The Only Family I Ever Had Chapter 11

The Only Family I Ever Had Chapter 11

Glass shattered.

The attackers dragged open the damaged car and struck Sebastian again and again.

Only when police sirens sounded in the distance did they run.

Ryan regained consciousness first.

He looked over and saw Sebastian covered in blood.

“Mr. Whitmore. Wake up.”

Ryan was pinned behind the crushed steering column and couldn’t move.

Sebastian surfaced through the pain.

Every breath hurt.

“How long…”

His voice was barely audible.

“How long has it been?”

“Almost four hours.”

“Four hours…”

Sebastian coughed blood.

Then he forced himself through the shattered window.

He stumbled toward the road and tried to flag down a passing car.

“Hospital…”

Blood blurred his vision.

“Dr. Williams…”

His legs nearly gave out.

“Claire… wait for me.”

His voice faded.

“Don’t be scared.”

By the time Sebastian reached the medical center, covered in blood and barely able to stand, my procedure was already over.

He saw the darkened treatment room and panicked.

He grabbed anyone in scrubs who came near him.

“Where’s Claire?”

His voice cracked.

“Where is she?”

Someone caught him before he fell.

Sebastian looked up.

His vision was so blurred he could only make out a silhouette.

“Claire…”

He struggled to breathe.

“Is she okay?”

It was Evan.

“The procedure went well. She’s still unconscious, but she’s stable and under observation.”

Evan took one look at Sebastian’s injuries and immediately called for medical staff.

The moment Sebastian heard the words went well, the last of his strength gave out.

Everything went black.

When I woke, it was late at night.

Dr. Williams told me the treatment had achieved the response they had hoped for in the brain

metastases.

The lesions had been brought under better control, but the primary cancer in my lungs would still

require ongoing treatment.

There was another problem.

The neurological damage already caused by the brain metastases might not be fully reversible.

Some memories could return.

Others might never come back.

I looked around the room.

Then I turned to Evan.

“Where’s Sebastian?”

Evan was quiet for a moment.

“Something urgent came up in New York. He had to go back.”

I nodded.

I didn’t think much of it.

As my condition gradually stabilized, I remained in Switzerland for continued treatment and

follow-up care.

Time passed.

Evan stayed beside me through appointments, recovery, bad days, and better ones.

Somewhere along the way, we fell in love.

By the following fall, my disease was stable enough that we finally began planning a future instead of counting down from one treatment to the next.

We decided to get married.

I called Sebastian.

“I’m getting married on October fifteenth.”

I smiled into the phone.

“Can you come?”

There was a long silence.

When he finally answered, his voice sounded strained.

“I’m sorry, Claire.”

He paused.

“I can’t get away.”

“Okay.”

I tried not to sound disappointed.

“Take care of yourself.”

After the call ended, Sebastian sat in front of a mirror.

One side of his face was covered in scars.

His legs no longer supported him.

He needed a wheelchair.

He closed his eyes.

Vanessa Hale had been behind the attack.

She had eventually been arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced.

But Sebastian had paid an enormous price.

Sometimes, he wondered if this was the price of the bargain he’d made in that chapel.

If it was, he would have paid it again.

As long as she was alive.

As long as she was happy.

He had no regrets.

But the emptiness inside him never went away.

The girl he’d spent his life trying to protect was about to become someone else’s bride.

October fifteenth.

My wedding day.

Sebastian’s phone chimed.

A photo appeared on the screen.

It was a wedding portrait of Evan and me.

I wore a white gown.

I was smiling.

Truly smiling.

Sebastian stared at the photograph until his eyes turned red.

He touched two fingers to the screen and traced the curve of my smile.

A broken smile tugged at his mouth.

“Claire.”

His voice was almost a whisper.

“I told you I’d always make sure you were happy.”

He looked at the picture for a long time.

“Congratulations, sweetheart.”

For all the years that followed, Sebastian lived with the loneliness he had chosen.

The End.