Chapter 263: I Won’t Hurt You
*Flashback*
By the time Brooke realized what Cassie had done, it was too late. The supervisor had called for security to have her forcefully removed from the premises.
"Come on! Move!" A guard scolded, arresting her shoulders. Her crutches fell miserably to the floor, helplessly she tried to signal for them, but one of the guards kicked her from behind.
"We don’t have all day!" he hollered, and then pushed her forward, nearly causing her to tumble over.
Avery noticed and tried to intervene, but Jen held her by the wrist, she slowly shook her head from side to side, dismissing the idea. Avery struggled for a bt against her hold, but eventually she calmed down, and lowered her head, too disgusted to look at the treatment given to Brooke.
The guards dragged Brooke past the lobby, where all the staff and customers could see her, teary eyed and humiliated, limping and struggling. Some people whispered amongst themselves, others had hesitant looks as though wanting to help, but none of them moved an inch or lifted a finger.
"Please...you’re hurting me..." she cried, pleading to be let go.
Her pleading naturally fell on deaf ears, the supervisor followed from behind, making sure that Brooke was thoroughly escorted out of the building.
However, he was at a loss for words when they ran into someone at the entrance of the building. Not just anyone, the supervisor quickly tried to signal the guards to pull back, but it was too late, his interest had already been piqued.
Brooke’s heart skipped a beat when the guards stopped dragging her. She wondered if they had heard her pleading.
"What is going on here?"
The grip on her shoulders loosened at his voice, and before she knew it, the guards dropped her, letting her body fall to the ground.
"Ah." She winced, rubbing her elbow.
The supervisor immediately stood in front of her, "Mr Halton, I thought you were away on a business trip, if I knew you’d be coming, my team would’ve personally picked you up-" his words were cut off by a firm grip on his wrist.
"Out of my way." Ethan ordered, then flung him forcefully aside.
Brooke’s shoulders stiffened when she heard slow yet powerful footsteps approaching her. Her body froze up when a hand reached for her chin, and lifted her watery gaze to meet a pair of blue eyes.
She immediately recognized him as Ethan Halton, the CEO of Halton Inc, the young millionaire, and the most eligible bachelor in the country.
Reflectively, she tried to get away, but Ethan pinched her chin, and said in a calming voice, "Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you."
Those words though polite and somewhat calculated were the kindest thing anyone had ever spoken to her. She looked at him, as though he were the rarest gem in the world, and before she knew it, her racing her was no longer beating out of fear.
No, for the first time in a long while, Brooke felt something different...
*Present*
Susan ended up sleeping on Brooke’s shoulder into the next morning. She would’ve slept some more had Kayden not stepped outside to find them.
"Don’t worry Brooke, you should head home and get some rest, I’ll take care of aunt Susan." Kayden insisted, wrapping a blanket over Brooke’s shoulders.
She stared at Susan, who stood outside Julian’s hospital room, staring inside. "Are you sure? You’ve been awake all night too, and you didn’t have anything to eat at dinner."
"I can handle myself, but you, you have your movie to film, the release date is drawing closer. It wouldn’t be right for me to keep you here. And besides, I couldn’t burden you with our family’s issue any more." He insisted, his tired gaze softened with every word.
A heavy sigh escaped her lips, he was right, she had stayed out the whole night and hadn’t even called her husband. What would Thane think? Had he even called her? Where was her phone? Did she leave it at Julian’s house? Had Thane gone over there to look for her?
She shook her head.
’He seemed very angry at me when we parted ways.’ she reasoned, a part of her wondering if Thane even cared to call. She knew he might’ve, he always had her at the forefront of his thoughts.
But that was when things were good between them, now that they weren’t seeing eye to eye, what was Thane like? Would he treat her any differently?
Her thoughts were penetrated by a question from Kayden, "Tell me honestly Brooke, do you think Cassie could be Julian’s daughter?" He asked all of a sudden.
Brooke blinked twice, the question settling in her head. Mindlessly she answered, "I don’t think so. At least after what she pulled last night, she just couldn’t." She balled her fists, the image of a bleeding Julian in her arms played in her head.
Kayden narrowed his eyes. "You said she was your sister right? Does that mean you both have the same father? What was his name...Luther was it?"
But Brooke’s answer left him stunned, "No, Luther isn’t my father. Up until now I believed he was Cassie’s father."
"Wait, if Luther isn’t your dad, then who is?" Kayden interrogated, finding something about the situation fishy.
"Well..." she took a pause, she hadn’t really given it so much thought. After Thane revealed that Scott was just her uncle, Brooke hadn’t sat down to realize just what meant.
If Scott wasn’t her father, then just who was her dad?
"I don’t know-" she was saying, but got cut off by a shout from Susan.
"He’s waking up!" She yelled, drawing both Brooke and Kayden’s attention. Kayden immediately ran to get a nurse, while Brooke went over to Susan’s side.
She peeked into the room, and true to Susan’s words, Julian had started to regain consciousness.
Brooke’s chest lightened. "Thank goodness." She closed her eyes, letting the tears she held back flow freely.