Chapter 54
Gemma
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I’m stunned into silence. For a moment, I can’t even hear anything beyond the rushing in my ears.
Cassian did this? He had my mother taken off the list for the drug that might cure her?
I know he hates me. I know he can’t stand to be crossed.
I even know what happens to the people who’ve dared to mess with him in the past.
But I never thought that bastard would stoop so low as to take this out on my mother.
Then the rushing fades and my hearing returns. Dr. Rojas is speaking.
“…know he’s been here with you. I know he visits her. Perhaps you can speak to him and change his mind.”
I want to cry.
Talking to Cassian only ever makes things worse.
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In fact, talking to Cassian is what caused all this. Every time we talk, I feel like I’m digging myself deeper and deeper into a hole
instead of climbing out of it.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I say. I feel numb. I don’t remember the rest
of the conversation. All I know is it ends quickly after that.
My hands shake as I sit back down on the couch.
Why would Cassian do this?
He’s ruthless, yes. He’s violent. But one of the reasons I don’t fear him is because I know he never hurts anyone who doesn’t
deserve it.
The people Cassian goes after are all people who are threatening to hurt him or his family. He’s never harmed anyone innocent. Not that I know of, at least.
I’ve always respected that about him. It’s one of the things that keeps me stupidly longing for him. The belief that underneath it all, he’s secretly the protector who can save me.
But he keeps that ruthless side of his life so far away from me, I have to face the fact that maybe I don’t know him at all. Maybe Cassian would go after my mother to punish me.
Maybe he really is just the villain.
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Another question occurs to me then. If my mom isn’t getting the
medication, who is? With her out of the way, who’s at the top of
the list?
There’s no way the hospital will ever tell me. Medical records are protected for a reason. Usually, I respect that.
Not today.
I turn on my computer and my fingers fly over the keys.
Compared to banks and massive corporations, it’s slightly easier than I’m used to to break into the hospital’s database.
It takes a little digging, but soon I find what I’m looking for: the list of patients eligible for the experimental medication.
The name at the top of the list leaps out at me, and I gasp out
loud.
That name is like a nightmare reaching out of my past.
I read it over and over again, like it’s going to change.
It doesn’t.
Angela Holland.
Chapter 54
Reyna’s mother.
I scroll over on the list until I see her condition. Why on earth would she need medication like this?
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Insomnia.
Insomnia? Insomnia?! They pushed this woman to the top for a condition that could be handled by tossing back a couple of gummies of melatonin?!
Rage overtakes me. I stare at the little black marks on my screen that make up the letters of that name until my vision blurs. Then I slam my laptop shut.
I’m a hacker. I could change the list. Put my mom back on top. But people would notice. They might start asking questions.
I would absolutely expose my secret identity to the world if I thought it would save my mom, but it won’t. I’d just get arrested for messing with hospital records, and she’d be in the same position as before. Waiting.
Shoved to the side for Angela Holland, just like she had been with my dad.
Cassian pulled my mother from that list to put his mistress’s
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mother at the top.
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Once again, Reyna and her mother are showing up where they shouldn’t be, and they’re taking everything from me.
“Holy shit. Gemma?”
I look up and see Zina. She’s staring at me, and she almost looks scared. Her hair is blue now. Blue as the sky.
Even though the color is several shades lighter, it reminds me of
Cassian’s eyes.
That reminder is the last thing I want.
“What’s going on? You look like you’re about to march out of here and rip someone’s face off.”
I let out a shaking breath. I feel like I’m holding onto my anger by a thread. Like if I let it go, I’m going to break down and start sobbing and not be able to stop.
“Cassian booted my mom off that list she’s been on for that
experimental medicine. Reyna’s mom is going to get it instead. For insomnia.”
Zina’s face goes pale. “What are you going to do?”
Divorcing My Alpha King.
Chapter 55
