Blood Between Us

CHAPTER 23 – Somewhere She Can Breathe

Leo’s POV

I stood by her bedside, the flower still in my pocket, my hand clenched around it like it had answers. But it didn’t. It only reminded me of how close she got again.

Again.

Too close.

The doctors were whispering now. Talking about trauma. About sedation. About keeping her “secure.”

But Olivia didn’t need to be sedated.

She needed to be safe.

And this hospital couldn’t offer that anymore.

She hadn’t said it, but her eyes had.

She didn’t feel safe here.

She didn’t feel safe with me.

But if I didn’t act now, I might lose them both.

---

Olivia’s POV

They tried to calm me down again.

Tried to say she wasn’t really there.

That trauma makes the mind create things.

But trauma didn’t put a flower under my blanket.

Trauma didn’t write lipstick on the wall.

Trauma didn’t whisper in my ear.

She was here.

And she would come again.

I knew it in my bones.

So when Leo came in and said, “I’m taking you out of here,” I didn’t argue.

I just looked at him.

And for the first time in days, I saw something in his eyes I hadn’t seen before.

Fear.

But not fear of what she might do.

Fear of what she’d already done.

He helped me pack. Quietly.

A nurse — one I trusted — slipped a note into Leo’s hand.

A contact. A private nurse with trauma training. Someone who specialized in helping people survive what the mind couldn’t process.

Leo nodded.

And by nightfall, I was in a car with tinted windows, blankets around me, and my hand glued to my stomach.

They didn’t tell anyone.

No press.

No records.

It was like I had vanished.

And honestly?

That felt like the only way to stay alive.

---

The house was in the hills.

Far from the city. Gated. Silent.

I didn’t ask who owned it.

Leo said it belonged to a client who owed him more than money.

The place smelled like cedar and stillness.

I walked slowly through the rooms, flinching at my reflection. Avoiding shadows. Keeping my back to walls.

But the windows looked out into green.

And for the first time in weeks…

There was no sirens. No beeping. No screaming.

Just the sound of wind.

I didn’t trust Leo. Not fully.

But he gave me space.

And when the new nurse arrived, she didn’t ask questions.

She just held my hand and whispered, “You made it out. That means you’re stronger than her.”

I cried then.

Not from fear.

From exhaustion.

---

Leo’s POV

It had been four days since I brought her here.

She didn’t speak much.

Didn’t eat much.

Slept only when they gave her something.

But she was safe.

And that was the first step.

I met with the trauma nurse privately.

“We can’t force recovery,” she said. “But there are ways to ease it. Specialized therapy. Memory fogging. We can dull the edges of what she remembers.”

I hesitated.

“Would she lose everything?”

“No,” the nurse said. “Just… the sharpest parts. The parts that stop her from breathing.”

I nodded.

“Do it. But only if she agrees.”

Because Olivia wasn’t a broken doll.

She was a survivor.

And even if she never trusted me again — I’d protect her with everything I had.

---

Dahlia’s POV

He moved her.

Smart.

But not smart enough.

I’ve followed men like him before.

They all think they can buy safety with gates and silence.

But protection is just a pretty word for delay.

And soon…

She’ll remember what it feels like to lose everything.

All over again.