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When Drake sleepily reached his arm out next to him he felt cold sheets where he was expecting the warmth of Riley to still be. He rose up in a panic, quickly looking around the room before seeing the closet door cracked open. He walked over and opened it further to see her getting dressed.
“Going to see Hana?” He leaned against the door frame.
“Yeah. I feel bad that I haven’t reached out to her yet. My best friend is laying in a hospital bed and I’m off giving press conferences under the ruse that everything is fine,” she said as she pulled a white t-shirt over her head.
“Well they’re fine for now. You should definitely go see her, though. She’ll be happy to see you.”
“I know,” her arms fell to her sides, “I just don’t know if I’m ready to see her like that. Or Max for that matter.”
“You plugged my bullet hole with your finger. You gettin’ soft on me?”
“No, it’s not that. I just still feel guilty.”
He considered giving her another speech about how it wasn’t her fault, but he knew it would be no use. She was going to have to see Hana and let her figure it out on her own.
“Well just go to the hospital. Maybe you’ll feel better.”
“Maybe.”
She walked into the hospital and spoke to the concierge who pointed her to Hana’s room. Riley knock on the door and Maxwell answered.
“Riley,” he reached out and wrapped her in a hug, “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too, Max. I came to see Hana.”
“She’s sleeping right now, but you can come sit down with me while we wait. It’s nice to have the company.”
“How’s Bertrand,” she asked as she sat next to him on a vinyl covered couch in the corned of the room.
“He’s fine. I talked him into coming in to get checked out and he left this morning with pretty much just a bandage. Something about needing to get house Beaumont in order and a visitor.”
“One Miss Savannah Walker?”
“That’d be the one,” Maxwell chuckled.
“So how’s Hana doing?”
Maxwell looked over at Hana in her bed, the monitors faintly beeping as he stared intensely at her.
“She’s been touch and go. They just took her off the ventilator just before you got here. She flatlined two more times before they got a blood transfusion in her. She lost a lot of blood. She was shot in the stomach. Barely missed her liver and her spine. They honestly couldn’t believe she was still alive when she got here. I couldn’t either.”
“That was amazing what you did for her, Max. You saved her life.”
“I did what I thought was right. I couldn’t give up on her. Not when I’m finally…” He stopped and looked at Hana again.
“Happy.”
“Yeah. For the first time in my life I truly feel like I have a purpose.”
“Have you told her yet?”
“Told her what?” Maxwell’s brow knitted.
“That you love her.”
“I… no? I don’t…. Do I?”
“I don’t know,” she let out a small laugh, “do you?”
“I’ve never been in love before. I have no idea.”
“Well let me ask you this: how did you feel when they said she was dead?”
“Aside from feeling like I was going to throw up? Devastated. Like my life was over before it even started. And I’ve lived a lot of life, Blossom. I felt like ‘what’s the point? Where do I go from here?’”
“Than I’d say you probably love her, Max.”
“Maybe I do,” his lips curved into a faint smile as he stared down at his hands.
Out of the corner of her eye Riley saw Hana move her head back and forth. She opened her eyes and Riley jumped up and ran to her side.
“Oh, Hana. I’ve never been more happy to see you awake,” Riley smiled and brushed Hana’s hair back from her face.
“What happened,” Hana asked.
“You were shot in the stomach. Assassination attempt,” Maxwell said as he walked over and stood behind Riley.
“Oh,” Hana squinted, “it definitely feels like I got shot in the stomach. Am I okay?”
“Yeah, they think you’ll be alright. They said they missed all your organs. Mostly just muscle damage. It’ll probably be a while before you’ll be able to walk but once you’re healed you should be good as new.” He gave Hana a reassuring smile and held her hand in his.
“Was anyone else hurt?”
“A few nobles. Bertrand was grazed. Rashad and Neville didn’t make it.”
“They died?”
“Yeah. And you did too, for a second.”
“What?” Hana tried to sit up but was quickly pushed back down by the pain in her abdomen.
“You were dead not long after you got shot. Maxwell gave you CPR and got your heart beating again.” Tears began to fill Riley’s eyes as she watched Hana stare bewildered at Maxwell.
“Really?”
“Well, yeah. Couldn’t have my girl dying on me now. I need to prove to Bertrand I don’t break everything I touch.”
Hana let out a small giggle.
“Thank you for saving me.”
Maxwell walked around to the other side of the bed, bent down, and gave her a kiss.
“I’m glad I get to do that while you’re awake. It’s a lot less creepy.”
“Me too.” Hana smiled.
“I just came to see how you were doing. I should probably head back to Valtoria and make sure everything is wrapped up on the investigation.”
“Have you guys heard anything?” Maxwell looked up at Riley. “I haven’t had any service here.”
“It’s a long story, but one of the assassins was Justin.”
“Justin? As in our Justin?”
“Yeah. Well, Anton Severus is his real name. Apparently he’d been trained by the Nevrakis family to overthrow the crown. We were all collateral damage.”
“Oh my god. This is all my fault.” Max shook his head.
“No, it’s not. He would have found a way in no matter what, even if you hadn’t hired him as my press secretary. Liam is looking into everything now. As far as I know, it’s all being handled. You just focus on Hana and you,” she turned to Hana, “focus on getting better. I need my maid of honor in a few weeks.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”