Ava walked over and gently asked, "Hey, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she replied, though her tears betrayed her words. She whispered softly, "Sometimes it's better to just get it over with. It'll get better eventually."
Ava wasn't sure what to say—words always seem so inadequate in the face of such heartache. So, she simply wrapped her arms around Selena, letting her lean in and let it all out.
...
That afternoon, Blaine finally woke up. Selena brought Mateo along to visit him.
Mateo clung to the edge of the hospital bed, eyes wide with concern as he took in Blaine's frail appearance. "Uncle Blaine, does it hurt?" he asked cautiously.
He remembered how even the tiniest scratch would make him wail, and Ava had mentioned that Uncle Blaine had been shot. That must hurt a lot, he thought.
Blaine was definitely in pain, but he put on a brave face for the young one. He quivered his lips and said, "A real man doesn’t feel pain, you know."
But Mateo, being the honest kid he was, wasn’t buying it. "Uncle Blaine, Ava said you'd pretend it doesn’t hurt. If it does, just say so. I promise I won’t laugh—I’ll even blow on it to make it better!"
Blaine: “…………”
He threw a glance at Selena. "Seriously, can you fire your Ava?"
Selena pulled up a chair, sat down, and rolled her eyes. "I’d kick you out of the Irwin family before I’d ever let Ava go."
Blaine feigned being hurt. "Still cracking jokes, huh? You nearly lost your life."
"Do you really want to spend your life filled with hate?"
Blaine lazily lifted his gaze, his eyes cold. "Did Alexa put you up to this?"
Selena shook her head. "No, she didn’t say a word. I just think it’s the right thing to do."
"Selena, who’s your real family here? Why are you taking her side? Don’t forget, it was the Hodge family that caused us all this grief, tore us apart, and threw us into chaos. Are you just going to brush that off?"
Selena took a deep breath. "Blaine, you’ve already gotten your revenge. The Hodge family is gone—isn’t that enough?"
She paused, locking eyes with Blaine, her words deliberate, "Unless, you still have feelings for Alexa, and that’s why you won’t divorce her!"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Mission: From Divorcee to Millionaire
Kindly update the book...