Chapter 457
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Chapter 457:
Before she could say a word, Ferris shoved his way inside. He grabbed Carmen’s wrist, his fingers digging painfully into her skin.
“I got a call from the hospital board,” Ferris hissed, his breath sour with stale coffee and barely contained panic. “They said you were in the VIP PICU all night. With Justin Collins and his bastard son p>
Carmen wrenched her arm back, her eyes flashing with cold fury. “Don’t you ever touch me like that again. And don’t call Aaden a bastard. He is a sick child p>
Ferris let out a harsh, desperate laugh. He began pacing the living room, dragging his hands through his hair. “You don’t get it, Carmen!” he yelled, jabbing a shaking finger at her. “Justin Collins is a political shark! He is using that boy to drag you into his mess! If the press finds out you are involved with a Senator, your reputation will be destroyed! You need to cut contact with him immediately p>
Carmen stared at her cousin.
The sheer intensity of his reaction was completely disproportionate. He wasn’t behaving like a concerned family member. He was behaving like a man terrified that a massive secret was about to detonate.
A cold, sickening dread settled in the pit of her stomach.
“Get out,” Carmen said. Her voice was terrifyingly calm. She pointed to the open door. “Get out of my apartment, Ferris. Right now p>
𝗦a𝘃е у𝘰𝘶r 𝘧𝖺𝘷𝗼𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 ո𝘰𝗏е𝘭ѕ on
Ferris opened his mouth to argue, but the absolute stillness in her eyes stopped him cold. He gritted his teeth, turned on his heel, and stormed out, slamming the door so hard the frame shook.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Carmen’s heart hammered against her ribs. The pieces of the puzzle were colliding violently in her mind — Justin’s obsessive behavior, Aaden’s instant connection to her, Ferris’s sheer, unmasked panic. She pulled her phone from her pocket, her fingers trembling so badly she could barely unlock the screen. She dialed the emergency number for Dr. Foster, her trauma therapist.
“I need an EMDR session,” she gasped into the receiver. “Right now. I don’t care what it costs. I need to break the block p>
One hour later, Carmen lay back in the plush leather recliner in Dr. Foster’s dimly lit office. A steady sweep of white noise moved through the speakers like a slow tide.
Dr. Foster sat beside her, operating the EMDR light bar. A single red dot moved rapidly back and forth across Carmen’s field of vision.
“Follow the light, Carmen,” Dr. Foster said, her voice a soft, hypnotic murmur. “Breathe deep. Go back to the snow. Go back to the library p>
Carmen’s eyes tracked the moving dot. Her breathing turned shallow and rapid. A cold sweat broke across her forehead.
The black wall in her mind began to crack.
The air was freezing. Thick, heavy snow fell beyond the massive gothic windows of the Sterling Memorial Library.