The ride back was much more exhausting than before .
I could barely keep my eyes open as my brother curled up against me and snored peacefully . I was surprised since I thought that he would hold me accountable for the bike .
Liam sat beside the driver talking on his phone . I could not really keep up with what he was saying anymore.
I was grateful to him for not asking any questions, though I bet he already knew about the identity of heir of Dane family by now.
" He can spend the night at our house ," Liam offered ," I will send him with the driver . He can rest better there than the hospital."
What about you ?
Where were you going to rest after going through so much ?
I took in a shaky breath , he deserved some answers from me ," Jasper , he is not a bad kid . He is just a bit unruly . I think that he was having a hard time abroad , that's why he came back suddenly like this ."
Liam was quiet for a second and then said ," Must have been lonely there all by himself ."
" Yes ," I noded ," He never complained about anything. But I knew how suffocated he felt inside the family and I did not want him to go back . I -I thought that as long as father did not find him , he will be fine ."
" Julia ," Liam turned his head at me ," You do not have to do this now , we can talk when you are feeling better ."
I could not meet his eyes . I could not dare to see what feelings were painted on his face - pity ? Annoyance? Shock ?
" No , you have to listen, I -," I shook my head . I could not stop myself. As if for all the time I had not talked , the words, now were pouring out for them ," He , my brother hates our family cause he is treated like an animal by my father . He was pushed down the stairs for so many times that he had to quit playing basketball, the only thing he loved at that time . While father was tightening the leash around his neck , I was the one allowed to play around . While father was slowly killing my brother , I never helped . And that thought ate me each time . I have been - I have been enduring staying at home with father for just these few days , but Jasper did it for fifteen years. For fifteen years , he lived like a slave , worse worse than any criminal on earth . I was scared that he is going to get killed . That this time , if he gets hit somewhere dangerous, he will die or become like mother ."
" Stop the car ," Liam hissed ," Stop the car and get out ."
I flinched at the sharpness of his tone .
Our driver stuttered ," But sir , it's in the middle of highway - I, I understand."
The car screeched to a stop .
I shrieked into a small ball as the driver walked out . I could not look up as the door beside me open .
I was embarrassed.
I felt like a dirty rag . I did not want him to see me like this .
" Julia ," his scent of mint reached me before his hands . The cool tips of his fingers brushed on my skin felt like the medicines itself . He was the medicine I needed more than any hospital or doctor .
" Won't you look at me , please ?," he sounded heartbroken.
" I am ashamed ," I admitted," I never wanted to bother you so much."
" You never have bothered me at all ."
" You are lying ."
" Julia , my heart ," he spoke like he was speaking to a child ," I am so sorry that you went through that ."
But I did not want him to be sorry . I did not want him to be upset .
" Why , why are you the one apologising?"
" Cause I let you go ," he took in a shaky breath ," Cause I was too late when I found you at last."
" I wanted -," I could not finish my sentence, the misery washed down my neck as a storm of sob took hold of me , it took me a minute to sound coherent again ," I missed you so so much ."
" Oh ," he sounded like he was breaking apart .
I looked at him , finally. His blue eyes had turned into pool of river ," I thought that I had lost you forever ."
Apparantly the divorce papers were sent to Anderson family last month . Liam tried to contact me but every call was picked by my father who was blackmailing then for a huge some for divorce settlement or else our marriage would be revealed to the public .
This went on until the security caught my brother Jasper sneaking inside the house . He claimed that he wanted to meet Liam. At first Liam dismissed him but he revealed his identity and told him that they needed to find me soon.
When I was escaping from the hospital, Liam was already inside talking with the hospital chairman who said that they had no idea about my whereabouts. If not for the accident on the street , which started a chaos , they would not have found me again.
There were initially media outlets about my accident but soon it was covered as a false news. All fundings to Dane Family had been blocked . Now Sunshine corporation was backing out from its promise of paying for the loan that put Dane family's business to bankruptcy four years back.
I settled in our house after a week. Although there were twenty four hours two nurses present along with a on call doctor , Liam started to drop off more projects to take care of me .
Walking became my nightmare for the next month. For few days , it was as if I was starting to learn how to take steps again .It was also hard for me to take baths since I could not use bathtubs anymore, nor towels .
But nothing was as awful as talking with Dr. Ravesh , who wanted me to admit a bunch of things that made no sense at all.
For instance, he claimed none of this was my fault. He was wrong . It was careless of me how I handled everything. I should have come clean to Liam , also . I could have knelt to the chairwoman of Sunshine corporation for any other way I could manage .
I was the one who let my mother and my brother being treated like animals for years .
I knew that I was never going to be able to forgive myself for that