Chapter Twenty Five

Lana POV:

"Who was Veronica Harrison?" I asked.

Dad only looked at me for a moment.

"How do you know about her?" He asked softly.

"She was Adam's mother. Dad what happened? He said you killed her." I replied.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"No. No, it wasn't like that. It was my fault though." He said before sighing heavily.

"What happened, Samuel?" Kade asked.

"Veronica was my friend. We grew up together. Her husband was a jealous bastard and beat the shit out of her all the time. She came to me for help." He said sadly, taking a deep breath.

"He found out that we had been in contact and automatically thought we were having an affair. He beat her to death." Dad finished, barely holding his composure.

"Jesus Christ." Ryder mumbled. "Dad... Fuck, I'm sorry." I told him. "She was a sister to me. She and your mother were nearly inseparable." Dad replied.

Maybe if Adam knew the truth, just maybe, we could convince him to back off. Who the fuck am I kidding? The guy's a lunatic.

"Hello, Ms. Reyes. How do you feel?" The doctor asked as he walked in. "Better." I replied. "Good. You're lucky to be alive Ms. Reyes. It's a miracle to be honest." Doc replied.

"I have a lot to fight for, doc." I said softly. "That, I can see." He told me, looking around the room.

"Any word of when she can come home, doc?" Dad asked. "With as well as she's doing now, I'd say a couple days tops." The doctor replied.

"Thank you, doc. Really." Ryder said, shaking his hand. "Your wife is a strong woman."

"Oh.." Ryder laughed nervously. "She's not my wife." He said.

I looked down and blushed furiously.

Sarah looked at my dad when the doctor walked away.

"And you didn't see it?" She asked and laughed. "Shut up." He grumbled.

"Do you need anything?" Ryder asked me. "Water?" I asked. "You got it." He replied before giving me a gentle kiss and leaving the room.

Ryder POV:

It was so good to have Lana awake again. Something felt off, though. Something felt wrong. What was it? I'm not sure. Maybe I'm imagining it but I have a bad feeling this is just getting started.

I had to admit, though, now that our relationship was out in the open, I felt better. No more hiding.

My life had gotten so much better in the near year that I had been home. All because of one girl. The one girl that always knew how to push my buttons but also gave me immense happiness.

Lana fought hard for her life and won. I'd never known someone as strong as her. I quickly realized that she is the undoubtedly the love of my life and I would never let her go.

I wanted to kill Adam and his men for doing what they did to my girl.

Two innocent women, good women were here because of that sorry sack of shit and he would go down for it. I'd make sure of that.

So when Kade, Samuel and I leave the hospital, we're going straight to Adam and have a little chat with him.

He better hope and pray there is a God up there because when we're done with him, he'll be begging for forgiveness.

Lana was the most important thing in my life and I would make sure no one hurt her again.

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