A Billion Reasons To Hate You

Chapter Twenty: Thirty-Six Hours.

The hospital was only a few minutes away, and by the time they reached Maud’s room, she was already stabilised, asleep under a tangle of wires and quiet beeping machines. A doctor started explaining the potential seriousness of the stroke to Renee, but her brain shut down the moment she saw her mother’s fragile body in the bed. She didn’t hear a word after that. She just stared at him, checked out, feeling numb and sick to her stomach.

When the doctor finished, Renee moved to sit by her mother’s side. Her father stayed outside the room, watching through the window, giving her space but not leaving her alone.

Renee took her mother’s hand gently and held it between both of hers.

“Mom,” she whispered with a shaky voice, “I love you so much. It’s not fair that you’re the one suffering. One day I’ll make this all better… I promise. But right now I need you to keep fighting. Please. Stay with me. You can’t leave me. You’re all I have left.”

Adrian overheard every word Renee said. He slipped down the corridor to give her more space and to spare himself from hearing anything else that might hurt. Her words stung more than he wanted to admit, but she was right. She couldn’t depend on him — and he had no right to expect her to.

He didn’t blame her.

He only blamed himself.

He’d been the worst kind of father — the kind who disappeared when he was needed most. The kind whose absence wasn’t an accident but a consequence. A punishment. Something born from the shitty choices he’d made when she was too young to understand the damage they would cause later on.

Now all he could do was face the truth he’d spent years avoiding: he had no right to expect anything from her.

Not when he was the reason she learned to rely on no one but herself.

She rubbed her mother’s hand with her thumb gently and began humming the song she used to play for her as a kid. It steadied her, but just barely.

Thirty minutes later, Adrian stepped inside quietly.

“Sweetheart,” he said softly, “We’ve got to get you to the hotel. I need you safe so I can deal with making sure Claudia is protected.”

Renee didn’t fight it; she kissed her mother’s forehead, whispered one more “I love you,” then turned to the nurses and said, “If she dies, I swear to God I’ll make every single one of you pay for it.”

She walked out with her father, looking back at her mother a final time before she lost sight of her, turning the corner. They walked back to the car, Renee getting into the back seat again. They drove for five minutes to the hotel Adrian had picked out earlier, and he got Renee checked in as fast as he could, seeing the exhaustion and sadness in her eyes.

He grabbed some cold water from the reception store and led Renee to the elevator. As they entered the room, Renee dragged herself straight to the bed. She didn’t take her clothes off and curled into a fetal position, staring at the wall facing away from Adrian.

Adrian's heart broke at the sight of Renee in this state. He felt completely helpless; he was way out of his depth with this. Creating cocaine, marketing it, and money laundering were what he excelled at… being a good father and knowing how to console his daughter? Not so much.

He placed a credit card on the TV cabinet and said, “Use this for anything. It’s basically endless, whatever you need, it’s on me.”

She didn’t respond, she didn’t have the energy to argue, run away or think right now. Adrian walked out and shut the door too, and Renee just closed her eyes; the exhaustion dragging her under instantly.

She woke up — what she guessed was an hour or so later — to the sound of someone coughing outside her balcony door. It stood wide open, letting in a cool breeze that felt refreshing against Renee’s sweaty, clammy skin.

Renee pushed herself upright, her head pounding like she’d gone ten rounds with an MMA fighter. Her throat felt dry and sore. She tried to clear it, grabbed the 500ml bottle of water beside her, and drained it in seconds. She swung her legs out of bed, unsteady, and stumbled toward the balcony, pushing the curtain aside.

Adrian was sitting outside, smoking and staring out over the open view of Westbury, the city lights clashing against the dark sky.

“You really missed everything, sleepyhead,” he said with a weak smile.

Renee frowned, rubbing her eyes. “What? What did I miss? How long was I out for?”

He exhaled smoke and said, “Nearly thirty-seven hours. You kept getting up to use the bathroom. You looked like a zombie, then you’d crawl back into bed without so much as a hello. I could tell you needed the rest, so I left you to it.”

Panic shot through her instantly.

“But Claudia?” she blurted. “My mom? Ricardo? Dad, what the f**k?”

Adrian rose to his feet and stepped back inside, closing the balcony door behind him. He looked far too calm and collected, as if nothing about the past few days had shaken him.

Renee couldn’t make sense of any of it, least of all him. The uncertainty swirled uncomfortably inside her, sending her anxiety spiking all over again.

“It’s all sorted,” he said calmly. “I fixed it. Just like I told you I would.”

Renee blinked at him, confused, furious and terrified. “What the actual f**k do you mean you fixed it? How can you possibly fix any of this?”

He sighed softly, like what he was about to say shouldn’t be a big deal.

“Well, I didn’t really need to fix anything with your mom,” he said. “The doctors were so sure there’d be brain damage from how bad the stroke was… but it turns out she’s going to be fine. No permanent damage, nothing. They’re keeping her in for a few days. She’s going to be okay.”

Renee’s stomach sank. She was relieved; of course, she was, but it still didn’t feel real. She could still see her mother lying in that hospital bed, fragile and pale, looking like her heart could stop at any second. She could still hear the doctor saying the words vegetative state.

How was she supposed to believe everything would be okay?

“But how? I don’t understand,” she pressed.

“Renee, she’ll be okay. I promise.”

Renee huffed. She didn’t need the details: all she needed to hear was that her mom would be okay, and that was enough for now.

“And what about Claudia? Is she safe? Did you find her in time?”

Adrian’s expression shifted. The calm slipped, replaced by uneasy worry. He didn’t know the ins and outs of why Renee had given Claudia up, so he wasn’t sure if what he was about to say would break her… or save her.

“Renee…”