Chapter 3 Coming to Terms - part 2

"Oh, daughter... You shouldn't have left the house for this, it's all right," he began, gently stroking her red hair and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "But if it will make you feel better, I'll call the mechanic that Mr. Campbell always takes his cars to come and take a look, what do you think?"

His thick eyebrows were furrowed, and his light eyes looked at her with concern. George didn't intend to question his daughter, not because he believed in intuition, but because he knew Sel's mother's death anniversary was approaching and how sensitive his daughter became during this time.

"Okay, call him, and you'll see I'm right!" Sel agreed, sighing in relief, confident that the car's brakes were bad.

Before returning to her former life, Roman had been the one to tell her about her father's accident, and at the time she believed the brakes just failed, that it was just a mechanical mishap. But now she suspected her father's death had something to do with her own death. She didn't know what was behind it all, but now she believed nothing was by chance.

She saw her father walk away and then breathed again, feeling calm as he picked up the phone and called the mechanic. While she watched him, for a moment she detached from the world, remembering the day she learned about the accident that would have happened at that exact moment if she hadn't arrived in time:

"I'm sorry, Selena, I didn't mean to bother you," Henry said, smiling sweetly at the young woman in front of him.

Since his second son hired George as a chauffeur, Henry quickly bonded with his daughter, seeing her as a kind and loving young woman with her family, which enchanted him. So he sought to befriend her and treated her like a daughter as well.

When he learned about the accident, he decided he would be the one to tell the poor girl, who was already motherless and would now have to bear the news that her father was in a coma in the ICU. He felt a similar pain; George had been driving for Anthony that day, and according to what the company reported, Anthony never arrived at work that day, so he was also in the car at the time of the accident.

"It's okay, Mr. Campbell, did something happen?" Sel felt that something was wrong.

Mr. Campbell always visited her occasionally, but his eyes were dark, and there was something there-sadness, fear-things Sel couldn't understand.

Mr. Campbell sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. He was about 60 years old and had almost no hair, nor did he have a beard. His face was clean, with some noticeable wrinkles. Normally, Sel saw him as a kind grandfather, but she couldn't smile at that moment.

"An accident happened, Sel, your father, and Anthony were on their way to the company when they had a car accident," Mr. Campbell began, placing his right hand on the girl's shoulder. "Your father is in the ICU; the doctors induced a coma, his condition is serious... I'm so sorry, my dear."

At that moment, Selena felt the ground disappear beneath her feet; her entire world collapsed. She only had her father, and after her mother's death, since she was eight, it had been just the two of them. Her father always did everything he could to give her the best, even in the simplicity of their lives. After Anthony, Henry Campbell's grandson, hired him as a chauffeur, their lives had improved greatly, and Sel saw that her father no longer had to work so hard.

She couldn't believe that, just when things were getting better, this had happened.

What would she do now?

How would she live?

And most importantly, how would she pay her father's medical bills and give him the best possible treatment?

She had just started college that day, had no steady job, and didn't have the money to keep him hospitalized and to maintain the equipment that kept him alive! Despair began to overwhelm her more and more, and she started crying, not caring about Henry. But before she could say anything, she felt a second hand on her other shoulder, and when she looked up, she saw Roman, Henry's second grandson.

Unlike Anthony, Roman had eyes as black as night, dark hair, and fair skin. He was tall, had an elegant bearing, and his presence would make anyone's knees shake because of how imposing he was. But there, even with his eyes still a bit cold and distant, was a man showing his support.

"Don't worry, Sele," he said, calling her by a nickname no one had ever given her. "My father and I share your pain... We lost someone too. My brother hasn't been found, and we fear the worst... We'll support each other through this difficult time and help you with whatever you need."

That day, she believed she had met the best man of her life. Roman did everything, truly supported her, helped her, and was there with her and Henry, but Selena didn't know then what she knew now. At 19, she was just a girl with many dreams and a great sadness, but no longer. She might be 19 again, but she remembered well what she had gone through with the Campbells and would not fall for Roman's tricks once more, not in the way he wanted.

When her father approached again, she looked at him with a smile. Having the chance to see him standing and speaking with her again was the greatest blessing she could have; she would protect him as much as possible.

"The mechanic is coming. Let's go home, okay?" George said, looking at the motorcycle across the street and shaking his head. "You'll have to explain to him what happened."

Sel didn't say anything, just laughed and left with her father, crossing the street and getting on the motorcycle with him. Together, they stopped at her favorite café and had a good coffee because George wouldn't do anything while the car was in the shop. After that, they went back home.

When they parked in front of the Campbell mansion, George and Sel saw police cars and several reporters looking for someone to talk to. The crowd was growing more and more, and by slipping through the side gate, they reached the garden. Sel was confused; how long had it been since she left? It hadn't been more than two hours away from home. Inside the house, in the foyer, George stepped ahead and found old Henry sitting on the couch near the visitors' entrance.

Roman was beside him, comforting his father with a blank expression. She remembered everything that had happened in her life while they were married, remembered how Roman treated her, and the last night she saw him when he threw her out of the house. At that time, she didn't know, but marrying Roman was the beginning of her end.

"Mr. Henry, what happened?" Sel approached him with compassion and pity, as he was crying like a child. "What's going on?"

"They took him, Sel! They took my grandson," Henry said, his voice rough and sad. "He left the company to do something, and they took him on the way! We know because the kidnappers called the major newspapers! We don't know what they want, but Anthony is in their hands!"

Only then did Selena remember, George wasn't the only victim that day... Anthony also lost his life in that same accident. Anthony was her father's boss, a man about 28 years old, with dark skin that seemed to shine in the sun, light-brown eyes, and a muscular build that made any woman sigh, including Sel. They exchanged few words in their lives, but Anthony was always so kind that, secretly, she had a crush on him that lasted since her father introduced him as his boss.

At that moment, Sel felt a sharp pain in her head and her legs went weak. She placed her hand on her forehead and took a deep breath, then clearly remembered her death once more.

"But... I saw Anthony jump off the cliff to save me... Could it be, could he never have died in that accident? Anthony, please, be alive!"