Chapter 5 5

I surfaced into consciousness to the sound of violence. Outside my hospital room door, Ethan and Liam were fighting.

"She is my sister!" Ethan's voice was raw with a pain I had never heard before. "The girl my father asked you to protect! And you nearly drowned her because you couldn't be bothered to ask a single question?"

"She can apologize to Sienna first!" Liam roared back, his voice stripped of all its charm, leaving only raw, ugly anger. "You're angry that I hurt her feelings? Have you ever once stopped to think how sick and tired I am of her pathetic, inappropriate bullshit?"

The words were a confession. His resentment wasn't new; it had been simmering under the surface for years.

A sickening thud echoed in the hallway, followed by a grunt of pain. They were physically fighting.

I scrambled out of bed, my body screaming in protest, and threw open the door. They were a tangle of limbs and fury. I threw myself between them.

"Stop!" The word was a sob, torn from the deepest part of me. "Please, just stop! Ethan, let's go inside. Please!"

The sight of my tears finally broke through Ethan's rage. He let go of Liam's shirt, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He took my hand and led me back into the room.

As the door clicked shut, Liam's voice, cold and final, cut through it.

"Don't think playing the victim changes a damn thing. This is your last warning. Stay the hell away from Sienna."

Ethan's body tensed, ready to charge back out, but I clung to him.

"Let it go," I pleaded. "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm leaving. You don't have to lose your friends over me."

He sank onto the edge of my bed, his face buried in his hands. "It's my fault, Clara. I knew he was obsessed with Sienna. I should have told you years ago. I let you waste so much of your life on a ghost."

I stroked his hair, the way he used to do for me when I was a child. "It's not your fault," I said, my voice hollow. "You can't save someone from a love they don't want to be saved from. But it's over now. I'm finally letting go."