He Asked How to Compensate Me While I Was Dying Chapter 02
When I woke, the sharp smell of antiseptic filled my nose.
For one hopeful second, I thought I had made it home.
Then a familiar voice sent a jolt through my chest.
To my bitter disappointment, I had survived.
“Arden, you’re finally awake. A few feet to the side and you would have missed the fire department’s rescue cushion. If you’d slept much longer, I would have gone back to officer housing and killed myself for you.”
Grant’s eyes were bloodshot, and his voice broke with every word.
He held my hand so tightly that anyone watching would have thought he had recovered his greatest treasure.
But when he lowered his head to kiss my forehead, I saw the dark marks along his neck.
His uniform also carried Mallory’s unmistakable rose perfume, details I had trained myself not to notice before.
I gagged.
Grant panicked and summoned every available physician on the base.
He hovered beside the bed, looking as if he would gladly take my pain into his own body.
After the examination, the Army physician’s face remained grim.
“Mrs. Whitaker is severely depleted, and the prolonged stress is affecting her heart. She needs careful treatment and absolutely cannot be subjected to another emotional shock.”
“The day she collapsed, I had been called to the Bennett estate. I don’t know what happened there, but she was so distressed that she developed respiratory alkalosis and began convulsing. Another ten minutes without treatment might have killed her. General, I strongly recommend that you take her mental health seriously.”
I remembered Scout’s eyes staring sightlessly at me while his blood crept through the grout and touched the soles of my shoes.
He had been my oldest friend in this world.
Mallory had poisoned the milk in his bowl and then served me a stew made from his remains.
Grant felt me shaking.
Pain crossed his face as he pulled me into his arms.
He turned a murderous stare on his security detail. “Find out what happened that day. Whoever did this will pay Arden with his life.”
The hospital-room door slammed open before the last word left his mouth.
Mallory entered in a crisp Army combat uniform, two perfect tears shining on her cheeks, every inch the innocent sweetheart of Fort Blackstone.
When she looked at me, naked malice flickered beneath the performance.
She suddenly dropped to her knees and placed a leather riding crop from the base stables on the floor.
“Grant, this is all my fault. If I had known Arden would be so upset, I would have let Scout maul me before I defended myself. Arden, hit me. You deserve that.”
Grant looked startled, but concern for her immediately softened his eyes.
My parents came in behind her. Their hands twisted their clothes as they struggled to maintain the pretense that they loved me.
Grant reached down to help Mallory up. “What are you talking about?”
Mallory stubbornly remained on her knees and lifted her tear-streaked face to him.
“If Arden can’t do it, then you should. She’ll only get sicker if she can’t release her anger. It’s just a few lashes. Hit me as hard as you need to. Even if you tear my skin open, I’ll accept it if it helps her.”
She forced the riding crop into Grant’s hand.
Her fragile expression made it appear that I was using my illness to torment her.
Even the physician looked at her with sympathy and turned an accusing stare on me.
With a few carefully chosen words, Mallory could always cast me as the monster.
Before, I would have rushed to defend myself.
Now there was no point.
While Grant hesitated, I took the crop from him.
I had not even had time to throw it away when he seized my wrist.
“Enough. Arden, stay out of this. I’ll handle Mallory and give you an explanation.”
His grip crushed my thin wrist until the skin reddened.
When I met his gaze, I saw the wary suspicion he reserved for someone dangerous.
I laughed.
The heart I thought had died somehow squeezed out one final surge of rage.
What gave Grant the right to assume I would hurt someone simply because that person was Mallory?
Pain wrenched through my chest.
I tightened my hand around the crop and swung it straight at Grant.