Beverly POV
The sight before me made the color drain instantly from my face.
My heart dropped straight into my stomach along with it, so hard it knocked the breath out of me as I gazed at the most unexpected scene before me.
Lying on the floor convulsing violently was Liam.
His small body was jerking uncontrollably, limbs thrashing the way I had only ever seen in patients having seizures.
For a moment, my mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing as if blinking hard enough would make it disappear what the hell was going on?
This was the same Liam who had been standing right in front of me just minutes ago, smiling softly, asking if he would get to see me again.
Now his face was frighteningly pale, the color almost leached out of him. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, lashes trembling against his cheeks. His teeth were clenched so hard his jaw looked locked, every muscle in his tiny body straining as violent spasm upon spasm tore through him.
Beside him, Nanny Marcy was kneeling on the floor, screaming his name over and over again while desperately fumbling with her phone. Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped it.
But Liam wasn't responding.
My heart jerked painfully at the sight almost immediately, and before I could think before fear could freeze me in place my body moved on instinct and I ran over to them.
"Oh my goodness, what's happening to him?" I asked, my voice sharp with alarm as I dropped beside them.
Up close, it was worse.
I could hear the small, broken grunts escaping Liam's throat sounds of pain that didn't belong to a child. His face was twisted unnaturally with so much pain and agony, brows drawn tight with lips trembling as if he was fighting something far bigger than himself.
The sight hit me hard, clenching my chest so tightly it hurt to breathe.
Although I had seen children in pain before. Too many of them. It should have been something I've have gotten used to by now.
But hell this Liam own felt different infact everything about him him different. I just couldn't comprehend it and It scared me how deeply it was affecting me.
"It happens to him every time," Nanny Marcy crying voice suddenly broke into my thoughts her voice shook with every words. "But today-it's worse. Much worse and I'm so confused right now. I've been trying to reach his driver so we could take him to the hospital but he's not picking up!"
Her panic was raw, unfiltered. Everything about the way she was acting showed this wasn't really something new to her but for some reasons she looked really scared out of her wits and it made me wonder how long this has been going on?
But I didn't have time to think much because when I looked back at Liam again the convulsions had intensified. His body jerked harder now faster. His breathing sounded strained, almost as if he was finding it difficult to breathe.
And I knew at that instant that waiting any longer wasn't an option.
"That's enough," I said firmly, my voice cutting through her sobs. "Let me handle this."
Before she could protest, I moved beside her and carefully lifted Liam into my arms.
She stared at me in shock, eyes wide, face drained of color. Her phone slipped slightly in her trembling hand.
"Miss Beverly--please--I mean no offense, but it's inappropriate for outsiders to-"
I didn't listen but turned and hurried toward the roadside, my arms tightening protectively around Liam as I flagged down a cab and made to climb inside.
"Take me to the nearest hospital. Now," I told the driver, already shifting Liam onto my lap.
However before I could move Nanny Marcy rushed forward again, panic etched deep into her features.
"Please, Miss Beverly, listen to me. The master won't be pleased if he hears his son was taken in public transport-"
I ignored her completely and instead focused on settling in the back seat of the car.
Who cares about family doctrine status or whatever when a child's life was slipping away?
Once I was settled in the backseat, the driver slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the car lurched forward.
"How far to the nearest hospital?" I asked, my voice trembling despite my effort to stay calm.
"About thirty minutes, ma'am," the driver replied.
Thirty minutes.
My gaze dropped back to Liam. His body was still jerking, sweat soaking through his clothes now. My heart raced painfully as I realized I couldn't just sit there and watch.
Moving quickly I pulled off his shirt, folded it, and slid it beneath his head to cushion it, carefully angling his face to the side as I rested him fully against my lap. His skin burned beneath my fingers when I checked his temperature far too hot, despite the sweat and his breathing grew rapid and shallow too.
God.
Panic clawed at my throat.
It had been more than five minutes now far longer than a normal seizure should have lasted. Normally he should have come out of it by now but he hadn't which told me everything.
This wasn't normal a seizure.
This was something else, my mind screamed.
Just what exactly was wrong with him?
"Mister, please-drive faster!" I yelled at the driver when I couldn't take it anymore I could barely recognize my own voice at that moment.
The driver glanced back briefly and as if finally registering the urgency, he pressed harder on the accelerator until the world outside blurred and it felt like we were flying.
The entire ride, my chest felt like it was being crushed from the inside. My heart pounded so loudly it drowned out everything else as I held Liam and silently begged the universe not to let anything happen to him.
I had only just met him yet losing him felt unbearable.
Maybe it was my past. Maybe it was fear masquerading as instinct I didn't know.
But I knew I wouldn't survive watching another child slip away again especially not someone like Liam I considered dear to me.
The hospital soon came into view and I jumped out of the cab almost immediately before it had fully stopped and without thinking or caring to pay the cab man his face I ran straight inside with Liam still tightly clutched against me.
The nurses around immediately swung into action on seeing me.
A stretcher was wheeled forward from only God knows where as different hands reached for him, voices overlapped and before I knew it, Liam was being taken from my arms.
"Nothing must happen to him!" I screamed, frantically and desperately after the nurses as I watched them wheel him away. "Do you hear me? Please do everything you can to save him!"
They wheeled him away, disappearing through double doors marked EMERGENCY and only when the doors slammed shut did my legs finally weaken.
"God... please," I whispered. "Nothing should happen to him." I prayed inwardly as I paced the hallway, my hands clasped together before me, my heart racing violently, my body still reeling from the shock of everything that had happened until-
"Liam!"
A voice suddenly echoed down the hallway behind me.
I froze instantly my breath catching painfully in my throat as I couldn't bring myself to believe it.
No.
That voice-
"No, no, no..." I whispered under my breath my fingers trembling.
I knew that voice. It was a voice that had haunted my nightmares for years one I had prayed fervently not to ever hear again what the hell is he doing here?
"Mr. Hawthorne, please calm down," a nurse said quickly. "Liam has been taken to the ER. He's going to be fine."
As if the voice alone didn't do it's worst the surname was mentioned further confirming my fears but just when I thought I had heard it all.
"I don't want to calm down!" the familiar snapped again. "I want to see my son. Where is he?!"
This time my entire body went stiff.
Wait son?
Someone tell me I didn't just hear that right, did I?
I turned slowly, dread crawling up my spine-
And as expected I found myself staring into the face of the very last person I ever wanted to see.
Marcus Hawthorne.
