Chapter 19- Anna's Despair

The shrill sound of Anna's phone pierced through the silence. She grabbed it hastily, her heart leaping in her chest when she saw Emily’s name flashing on the screen. A pit formed in her stomach, the kind of dread that wrapped icy fingers around her heart.

“Emily?” Anna answered, her voice already trembling.

Emily’s sobs came through the line, raw and unfiltered. “Anna, I don’t—” She gasped for air, her voice breaking. “I don’t know what’s happening! Lilly—she—she just stopped breathing!”

The phone nearly slipped from Anna’s hands. “What?!” she screamed, her pulse skyrocketing. “What do you mean she stopped breathing? Is she okay? Where are the doctors?”

“They’re rushing in and out of her room,” Emily cried. “I—oh God, Anna, she looks so pale. They’re saying something about her lungs—”

Anna bolted upright. “I’m coming!” she said, her voice resolute. She ended the call before Emily could say anything else and raced to the door, her mind singularly focused on getting to her sister. God please, no.

Lilly was all she had left, please let nothing happen to her.

The moment she flung the door open, two towering men in suits blocked her path. They stood like statues, their expressions blank but unyielding.

“Move,” Anna ordered, her voice trembling with urgency.

“Mister Blackwell instructed us not to let you leave, ma’am,” one of them said, his tone devoid of emotion.

“I don’t care what he said!” Anna snapped, trying to push past them, but they didn’t budge. “My sister needs me! She’s in the hospital—she could be dying!” But she hoped not, because she didn't know what she would do if anything happened to Lilly. She didn't think she would have a reason to live anymore.

The men exchanged a brief glance but held their ground. “We’re sorry, ma’am, but we have our orders.”

Anna’s fury erupted. “Orders?” she spat, her voice rising. “You think I care about his orders right now? My sister is all I have! Let me go!”

When her shoving proved futile, she stepped back, her breaths coming in short, angry bursts. “If you don’t move, I swear I’ll—”

“What exactly do you plan to do, Anna?”

Jaden’s cold, commanding voice sliced through the air like a blade. Anna whipped around to see him standing at the end of the hallway, his suit impeccable as ever. He walked toward her with the measured grace of a predator, his dark eyes unreadable.

“Tell them to let me go,” Anna demanded, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and defiance. “Lilly’s in the hospital—something’s wrong with her, and I need to be there!”

Jaden stopped a few feet away, his gaze boring into hers. “No.”

The word was like a slap to her face. Anna stared at him, disbelief and rage surging through her. “No?” she repeated, her voice cracking. “What do you mean, no? She’s my sister, Jaden! She could be—”

“She’s fine,” he interrupted, his tone as cold as steel. “Emily is with her. My men are watching her room. There’s nothing you can do for her right now.”

Anna felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. “How can you say that?” she whispered, her voice breaking. “She’s my sister, Jaden. She needs me.”

“What she needs is competent medical care, which she’s getting,” Jaden replied, his expression unflinching. “Your presence there won’t change anything.”

Tears streamed down Anna’s face as her fury reached its breaking point. She stepped closer to Jaden, her hands balled into fists. “You’re a monster,” she hissed. “How can you stand there and act like this doesn’t matter? Like she doesn’t matter?”

Jaden’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. His silence only fueled Anna’s anger. Without thinking, she raised her hand and struck him across the chest, the force of her desperation behind the blow. “Let me go!” she screamed. “I hate you! I hate you so much!”

Jaden caught her wrist before she could strike him again. His grip was firm but not painful, a reminder of his control. “Careful, Anna,” he warned, his voice dangerously low. “You don’t want to test me right now.”

Anna wrenched her hand free, glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster. “You’re heartless,” she spat. “You think money and power make you untouchable, but you’re just a coward hiding behind your walls.”

Jaden’s expression didn’t waver, but something dark flickered in his eyes. He adjusted his suit, the gesture calculated and precise. “Say what you want, Anna,” he said calmly. “But understand this—you will not leave this house. Not unless I say so.”

Anna opened her mouth to argue, but the weight of his authority silenced her. She knew she couldn’t win—not against him, not against the men standing guard. Her heart ached with helplessness as tears blurred her vision.

Jaden stepped closer, his presence overwhelming. “Go to your room,” he ordered, his tone leaving no room for debate. “Your sister is fine. And if she wasn’t, you’d know.”

Anna wanted to scream, to fight, but her body felt like it was shutting down under the weight of her emotions. She turned away from him, her shoulders shaking as silent sobs wracked her body.

Jaden watched her for a moment, his expression unreadable, before turning and walking away. His footsteps echoed down the hallway, each one a reminder of her powerlessness.

Alone in the hallway, Anna sank to her knees, her heart shattering under the weight of uncertainty. Was Lilly really fine? Was her sister going to be okay?

Her phone buzzed in her hand, snapping her out of her spiraling thoughts. She fumbled to unlock it, her breath hitching when she saw a new message from Emily.

‘Anna, I don’t know if she’s going to make it.’

Anna’s blood turned to ice. The phone slipped from her grasp, clattering to the floor. Her vision blurred, and the world around her seemed to tilt as the words echoed in her mind.

Lilly might not make it.