Giulia POV
Giulia POV
The first thing I felt as I woke up was the sharp, unmistakable scent of antiseptic. It hit my nostrils hard, sending my senses into overdrive, and for a tense, dreadful moment, I thought that I was back in that horrid, damp underground room I had barely managed to escape, and I started to struggle.
I could hear Christie's voice echoing in my ears and feel Trevor's hands reaching for me.
I thrashed against the bed, desperate to escape a memory that was already six years old but still plagued my nightmares constantly.
'I have to escape. I can't let them keep me.'
Almost unconsciously, I lifted my body, struggling to get off. Then, a woman's soft voice broke through, and I felt warm hands gently pushing me back against the pillow.
"Hey, hey, hey, You're alright. You took a nasty fall, and now you are in the hospital," a comforting Southern accent broke through the haze of my fear.
My eyes snapped open and immediately landed on my wrist.
Only after seeing the raised skin of a scar, now healed, did my heartbeat slowly return to normal.
When I tried to focus on the room, it tilted. My tongue felt thick, clumsy. But I felt relief to know that, indeed, I was in a hospital.
Far away, where Christie and Trevor would never think to look for me.
The woman with the soothing voice, a red-cheeked nurse, brought a cup with a straw, which she placed in my mouth.
It was only as I drank greedily that I realised how thirsty I was. The cool water soothed the cottony dryness in my mouth, and I immediately felt a lot better.
"What happened?" My mind was a haze, and I could not remember how I got to the hospital. "How did I get here?"
"Don't you remember?" The nurse asked with pity in her eyes. "You tripped at work, and you fell hard."
I closed my eyes as images of the most mortifying memory filtered haphazardly into my head, causing me to cringe when I remembered my graceless fall right at the set for the soon-to-be-launched game's promotional photoshoot.
It was bad enough that the fall happened in a room in front of the country's newest, shiniest model and her entourage of vapid dolls, but it also happened right in front of my boss.
The infuriatingly perfect Beau Orsini.
One of Lumia City's youngest executives who had stepped away from the family business and built his own successful company, he had a face like an angel but a temper that belonged only in hell.
Beau Orsini, with his cold eyes and colder efficiency, never missed an opportunity to turn up his nose at my drab clothes and unimpressive looks on the rare occasion I met him.
Beau's obvious distaste for me didn't bother me in the least.
Why would it?
It's not like I had much more important things like survival and watching my back to worry about.
I did not care about looking pretty for the boss.
As it was, about half of the female staff were already competing on that front anyway. There was no more space for an extra admirer.
"Just a moment, dear, the doctor will soon be here." The nurse intruded on my thoughts, then stepped out.
Shortly after, she returned.
This time she was not alone. A man in a lab coat and horn-rimmed glasses came in after the nurse and shut the door behind him.
"It's good to see you back with the living, Miss Cabot." The man said with a kind smile. "For a moment we feared that we would lose you."
My heart sank at this piece of information.
Almost died?
My hands trembled beneath the thin hospital sheet.
I'm still so young. How can I die now? I haven't even had cute babies and an adorable family. I dare not die.
The doctor's horn-rimmed glasses slipped down his nose as he studied me. "Don't worry if your memory feels scrambled. Head injuries are like shaken snow globes. Everything settles eventually. Just don't shake yourself up trying to see clearly."
"Just remember to take your drugs and rest, and everything will be fine."
I tried to nod, then winced as lightning seemed to strike my brain.
"I will prescribe stronger painkillers for you." The doctor nodded and scribbled some more on the board. "And I will leave you in the capable hands of Nurse Anderson."
"Dr., when can I leave?" I asked impatiently before he could leave. The thought of being in an unfamiliar environment for too long made my palms feel clammy.
I need my own space to function properly.
"As soon as someone who can help you get home comes, then you can leave." The doctor explained kindly.
My heart sank at the knowledge that I had no one I could count on.
It usually did not bother me. It was better to be alone than be used by vicious people.
I briefly thought about calling Finn, my boyfriend, then shook my head.
I had already made the decision to have a clean break with him. Asking him for help now would put me in his debt, and I wanted no ties to him.
"You're lucky." The nurse's words broke into my thoughts. "Your boyfriend was by your side since he brought you in this morning. I'm sure he will soon be back to take you home."
Huh? Finn?
How had he even known I had been brought here?
I distinctly remembered Beau's irritated face as he stood over me after my fall.
Had Finn come later?
'Why is he acting so kind now?'
I pinched the bridge of my nose as irritation filled me.
For several months now, a usually attentive Finn had barely answered my calls and I had gotten tired of trying to be understanding.
Every conversation we had somehow circled back to the same argument.
He accused me of not caring enough for him because I would not put aside my stance of no sex before marriage, even though it was something I had told him about right from the start when we started dating.
He had gone from seeming agreeable to my conditions to being disgruntled. Recently, he had started to pressure me, telling me to prove my love to him by letting him come over and spend the night.
It felt disappointing to me that despite everything I had been through, I had fallen for Finn's cheap scam.
He acted like a gentleman, but he was actually nothing but trash.
We had been dating for almost an entire year, and he had slowly changed, gone from the attentive, sweet, goofy boyfriend who cared for me to a horny fuckboy who only cared about getting laid.
I silently cursed the loneliness that made me believe the consistency behind his pursuit was love. I had somehow convinced myself that someone true had finally found me, but it had all just been wistful thinking.
Thankfully, he had shown his true self before I got in too deep.
His kindness was most likely another manipulation, an act to get me into his bed.
"Where is my boyfriend then?" I sighed after a moment, thinking of how to escape before he came back.
"He only stepped out for a moment to get coffee," the nurse explained. "He refused to move even an inch until the doctor confirmed you were stable."
I watched as the nurse injected a clear fluid into my IV line. Almost instantly, a warm, heavy blanket of calmness washed over me, and I felt like I was floating on a fluffy, warm cloud.
"As you have trapped me here on this bed. How will I leave now?" I was annoyed, but I could feel my face widening in an uncontrollable grin.
It was like my body was revolting; I could not get up, and I could not display my displeasure.
Just then, the door creaked open, and the nurse beamed. "Your boyfriend looks very strong. I am sure he can carry you no problem."
A tall, broad-shouldered silhouette filled the doorway, and even through the haze of painkillers, he looked magnificent.
I could feel my smile widen even more.
While I tried to remain focused on leaving the hospital, the nurse's words also confused me. At the same time, my eyes could not help roaming over the intimidating figure, the expensive coat, and I wondered when Finn had gotten so buff.
I wanted him to step out of the shadows so I could have a better look.
"You're right, Nurse," I giggled, the medication stripping away my filter. "My boyfriend really is gorgeous, even if he is annoying sometimes."
"Boyfriend?" The man in the doorway tilted his head, and he remained standing in the doorway.
Then he took a step closer, allowing me to get a better look. As my blurry vision finally settled, the handsome face came into sharp focus. The thick neck with tattoos crawling up to that razor-sharp jawline, the piercing dark eyes, the tailored suit.
My stomach did a slow, dizzying flip.
Oh no. This wasn't Finn.
It was his older brother, Beau. My boss.