The Surrogate Revenge

Chapter 10

Heather’s POV

I couldn’t understand what was happening.

I blinked once at the strange man in front of me, my gaze momentarily shifting to Ryder, who stood behind him, before drifting back to him.

“I don’t?” I tilted my head slightly, letting my eyes drift over him again.

His demeanor didn’t match his words at all, and no matter how hard I looked at him, he stirred no sense of familiarity within me.

I’ve always known I was terrible with faces, but he didn’t even ring a bell in the slightest.

Not getting any luck from stressing my poor brain out, I decided to question him. “So then… uh, why did you want to see me?” I asked, uncertain of the reply I would get. “Or you’re not the one who wanted to meet me?”

The stranger didn’t answer immediately.

His gaze remained fixed on me, almost as though he was trying to convince himself I was really sitting here in front of him.

Then, after what felt like forever, he finally spoke, “I wanted to see for myself.”

A frown pulled at my lips. “What? What are you talking about? See… what?”

His expression softened ever so slightly. “That you were alive.”

The words caught me completely off guard, and I found myself blinking as if it would somehow change what he had said. “… Alive?”

He gave a single nod. “Yes.”

The room fell quiet again, and I glanced between him and Ryder, feeling more confused than ever. “…why?”

This time, something flickered across the stranger’s face.

It wasn’t hesitation. It was more like… sadness.

“A question like that deserves a much longer answer than I can give you today.”

Excuse me?

I looked him up and down again. I turned to the maid beside me, who immediately excused herself and left. I then turned to Ryan and then back to the stranger.

None of this made any sense.

“Can someone please tell me why everyone keeps speaking as though I’m supposed to understand what’s happening?”

Ryder then let out a quiet breath before stepping further into the room. “Julian here grew up with our family,” he explained gently.

I looked back at the stranger.

Julian.

So that was his name.

“He and…” Ryder paused briefly. “… Elara was very close.”

I immediately shook my head. “But I’m not Elara.”

The words left my mouth firmly.

No hesitation, no uncertainty. Just a freaking fact.

Because I wasn’t freaking Elara.

For a brief second, no one said anything. Then Julian nodded. “I know.”

My brows furrowed. “You… know?”

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but it didn’t look like a happy one.

If anything… It looked almost painful.

“Yes,” he answered quietly, “I totally agree with you. You’re… Heather. And I think everybody should also agree with that.”

Something about the way he said it made me pause.

He hadn’t argued with me or made any attempt to correct me. He didn’t even insist that I was someone else like Ryder and his brothers had.

He just… accepted it.

I searched his face again. “Then why are you looking at me like that?”

His eyes widened ever so slightly, almost as though he hadn’t realized he’d been staring.

He looked away for the first time since walking into the room. “When you’ve spent years believing someone is gone…” he began quietly, “…seeing them alive is difficult to put into words.”

My lips parted.

Years?

When he had said he thought I was gone, I just assumed he meant when I got hit by the car that freaking paralyzed me.

How he knew me, I still had no idea, but at least that’s what I thought. But now, years? Really?

I looked between him and Ryder again.

Nah. None of this made any sense.

I drew a slow breath before meeting Ryder’s eyes. “I think…” I said quietly. “I deserve to know who Elara Williams is.”

The room fell into an awkward silence, and it was almost like both the men standing in front of me were waiting for the other to say something first.

Or for me to say something first.

I shifted uncomfortably beneath the blanket.

Yeah… maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. I suppose they weren’t ready to answer.

But they were the ones telling me about Elara, so surely they had prepared to tell me something about her. Or perhaps they didn’t know where to begin?

The silence stretched on until Julian finally broke it. “How are you feeling?”

The suddenness and randomness of his question caught me off guard, or rather, completely threw me off.

I looked back at him, surprised. I even wanted to call out his obvious change of topic, but instead I found myself hesitating.

“I…” I paused, then decided against it for some reason, settling for a safe answer. “… Better.”

He regarded me quietly with no change in his expression, yet somehow I got the feeling he knew I wasn’t being entirely truthful.

His gaze drifted lower to the blanket covering my legs. “And your legs?”

The question made my stomach twist; almost instinctively, I looked down as well.

I then found myself wishing that if I stared hard enough, something would happen.

That I’ll suddenly be able to wiggle a toe, or maybe move my foot.

Anything at all.

But no, nothing happened. Nothing moved.

“They…” My throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “… They still won’t move.” The words came out much quieter than I’d intended.

Julian didn’t respond immediately. And when I finally looked back up, I noticed the subtle tightening of his jaw. But it disappeared just as quickly as it had come.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, his words carrying far more sincerity than the countless reassurances I’d heard throughout the day. Or the ones I’d given myself.

Before I could think of a response to that, Ryder spoke. “We’ve run several neurological examinations already.”

I turned toward him. “The injury appears to be temporary, so there’s really nothing to be worried about.” He spoke with the calm confidence of someone who had delivered much more difficult news before.

“Your body’s been through an incredible amount of trauma in a very short period of time. The accident… combined with the stress your body has already endured…” He paused, choosing his next words carefully. “Recovery won’t happen overnight.”

“But of course we'll be optimistic. All you need is just rest, physiotherapy, and time.”

Time.

The words echoed in my mind.

He said it like it was something easy to wait for. Like I wasn’t going to be stuck on this bed, or probably in a wheelchair, till that ‘time’ passed by.

I lowered my eyes to my lap, and without realizing it, my fingers had tightened around the blanket yet again.

The room fell quiet again. This time, however, the silence wasn’t uncomfortable.

It was simply… still.

Julian watched me for another moment before taking a small step backward.

“I think…” he began quietly. “I’ve probably overwhelmed you enough for one day.”

I looked up, catching the faintest hint of an apologetic smile on his face. He then inclined his head politely, “It was good to meet you… Heather.” He added after hesitating for a second, and something inside me stilled.

Out of everyone I’d met since waking up in this mansion, he was the first person who hadn’t tried to correct my name or insisted I was someone else.

As I said before, he had simply just… accepted it.

“I hope,” he continued gently, “that the next time we meet, you’ll be feeling a lot better.”

Before I could respond, he turned toward Ryder. “I’ll leave you two to talk.”

Ryder nodded in understanding, while Julian looked back, sparing me one final glance. Then he turned and walked toward the door, and a second later, it clicked shut behind him.