She made her way straight to Northridge General Hospital.
Raffy was perched on the chair beside the hospital bed, swinging his legs in the air, a toy airplane clutched in his hands. Millie sat with him, gently coaxing him to play and keeping him entertained.
Alexander sat off to the side, his face an unreadable mask.
None of them seemed particularly concerned about Niki.
When Danielle arrived, Alexander's eyes immediately found her.
She caught sight of Niki lying on the bed—so small, so pale, swallowed up by the white sheets.
Danielle barely noticed anyone else. She rushed to the bedside, her heart pounding as she took in Niki's colorless face.
For a split second, the scene seemed to overlap with a memory from another lifetime—a memory she'd done everything to forget.
Panic crashed over her, draining all color from her cheeks. Her hands shook as she reached for Niki, her eyes filling with tears, her voice trembling uncontrollably. "Doctor—where's the doctor?"
Alexander's tone was flat. "The doctor said she's alright. Her fever's coming down."
"Danielle." Millie stood up and looked at Danielle's shaking figure. "You don't need to be so anxious. Niki was just startled and caught a chill. We brought her straight to the hospital as soon as it happened."
"She's been coddled too much. When we went rock climbing, she got scared and slipped, but thankfully, it wasn't serious."
Danielle's head snapped toward Millie, her eyes darkening. "You took my daughter rock climbing?"
Millie didn't seem to think she'd done anything wrong. "Why not? Your daughter should be able to try new things, not kept sheltered all the time. I've heard it's always Raffy who gets to do everything while Niki's left behind. Honestly, I feel bad for her."
Danielle's entire body trembled.
The Davidson family had always raised Niki to be the perfect little lady—polite, gentle, well-behaved. And now, suddenly, Millie had dragged her into something so reckless.
And Niki was terrified of heights.
How ironic.
Danielle shot to her feet, her hand flying up as she slapped Millie hard across the face.
Millie's head jerked to the side. The slap was even harder than last time; her ear rang and the skin on one side of her face burned and went numb.
"Danielle." Alexander's expression darkened as he pulled Millie behind him, his cold eyes fixed on Danielle. "What do you think you're doing, causing a scene in a hospital room?"
Millie pressed a hand to her swelling cheek and quickly spoke up, "It's alright, Alex. Don't be angry with Danielle. She's just worried about Niki. She didn't mean it."
A red welt was already rising on Millie's face.
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