My Bestie's Dad Likes Me Wet-Chapter 87 AFTERMATH

GRANT POV

My private estate’s gates opened before we even reached them, thankfully Ivin had the foresight to have called ahead. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Good.

I didn’t have the patience for delays, not with Nova’s weight so light in my arms it terrified me. She shouldn’t be this light. She shouldn’t be this broken and even worse she hasn’t opened her eyes since we entered the car.

If there was a way I could kill that bastard and rekill him I wouldn’t hesitate but that is what Bianca is alive for, to continue where I stopped on that Bastard. I would take my time with the bitch and I would do that even before Vitellio had a chance.

Dr. Xin was waiting at the entrance with a full medical team, her face professionally neutral but I caught the flicker of concern when she saw Nova’s condition. The bruises, the dried blood. The way Nova’s breathing was too shallow, too uneven.

"Upstairs. The east wing suite," I ordered, already moving past them. "I want a full examination, IV fluids, pain management and every fucking thing!."

"Mr. Calloway, it would be better if we—"

"I’m not leaving her." My voice came out harsher than intended, but I didn’t apologize. I’d left her once, I’ve trusted the wrong people, ignored her warnings, let my pride and my hatred for Luca blind me to the real threat. I wasn’t making that mistake again.

Dr. Xin nodded, understanding, and followed me up the stairs.

The east wing suite was the farthest from my usual quarters, the most private part of the estate. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the gardens, a California king bed that suddenly looked too big, too empty. I laid Nova down as gently as I could, but she still whimpered, her fingers clutching at my shirt.

"Don’t," she whispered, her eyes barely open. "Don’t leave."

"Never." I pressed my lips to her forehead, tasting salt and blood and fear. "I’m right here, baby. I’m not going anywhere."

Dr. Xin moved in with her nurses, they were efficient and quick. I stepped back just enough to let them work, but I kept my hand wrapped around Nova’s, my thumb stroking circles against her pulse point. Still there, still beating and thankfully still alive.

Still mine.

The nurse started an IV while Dr. Xin examined Nova’s injuries, her face growing grimmer with each discovery from the rope burns around her wrists and ankles to the bruises mottling her ribs. The cut on her temple that looked infected. The way she flinched every time someone touched her.

"She’s severely dehydrated and malnourished," Dr. Xin said quietly, glancing at me. "Multiple contusions, possible cracked ribs, signs of sustained physical trauma. The infection in her head wound needs immediate antibiotics. She’s going to need round-the-clock care for at least a week."

A week. She’d been gone for over a week and every single day of it was written on her body like a fucking ledger of my failures.

"Whatever she needs," I said, my voice rough. "Cost doesn’t matter. Bring in specialists if you have to. Just make her better."

Dr. Xin nodded and started issuing orders to her nurse. I watched them work, then back to being fixated on Nova’s face. She looked so pale, so small against the white pillows. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

We’d just gotten back together. We were supposed to be happy, supposed to be figuring out this fucked up thing between us without the weight of my baggage and her trauma crushing us both.

Instead, I’d let her get taken. Let her suffer. Let her hang on chains in some godforsaken warehouse while I’d been drowning in cheap vodka and self-pity.

The thought made bile rise in my throat.

"I need to clean the wounds," Dr. Xin said gently. "This might hurt her."

"Do it." I tightened my grip on Nova’s hand. I wasn’t financing her research for the next five years just for her to sugarcoat words for me "I’ve got her."

The first touch of antiseptic made Nova cry out, her whole body going rigid. I felt it in every part of my soul, every whimper, every gasp, every time she tried to pull away from the pain. I kept murmuring to her, stupid shit that probably didn’t make sense, but I needed her to know I was there.

"You’re doing so good, baby. Almost done. I’ve got you. You’re safe now."

Safe.

What a fucking joke. She’d never been safe with me. Not really. Not when my enemies could use her to get to me. Not when my own stubborn pride had made me ignore the warning signs. Not when I’d been so fucking sure it was Luca, so ready to believe the worst, that I’d missed the real threat.

Bianca.

