Page 19 of The Billionaire Hercules Valentine and I: Serendipity
“Hercules. It’s your father. He’s in the hospital.”
Chapter Eight
The Good Girl
Paisley Grove
Hours after I passed out, I slowly regained consciousness. My dad’s arms were around my mom. He kissed her on the forehead and softly said, “She’s going to be fine, Heart.”
Max announced that I was awake, and then my mom pelted me with kisses. I lifted my arm to see the IV needle stuck in my vein.
“What happened?” I asked, readjusting in the bed. I didn’t feel weak, and nothing hurt. The IV, hospital gown, and bed felt like an overreaction.
“You passed out. Dr. Hammerstone said you had a delayed reaction to the drug.” My dad grimaced when he said “drug,” as if it infuriated him that I’d been defiled in such a manner.
Seeing him that way made me feel even more guilty about misleading them and then getting myself in trouble. I’d ignored all the rules about safety.Never take a drink from a boy you barely know.Treasure had pounded that into my head many times. I knew better.
“I’m sorry, Mom, Dad. I should never have gone.”
My mom rubbed my back like she did whenever I was sick and she was comforting me. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
“Why didn’t you tell Mike you were going out?” my dad asked.
I dropped my head in shame. “The people who invited me said no bodyguards.”
In the silence, I could feel their judgment.
“We know Treasure wasn’t kidnapped,” my mom said. I looked up. She folded her arms. “At least, now we do. Your father and I decided to let the bodyguards stay with you for the remainder of the school year anyway.”
Just then, a nurse and Dr. Hammerstone walked into the room. The nurse took my vitals as Dr. Hammerstone explained my secondary reaction to the drug I’d been given. I hadn’t had much in my system, but it would have been far worse if I had. To wrap things up, the doctor explained that I was given an IV to flush out my system and that I should be fine from there on out.
Hercules came to mind as I stole a glance at Max, who was punching out a message on his cellphone. I wondered if my parents knew that Hercules was the one who’d saved me. Once the doctor and nurse left, I asked Max if I should give a statement to the police or something.
He looked up from his phone. “I handled it.”
“How did you handle it?”
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
Feeling at a loss for words and helpless, my gaze shifted from my mom to my dad and then back to Max. I sometimes wonder why they give him so much responsibility over me. He often behaves like a third and less agreeable parent.
“It happened to me, not to you.” I turned to my parents, desperate for their support with this one. “I need to make a statement.” I had to—for the sake of Hercules not thinking I wimped out on him.
“No,” my dad said. His tone was adamant.
I blinked. Something struck me then, harder than ever before. Max’s voice belonged to my parents. He’s their bouncer, their fixer.
“But I’m a Grove, and…”
“I said no.”
My father’s staunch expression didn’t change, and that infuriated me, a daughter who never questions or talks back to her parents. “Is it because of Hercules Valentine?”
Grimacing, my father studied his watch. “We should get out of here.” He looked at me with an indecisive smile. “You graduate tomorrow afternoon, and we should all get some rest. I’ll go get the nurse.” He walked out of the hospital room as though I hadn’t mentioned Hercules and the fact that I wanted to give my statement to the police. As far as my dad was concerned, the discussion was over.
I went to bed disappointed that Hercules wouldn’t know that I tried. Staring with tired eyes at the ceiling in the dark, I questioned whether I wanted to follow through for him, for me, or for the other girls who went through the same thing I went through. When the answer came, I flipped onto my side and pulled the covers up to my neck.
After one last yawn, I whispered, “For all of us,” before dozing off.