Chapter 17: Not Done Yet
"Do you mean she just collapsed?" Rylan asked, his tone edged with confusion.
Zylan let out a sharp hiss, irritation flickering across his face. He clearly wasn’t in the mood for pointless questions. "Her friend," he said coldly. "Did you handle her?"
A flicker of something passed through Rylan’s eyes before he answered, "Yes, I did, but it wasn’t easy. She’ll still be coming tomorrow. I told her to,she’s too stubborn."
Zylan turned toward him, disbelief lacing his voice. "Are you telling me you couldn’t handle her?"
Rylan sighed in frustration, his jaw clenched. "She’s not easy," he muttered under his breath, still incredulous. This was the first time he’d encountered someone this stubborn, and he couldn’t fully understand how Rose had managed to push him so far.
"Call the doctor to take care of her."
"Okay," Rylan replied.
Without another word, Zylan turned on his heel and headed toward Naomi’s room. Once there, he carefully pulled the blanket over her to shield her from the cold. A dangerous smile played on his lips as his eyes caught sight of the small notebook resting on the bed. Picking it up, he let his fingers glide over the cover for a moment, and then, without a sound, he slipped out of the window and disappeared into the night.
Naomi stirred, feeling something strange on her hand. As her eyes fluttered open, she realized there was an IV drip attached to her arm. The events of the previous night rushed back to her—the last thing she remembered was Zylan saying something to her before everything went dark. The reason for her fainting became clear: it was a sense of fear that stemmed from her harsh childhood, where she had been constantly beaten by her parents and others. The overwhelming fear that it might happen to her again had consumed her, leading to her collapse.