The name sat in my gut like poison. I’d deal with that bitch later. Right now, all that mattered was Nova.

Dr. Xin finished cleaning the wounds and started bandaging them. The nurse adjusted the IV, added something to the line that made Nova’s breathing even out, her grip on my hand loosening as the pain meds kicked in.

"She needs rest," Dr. Xin said, packing up her supplies. "The medication should help her sleep through the night. Call me immediately if there are any changes like fever, difficulty breathing, anything."

"I will." I didn’t look away from my nymph. "Thank you."

They left quietly, and suddenly it was just me and Nova and the realization that I’ve almost lost every fucking thing I hold dear.

I sank into the chair beside the bed, still holding her hand, and let myself feel it. All of it. The terror when I realized she was really gone. The desperation when every lead went nowhere. The rage when I thought Luca had taken her. The self-loathing when I realized I’d wasted precious time on the wrong enemy.

The absolute gut-wrenching horror when we’d finally tracked her phone to that warehouse and I’d seen her hanging there, broken and bloody and so fucking small.

I’d thought she was dead. For one terrible moment when we’d burst through those doors and I’d seen her body suspended by those chains, I’d thought we were too late. That I’d lost her forever.

But then she’d moved. Lifted her head. Looked at me with those eyes that had seen too much pain, and I’d known I’d burn the whole fucking world down before I let anyone hurt her again.

Working with Luca had been a ’swallow your pride’ moment for me, even when he had taunted me on purpose. The man I’d hated for years, the man I’d blamed for everything wrong in my life, standing beside me with the same desperation in his eyes because his woman was in that warehouse too.

We’d moved like a single unit with the shared understanding that we’d both kill and die to get our girls back. Me more than him of course!

Strange how crisis could make allies out of enemies. Stranger still how it couldn’t protect the people we loved from the enemies we didn’t see coming.

Nova stirred, a small sound escaping her lips. I leaned forward, brushing her hair back from her face with my free hand. She’d always had beautiful hair, soft, natural, the kind of hair I had run my fingers through for hours. Now it was matted with blood and dirt and I wanted to weep.

"Grant?" Her voice was barely audible, slurred from the medication.

"I’m here, baby. Right here."

"Did you really work with Luca?" A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "Hell must’ve frozen over."

Despite everything, I huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, well. Turns out we both have shit taste in enemies and good taste in women."

"Mmm." Her eyes drifted closed again. "Told you it wasn’t him."

"I know. You were right. You’re always right and I’m a stubborn asshole who doesn’t listen." I brought her hand to my lips, pressing a kiss to her scraped knuckles. "I’m sorry, Nova. I’m so fucking sorry. I should have believed you. I should have protected you. I should have—"

"Stop." She opened her eyes, just a sliver, but enough for me to see the forgiveness already there. "You came for me. That’s all that matters."

But it wasn’t. It mattered that I’d failed her. It mattered that she’d suffered because of my blindness. It mattered that I’d almost lost the one good thing in my miserable existence because I was too damaged to see past my own demons.

"Sleep," I whispered, because I couldn’t say any of that without breaking down completely. "I’ll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Her breathing evened out and slowly it deepened. The medication pulled her under into what I hoped were dreamless dreams. I stayed in that chair, my hand wrapped around hers, and watched her sleep.

Dawn was breaking through the windows when Ivin knocked softly on the door. I didn’t turn around.

"Boss. Luca’s on the line. He wants to coordinate on the Bianca situation."

Bianca. The puppet master. The one who’d orchestrated all of this, who’d played us both, who’d hurt Nova and Giulia just to watch me and Luca destroy each other.

"Tell him I’ll call him back in an hour," I said quietly. "And Ivin? Start gathering everything we have on Bianca. Every connection, every secret, every weakness. That bitch is going to wish she’d never been born."

"Already on it, boss."

The door closed. I looked down at Nova, still sleeping, still breathing, still here.

I’d failed to protect her once. It wouldn’t happen again. Bianca would pay for every bruise, every cut, every moment of fear Nova had endured. I’d make sure of it.

But first, I needed to make sure Nova healed. Everything else could wait.

She was all that mattered now.