The Wrong Brother's Temptation novel Chapter 51

Sienna

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The room was larger than standard hospital rooms and furnished with care. There was a proper lamp, a comfortable chair, real curtains in a soft pattern at the window, and a photograph in a frame on the table near the glass. Fresh flowers were also placed in the vase by the window.

It didn’t look like a hospital room but like a bedroom in a cozy home. My eyes took in all the details before settling on a woman with her back facing me seated on the edge of the bed,

She had a small frame and dark hair though a few silver streaks were visible as well. She was wearing a pale blue cardigan over her hospital gown, and sat completely still.

I couldn’t see her face yet but Connor set the cake box down on the table near the bed without a sound, then straightened and looked at her back and took one careful breath, and I watched him do it and felt something tighten in my chest.

“Hey,” he said, and his voice was so ordinary that it hurt.

“I thought I might be late but I made it. Got the cake from Rosa, she sends her love by the way. She put the sugar flowers on, the ones with the little purple centers.”

He moved around to the stool beside the bed and sat down like he had all the time in the world and nowhere else to be. “The pastries were a bit soggy so I left those. Just the cake today. It’s a good cake though.”

Connor might as well have been speaking to the air because the woman didn’t move or respond.

Yet Connor kept talking about the most mundane things and spent a great deal of time rambling about how his week had been, what he ate for breakfast etc and how some tiny little detail reminded him of her

“Yesterday was a bit hectic so I made the chocolate pudding you liked, it was a little runny though. Next time. I’ll get you some.”

After a few minutes of his rambling I noticed his voice growing thicker and him trying to force a lump down his throat because the woman still hadn’t given any reaction.

His gaze flicked to me once and I only looked back at him nervously as he chuckled and gently reached for the woman’s hand placed on the thin blanket. He let his hand stay on top of hers, and checked his watch, and when the minute changed he reached for the plastic knife.

“Happy birthday, Mom,” he said softly, and began lifting her hand to cut the cake.

And that is when she suddenly moved, making me gasp in surprise.

Before I knew, she had freed her hand from his hold and raised it to slap him hard.

My eyes widened in surprise as the slap cracked through the quiet room like something had exploded.

1 gasped, hand going to my mouth as her sudden move made the cake fall and splatter all over the floor

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15:15 Thu, Jul 23

Chapter 51

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Connor’s head turned to the side and the woman was on her feet, shaking with a rage that had fear running underneath it like a current.

The two things braided through each other, and it was the fear that was unbearable to look at.

“Get out.” Her voice was low and trembling. “Who are you? Get out, leave right now!”

“Mom..

That single word held so much love and pain in his voice that it almost broke me. I had been so consumed in my own world that I hadn’t really thought about who this mysterious woman could be, had not stopped to wonder if the alpha was celebrating his anniversary with Aaron’s mother, where was Connor’s?

Mom.

The word detonated something in her and instead of breaking into a loving smile, she grabbed the stool and it hit the wall with a crack that brought running footsteps from outside.

I stayed glued to the spot as she was backing toward the window with her eyes on Connor like he was here to harm her, like he was a ghost that terrified her.

“My son is dead,” she said, and her voice fractured through the middle of it, and what came out the other side was a grief so old it had calcified into fact.

“He died in the accident. They told me he did. He’s been gone for years and you are not him. Not him…”

“I am alive mom, it’s me, Connor.” He managed to keep his voice soft and steady which was a feat in itself.

His mom was shaking her head now, the dark silvery hair flying all around her face. “Go away. I don’t know who you are…

“I’m right here, Mom.”

“Stop calling me that!” She was crying now, the rage and the grief happening simultaneously, her hands shaking. “You are not Connor. My Connor is gone. He’s been gone for years..”

“No mom…” Connor began and she looked around to find something and her fingers curled around a chipped edge of a glass.

She held it in front of her and took a step toward Connor. “Stop coming here, stop tricking me…”

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