Brighton

 

Three weeks, two days, six hours, and fourteen minutes.

Ryland laid in the hospital bed, his eyes closed, his hair perfect. I washed it and smoothed it into place for him every morning. His features weren’t relaxed or at peace, and that’s how I knew he was still with me.

The doctors had him hooked up to a bunch of machines. He wasn’t breathing on his own, and they kept trying to talk to me about his brain activity. I wouldn’t listen. I didn’t need them to tell me what I knew in my heart.

I reached for his hand and stroked the tattoo on his ring finger. Even now, we were in sync. That wasn’t a machine. That was something else. Something stronger than medicine or science could ever explain. When he stuttered, I stuttered. When his heart beat, mine would always echo. It wasn’t even love. It transcended love. Ryland and I were something else entirely, and nobody could ever tell me otherwise.

I placed his palm on my chest and let him feel the rhythm beneath my skin.

“Do you feel that?” I asked him. “It still beats for you. I’m still here, waiting for you.” 

He didn’t move or give any indication he’d heard me. But I didn’t expect him to. Ryland had been through so much in his life. He needed to rest. That’s all this was. I believed it wholeheartedly. He was just resting.

“I know you’re tired, baby,” I whispered. “But you can’t leave yet. I need you to come back to me when you’re ready. Because I can’t do this without you. I love you so much. You’re my everything. I need my husband, and our baby needs his father.”

Silence.

My calm resolve fractured, the same way it did every day. I missed him so fucking much. I needed him so much. Our baby was due in a month, and I was so scared that he wouldn’t be with me.

I hadn’t left the hospital in days. There was a media circus going on outside, just waiting for a photo opportunity. Ever since the news broke that the crime had taken place in a warehouse owned by Alex Burton, a lot of other information had started to come to light.

I guess Alex didn’t count on Alfredo failing or getting rid of our bodies and the evidence. He was a fucking idiot, and I’d unleashed Edith on him with everything I had. I’d hired private investigators, and Mick was sniffing around for me too. I had every intention of bringing the full force of the law down on him, and even that wouldn’t be enough. I finally understood Ryland’s desire for revenge. It ate at me. It swirled and twisted inside of me, consuming me from the inside out.

I wanted anyone who had anything to do with this dead. I wanted to see their lifeless expressions just like I’d seen Alfredos. I wanted them all buried in the fucking ground.

But I also knew it wasn’t healthy. If there was one thing I’d learned from all of this, it was that revenge and hatred could eat you alive if you let it.  And if Ryland were awake right now, I knew he’d tell me as much. He’d tell me to be strong and keep my head focused on the things that mattered, like our baby.

So justice wouldn’t be exactly what I wanted. But there would be justice. I couldn’t sleep until there was. For the things that Robert and Alex Burton had done, all in the name of business.

Brayden told me that Ryland had made an agreement with Robert Burton. Shares of his company would go to Alex in exchange for my life. And upon Ryland’s death, they planned to take over his company. But it was all coming out now, little by little. And the charges were racking up.

I’d never felt more relief than the moment Edith called me and uttered those words. That they had finally been arrested.

It didn’t change what happened to Ryland. There was a gaping hole in my heart, and I didn’t know if it would ever be the same. I had no choice but to move forward. To focus on each breath. Each task that needed to be done. I would do it for Ryland.

“Mrs. Bennett?”

I glanced up to see Dr. Kelly standing in the doorway. I tore my gaze back to Ryland and pretended not to notice. I didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say.

“I’m glad I caught you.” He came into the room and stood with his chart, the same neutral expression on his face that he always wore.

I didn’t like him. I didn’t like that he had no faith in my husband or that he had no idea how much of a fighter Ryland was. That he would never give up on me. I hated his cold, clinical words and everything about him right down to his stupid white coat.

Dr. Kelly didn’t know I’d requested a specialist to come and see Ryland. I’d already set everything up, and he was flying in tomorrow. That was the benefit of being Ryland’s wife. Money talked, and I had plenty of it to throw around. I’d give it all away to the highest bidder that told me they could bring him back to me.

There were things that could be done in these cases. Things that could be tried. But Dr. Kelly didn’t want to try them. He told me it was all junk science when I’d begged him. And now he just lingered there awkwardly, waiting for me to take the bait. I wouldn’t. His words didn’t affect me anymore, and I was sick of hearing them. If it had been safe to move Ryland from this hospital, I would have. But for right now, I just had to stick it out. Like everything else.

“Look, Mrs. Bennett,” he spoke in a monotone voice. “It’s been a week since we last discussed your husband’s condition. There have been no signs of improvement, no indications I’m afraid. A decision needs to be made…”

“The decision has already been made,” I snarled. “I told you that last week. I’m telling you that today. I’ll tell you again next week. And the fucking week after that. Why are you badgering me about this?”

His lips flattened, and he looked down at me with pitiful eyes. As though I were a complete moron who just didn’t understand what he was telling me.

“We aren’t equipped to deal with long term care in this facility for cases like this,” he said. “So if you are committed to your decision, then I’ll have to advise you that he’ll need to be moved…”

All the anger inside of me boiled over at his tone and his careless indifference. He was talking about Ryland like he was a sack of potatoes. And I was so fucking sick of his disdain. Of all of this.

“Fuck you!” I spat. “Fuck all of you! You don’t know what he’s capable of. You don’t know what he’s survived. I can still feel him. He isn’t gone. I don’t give a shit what you say because I feel him! He’s going to come back to me. He always comes back to me!”

Dr. Kelly took a step back from me as though I were a crazed animal, and Nicole ran into the room just in time to see me dissolving into hysterics.

“Brighton?” her voice was filled with concern as I collapsed against Ryland’s chest and sobbed against him.

“What did you say to her?” she accused.

I didn’t hear Dr. Kelly’s response. Because a sharp pain rippled through my back and down my abdomen, causing me to lurch forward. It felt like something was tearing inside of me, and I didn’t understand what was happening.

When I looked down at the hospital chair beneath me, there was blood leaking out from my pants.

“Oh God… something’s wrong.”

White hot pain speared through my body as spots filled my vision. I briefly saw Nicole and Dr. Kelly rushing to my aid before I slumped forward and everything started to fade away.