She Took My Hearing, He Took Her Side Chapter 05

She Took My Hearing, He Took Her Side Chapter 05

Graham’s hand stopped halfway to the envelope.

Whatever color he had left drained from his face.

Before takeoff, my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing.

The screen lit up with Graham’s name over and over.

One message after another.

[Tessa, where are you?]

[Did you go home?]

[I sent my assistant to get you. He says he can’t find you.]

[How’s your ear? Answer me.]

I stared at the screen, barely recognizing the frantic desperation in his texts.

So he was capable of panic after all.

He’d just never panicked over me.

I didn’t reply.

The intercom chimed, instructing passengers to switch devices to airplane mode.

I took one last look out the window.

The city lights blurred into a single line below.

For eight years, I’d told myself I couldn’t leave.

Couldn’t leave Graham.

Couldn’t walk away from the man who’d sat by my hospital bed, who’d learned to lip-read just for me.

But now that I was actually leaving?

I just felt completely hollow and still.

I turned off my phone.

The plane climbed through the clouds, and the shift in cabin pressure made my right ear throb violently.

I pressed my hand against the gauze.

The pain made my eyes sting.

But I didn’t cry.

Eight years ago, I cried when I fell from the riser.

I had cried when I discovered my surgery had been canceled.

At the press conference, when they tried to shove that settlement in my face, I’d almost cried then.

Now? I was done crying.

I was too tired.

I closed my eyes.

I let the low hum of the engine pull everything else under.

By the time I landed, it was early morning.

A man in a gray coat was waiting at the arrivals gate.

He held a sign with my name on it.

Tessa.

I dragged my suitcase over.

His eyes went straight to the gauze on my ear.

“Ms. Caldwell. I’m Adrian Hayes.”

I knew him.

He was the head of the International Hearing Restoration Foundation.

Three months ago, I’d sent them my medical records online.

Back then, it was just a backup plan.

I never thought I’d actually need it.

Adrian didn’t ask questions.

He just took my luggage.

“Everything’s set up at the clinic. Let’s get you checked in.”

The streets outside the car window meant nothing to me.

I leaned against the back seat and finally turned on my phone.

Dozens of missed calls.

Graham, his assistant, the wedding planning company, Graham’s mother.

And one new message.

[Tessa, stop making a scene.]

I read it three times.

Then a dry, hollow laugh slipped past my lips.

Even at this point.

He really thought I was just throwing a tantrum.

I blocked Graham.

His number. His email. Everything.

I cleared everything with one tap.

Back at our shared apartment, around the exact same time.

Graham pushed the front door open. The lights were off./

The papers ending our engagement sat on the coffee table.

My engagement ring sat on top, acting as a paperweight.

Next to them sat the broken hearing aid and the torn settlement statement.

He didn’t move.

Until Sienna’s call came in.

He didn’t answer.

The second call.

The third call.

He still didn’t answer.

He crouched down, slowly, and picked up the broken hearing aid.

A jagged edge of broken plastic sliced his fingertip.

A drop of blood landed on the papers.

It landed right beside my signature.

Something inside him finally snapped.

He dialed my number. Again. And again.

Every single time, he got the same recording.

“The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.”

He hurled the phone at the floor, cracking the screen.

Then he picked it up again.

He kept calling.

Again and again.

Until dawn.