I know,” Lucas rasped, his eyes glued to Blair's pale face. “Then why isn’t she waking up?”

“The doctor is on his way, Lucas.”
He nodded absently, barely hearing her. All he could see was Blaire, the woman he had spent years failing to protect, the woman who had carried the weight of the world on her shoulders without saying a word.

He took her cold hand in both of his, bringing it to his lips. “Please wake up.”
\~~~~~~

The first thing that returned to Blair was warmth—a steady, solid heat wrapped around her hand.

Then came a dull, throbbing ache behind her eyes. Her lashes fluttered open, the high, ornate ceiling of Brooks Manor slowly coming into focus.

A hand tightened gently around hers. “Blair?”

She shifted her head on the pillow. Lucas was sitting on the edge of the sofa right beside her. 

His hair was messy, his dark eyes shadowed with bone-deep exhaustion, his jaw tight with worry. 

Across the room, Patricia stood near the window, letting out a long, shuddering breath the second Blair’s eyes opened.
“Thank God,” Patricia whispered.

Blair’s brow furrowed slightly as she tried to sit up. “What... what happened?”

“You fainted,” Lucas said, his voice quiet, steadying her shoulder so she didn't move too fast.

Memory rushed back over her in a sudden, cold wave. Her breath hitched. “My mom—”

“She’s safe,” Lucas interrupted gently. “She’s at the secondary estate with the security detail. No one can touch her.”

“And Mave?”
Lucas leaned in closer, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. “He’s downstairs playing. He’s fine, Blair. I promise.”

Blair let out a shaky breath, though her lungs still felt far too tight. “I need to see them.”

“You will,” Lucas said softly, his palm moving up to gently cup her cheek, his skin warm against her cool skin. “But first, I need you to breathe.”

Blair looked into his dark eyes.
“Breathe, Blair.”
She took a slow, trembling breath in.

“That’s it,” he murmured. “Another one. You’re safe now. It’s over.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling over her lashes. “She’s really okay?”
“She’s really okay.”

Blair closed her eyes for a brief second, letting the immense relief wash over her, soothing the sharp edges of her panic. 

When she opened them again, her gaze dropped down to the left side of his torso.
Her eyebrows pulled together. “You...”

Lucas offered a faint, tired smirk. “Me?”
“You are supposed to be in a hospital bed, Mr. Brooks.”
A soft, quiet chuckle escaped his chest, though he winced slightly as his ribs protested. “I’m fine.”
“You were shot yesterday!”

“I’m aware.”
“And instead of lying down, you’re sitting here strain yourself?”

“I wasn't going to be anywhere else until I knew you were okay,” Lucas said, his voice dropping, all trace of sarcasm vanishing. He squeezed her fingers tighter. “You terrified me.”

Blair’s lips trembled, her voice barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said gently, brushing a tear away from her cheek with his thumb. “Just... don't do that to me again.”

A small, genuine smile finally broke through Blair’s tears. 

Lucas stared down at her for a long, quiet moment, his expression softening.

“Your mother is safe. Mave is safe. Olivia is gone,” he whispered, his hand gently tracing the outline of her jaw. “Everything is going to be alright now, my love.”

Blair went completely still. The breath caught right in the middle of her chest.

Her eyes lifted to meet his. “...My love?”

Lucas froze for a fraction of a second, a faint flush creeping up his neck as he realized the word had slipped out without his permission. But he didn't pull back. He didn't mask it with a joke or deflect.

His dark eyes held hers, steady and absolute.
“Yes,” he murmured, his voice dropping an octave, warm and low. “My love.”

Patricia cleared her throat.

Neither of them moved an inch.

Patricia looked between Lucas and Blair, watching the intense, quiet magnetic pull between them—the way they locked eyes as if the rest of the world, the Manor, and the chaos of the morning had completely dissolved into background noise.

A tiny, knowing smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
“Well…” Patricia finally murmured, smoothing her jacket and picking up her leather purse from the armchair. “I suppose I should leave you two to have a moment of privacy.”

Blair’s eyes went wide, a sudden wave of heat rushing straight to her cheeks. “Mrs. Brooks—wait, it’s not—”

“I didn’t see a single thing,” Patricia interrupted smoothly, a warm glint in her eyes as she began backing toward the heavy double doors.
Lucas let out a low, breathy chuckle, shifting slightly on the cushion. “Mom.”

Patricia paused at the doorway, looking back over her shoulder with an expression softer than Blair had ever seen on her face. “Get some rest, both of you. You’ve earned it.”

With a quiet click, the door shut behind her, leaving them entirely alone.

The silence returned instantly, but the heavy, tension from before was gone. 

Blair turned her head back toward Lucas.
He was already staring right at her. The sharp, restless worry that had consumed him for days was gone. 

Lucas shifted closer, moving with care so as not to pull at his bandaged side. He reached out, his hand wrapping around hers, pulling her fingers against his chest.
“Look at me, Blair.”
Blair swallowed down the sudden knot in her throat. “I am looking at you.”

“No,” he murmured, his thumb moving in slow, rhythmic circles across her knuckles. “Really look at me.”

She lifted her face, letting her eyes search his.
Lucas held her gaze without blinking, his dark eyes shining under the soft sunlight filtering through the tall windows. “Can’t you see it?”