Jaden
1341 Words
Jaden stood outside Elena's hospital room for nearly a minute before entering.
Through the narrow window, he could see her sitting upright against several pillows.
Alive.
He had spent two days wondering if he'd ever see that again.
The last time Elena had looked at him, there had been nothing warm in her eyes.
No affection.
No patience.
No trace of the woman who had once laughed when he'd appeared at her apartment at midnight with a broken heart and a bottle of terrible tequila.
She had looked at him like she finally understood exactly what he was.
Jaden closed his eyes.
You framed me.
Her voice had been quiet.
That had been worse than screaming.
Elena.. Don't!
You don't understand.
I understand perfectly.
He'd followed her toward the door.
She'd turned.
And then she'd said the one thing he still couldn't push out of his mind.
I trusted you.
Not Nate trusted you.
Not your brother trusted you.
I trusted you.
Jaden opened the hospital door.
Elena looked up.
Her entire face changed.
“Jaden!”
He stopped breathing.
She smiled.
At him.
Actually smiled.
“Oh my God.” Her eyes filled. “Come here.”
For one terrifying second, Jaden couldn't move.
Then he crossed the room.
Elena wrapped her good arm around him.
Jaden closed his eyes.
She smelled like hospital soap.
Her body felt smaller than he remembered.
Fragile.
Alive.
His arms tightened around her.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
She laughed softly against his shoulder.
“Apparently I scared everyone.”
He pulled back.
His eyes searched hers.
There was no accusation.
No disgust.
Nothing from that office.
Nothing from the night of the crash.
She really didn't remember.
Jaden's stomach twisted.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I got hit by a truck.”
His smile almost failed.
Elena frowned.
“Bad joke?”
“No.”
He sat beside the bed.
“I heard about the memory thing.”
“Five years.”
“Yeah.”
She studied him.
“You look different too.”
“Better, I hope.”
“Debatable.”
That made him laugh.
It came out too loud.
Too relieved.
Elena smiled.
God.
He had missed that smile.
Nathaniel had destroyed it.
Jaden had watched it happen piece by piece.
The canceled dinners.
The forgotten anniversaries.
The endless nights Elena sat alone while Nate worshipped at the altar of Mercer Technologies.
And then the investigation.
Nathaniel had finally done what Jaden always suspected he would.
When forced to choose between Elena and his empire.. He chose the empire.
“You okay?” Elena asked.
Jaden realized he'd been staring.
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“You're acting weird.”
“Your car went through a guardrail.”
“Fair.”
He looked down.
“So what do you remember?”
“Apparently everything until around twenty-seven.”
His pulse jumped.
“Nothing after that?”
“Bits and pieces. Mostly nothing.”
“Do you remember…”
He stopped.
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
Jaden forced a smile.
“Do you remember that horrible green couch you made Nate buy?”
She gasped.
“That couch was beautiful.”
“It looked like a dead avocado.”
“You're dead to me.”
There she was.
The old Elena.
His Elena.
No.
Not his.
Never his.
Something bitter stirred inside him.
The door opened.
Nathaniel entered.
Jaden watched Elena's attention shift instantly.
It still hurt.
Five years gone.
A marriage shattered.
And she still looked at Nate first.
Nathaniel stopped when he saw his brother.
“What are you doing here?”
Elena frowned.
“Nate.”
“What?”
“Don't be rude.”
Jaden almost laughed.
Nathaniel's face tightened.
Even he understood the absurdity.
Elena didn't.
She was looking between them.
“What happened to you two?”
“Nothing,” Jaden said quickly.
Nathaniel's gaze sharpened.
“Nothing?”
Jaden stood.
“She doesn't need this right now.”
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“Need what?”
“Nate.” Elena's voice hardened.
Both brothers stopped.
Jaden looked at her.
She sighed.
“I've been awake for less than twenty-four hours and everyone acts like I'm standing in the middle of a minefield.”
Neither man answered.
“Did you two have a fight?”
“Yes,” Nathaniel said.
“No,” Jaden said at the same time.
Elena stared.
“Well, that's comforting.”
Jaden rubbed the back of his neck.
“Family stuff.”
Nathaniel's eyes never left him.
“Something like that.”
Jaden felt irritation flicker beneath his skin.
Nathaniel had always been suspicious.
Always watching.
Always evaluating.
But he'd never watched closely enough when it actually mattered.
If he had, none of this would have happened.
Elena looked toward Nathaniel.
“You brought it?”
Jaden glanced between them.
Nathaniel reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.
A small velvet box appeared in his hand.
Jaden knew immediately what was inside.
Elena's wedding ring.
Something ugly tightened in his chest.
Nathaniel approached the bed.
He placed the box in Elena's palm.
He didn't open it for her.
Elena did.
Her expression softened.
Jaden looked away.
The ring wasn't enormous despite the money they had now.
It was the original.
The one Nate had bought before Mercer Technologies became Mercer Technologies.
Elena touched it with her thumb.
Then frowned.
“Why wasn't I wearing it?”
Silence.
Jaden looked at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel looked back.
For once, Jaden almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Elena lifted her eyes.
“Nate?”
Nathaniel inhaled.
“Because you took it off.”
Her face paled.
“When?”
“A few months ago.”
“Why?”
Jaden knew the answer.
He had been there afterward.
He remembered Elena sitting on the floor of his guest bedroom with swollen eyes while he brought her tea she never drank.
He remembered hating Nathaniel so fiercely he could barely speak.
He remembered thinking that if Elena ever stopped loving his brother maybe she'd finally see him. Nathaniel's voice was low.
“Because you didn't want to be my wife anymore.”
Elena stared at him.
Jaden's heart beat harder.
Nathaniel had told her.
Not everything.
But enough.
Elena closed the box.
“Did I file for divorce?”
Nathaniel didn't move.
“Yes.”
Her breath caught.
Jaden stood instinctively.
“Elena!”
She lifted one hand.
“No.”
Her eyes stayed on her husband.
“Why?”
Nathaniel looked wrecked.
Good, Jaden thought.
Then immediately hated himself for it.
“You deserve that answer,” Nathaniel said.
“But not here.”
Elena gave a hollow laugh.
“Apparently I've heard that a lot lately.”
She looked at the velvet box again.
Then at Jaden.
“You knew?”
His throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“Did I talk to you about it?”
Nathaniel's attention shifted sharply to him.
Jaden forced himself not to react.
“Yes.”
Elena's eyes searched his face.
“Was I unhappy?”
Jaden thought of every opportunity he'd had to tell her the truth.
Every lie.
Every carefully planted doubt.
Every time she'd cried in front of him while he secretly despised the man whose name she still carried.
Then he looked at her now.
She trusted him again.
It felt like being handed back something he had destroyed with his own hands.
“Yes,” he said softly.
“You were.”
Nathaniel's jaw clenched.
Elena looked between them.
Then she asked the question Jaden had spent two days hoping she never would.
“Was Nate the reason?”
Jaden could have protected his brother.
He could have told her it was complicated.
He could have kept his mouth shut.
Instead, he met Elena's eyes.
“Yes.”
And across the room, Nathaniel Mercer looked at his brother as if, for the first time, he was beginning to wonder exactly whose side Jaden had been on all along!
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