Regret Came Too Late

Grace woke up in the middle of the night, feeling like there was a heater beside her.

She jolted upright and pressed a hand to Liam's forehead. He was burning up.

"Liam!" She called out to him, but he didn't respond. He was already delirious from the fever.

Grace quickly dialed the local rescue hotline, but the earliest they could reach her was at daybreak. She tossed more firewood into the flames and pulled Liam closer to the heat.

Even then, he resisted. He was curled into himself, mumbling nonsense. At one point, he stirred, cracked open his eyes, and slurred, "Who... who are you?"

If he wasn't sick, Grace would've given him another slap. She took a deep breath, ripped off a strip of fabric from her shirt, and packed it with snow to bring his temperature down.

His face was flushed a shade of bright red. His hands were flailing, reaching toward the fire like he was trying to grab something. Grace yanked them back and tied them down. Her voice was steady.

"I'll deal with you when we get back to Druville," she huffed.

Liam's eyes fluttered open again, looking glassy and lost. "Are you really worried about me, or are you just faking it? Do you want the Lambert family legacy that badly? Grace, I don't even know if I should still call you my sister. What are you really after?"

He sounded more broken than when Quentin died.

Grace just held him down and kept tending to him.

The rescue team arrived at 6:00 am. Liam had spent the entire night drifting in and out of consciousness, rambling on about whether her concern was real.

off

soon as they landed in Druville, Grace rushed him to the ER. The doctors were clearly rattled and said his mental state was unstable. The fever would likely stick around

asked with a straight face, "Doctor, he's not going to end up brain-dead

at her. "It's hard to say. He's not doing great. He needs his family to take care

family," Grace replied. "I'll stay with

that, Andrea burst through the door. God knows how

she ran to Liam's bedside, throwing

"Can you stop crying? He's burning up. He needs

"You did this, didn't you? You're trying to kill Liam so you can take over the

flew into a full-on tantrum, screaming and accusing Grace of scheming to get rid of Liam

expression darkened, and she calmly pressed the call button

won't let you get

and just sat back

hospital, she was fuming, and her scalp tingled with frustration. She

sure Grace was dead! Why the hell is she back? And now Liam's the one hurt? If he dies, I'm

rolled her eyes and

she sent never

thought made her

or I swear I'll blow the whole thing wide open. I want her gone in a

thought you were doing all this to get back at Grace. What, you sleep with Liam and now you're catching feelings? Seriously? Liam's just a dumb rich boy. You really think he holds

Her voice cracked as she snapped