Princess (American Princess #1)(15)
Author: Courtney Cole

She closed her stinging eyes, a sudden weariness flooding over her, even though she had just woken up. Stephen shifted his gaze from her to the detectives.

“Will that be all? She’s been through a lot. She’s tired.”

Stephen’s voice was firm.  His question wasn’t really a question at all; it was a statement that the interview was over. Detective Daniel, however, made it clear that it would be over when he said it was over. He stepped closer to them, his eyes glinting firmly as he gazed at the two of them sharply.

“We’re just trying to do a thorough job, Mr. James. We have to understand everyone’s motives so that we can find out who did this.” Detective Daniels’ steel blue eyes stared at Sydney, his voice no longer perfunctory; instead it was cold and penetrating.

“Why would someone with the world on a string choose to get disinherited for a surprise pregnancy? You just graduated high school and are not married. Not even in a relationship.  It would seem to me that the easiest thing to do would have been to get rid of it and go on with your life.  Unless you wanted something.” He continued to stare at her, unflinching.

“What exactly are you insinuating? I thought you were trying to find out who tried to kill Sydney.  But it seems as though she is on trial here.  Why is that?”  Stephen’s voice was hard and his eyes sparked as they locked with the iron gaze of the detective.

Sydney stared at him in shock.  This hard, assertiveness was not a side of Stephen that she had seen.  It didn’t match with his easy-going personality, but she found that it didn’t trouble her.  It actually had just the opposite effect.  She felt protected.  For the first time in her life, someone was standing up for her.

“We’re just doing our job. We have to understand the dynamics of this situation so that we can figure out who did it and why.  For instance, we need to know if Ms. Ross was trying to get money from the Prices’ so that she could run away with you.”

Even though he was speaking to Stephen, Detective Daniels’ gaze was locked on Sydney to gauge her reaction as her eyes flew to him.

“This has nothing to do with Stephen!  We only casually knew each other when this whole thing happened. He was nice enough to take me in when my parents kicked me out. Instead of trying to smear me, why aren’t you more focused on finding out who did this?  I’m the victim here, not the Prices’.” Sydney was frustrated now and her fragile emotional state shone through loud and clear.

“I don’t believe this!  Somebody ran me down and killed my baby and you are treating me like a criminal!  I didn’t do anything wrong!” Her hands started shaking as she spoke, shock lodging deeply in her chest at the turn of events in this interrogation.

“We’re sorry for upsetting you, Sydney.  We just have to know everything so that we can figure out who did this.  We’ll let you know what we find out and if we need to speak with you again.”

Stephen stared at him.  “Do that.  And maybe next time you can be a little kinder.  This girl has just lost her baby.”

He didn’t even bother looking at them again as he turned his attention back to Sydney.  He had never seen anyone look so vulnerable.  Her wide eyes were full of bleak loneliness and she seemed lost…like she had been somewhere that he could never, ever go.  Stephen felt protective urges twinge inside of him that he’d never felt before.  She seemed so small as she lay wrapped in tubes and tape.

Both detectives turned their backs without another word and walked out, taking their blatant discourse with them and closing the door behind them.  Sydney looked at Stephen in confusion.

“What is going on?” Her jeweled eyes glistened as though she was going to burst into tears at any moment.

“Don’t worry about it, Syd.  You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m a big believer that truth always comes out, so they’ll figure it out. Eventually.”

“But why were they treating me like a criminal?”

Her soft voice wavered. He brushed the hair out of her face and then rubbed her arm comfortingly.

“Because they already spoke with the Prices’ and your parents. I’m sure it was the impression that they received from them.  Don’t waste your time thinking about it.  You just focus on getting some rest, okay?”

She shook her head.  It was going to be hard to rest with all of the thoughts that were swirling around in her head. The turn of events was unbelievable. She had gone from being a victim of a hit and run, to finding out that it was probably a planned attack to being interrogated like a criminal. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be sleeping for awhile.

She was asleep five minutes later.

Stephen stayed with her as she slept; watching her sleep, reading magazines, pacing the floor. He sat by her bed like a sentinel, guarding her as she slept, although no one came back to bother her except for the nurses who took her vital signs every hour.  She slept like the dead.

He kept his bedside vigil as the hours turned into days.  He barely left her side to shower or eat, although she frequently encouraged him to go home and get some rest. He refused. He was used to erratic schedules.  And he was her sole visitor. There was no way he was going to leave her alone in the sterile hospital room with only the scent of Lysol and overworked nurses to keep her company.

Finally, six days later, she was discharged from the hospital with orders to rest at home and a prescription for birth control pills. As they rolled down the road in Stephen’s black vintage T-Bird, he laid her cell phone in her lap. She was surprised to realize that she hadn’t even missed it for the week that she was in the hospital.

She opened it now to check her messages.  There was only one.  Holding her breath, she opened her phone to find that the text was from Christian, not her parents.

She exhaled slowly, letting her warm breath escape in a thin rush over her lips.  She had no idea why she had thought that they might show concern now or why she allowed herself to feel disappointment that they didn’t. It shouldn’t be a surprise. They had left her in the hospital without seeing her. They had to know that she was going to be devastated.

I’m sorry.

The two stark words screamed at her from the small screen.

Christian had spent two seconds typing a two-word message.  Their baby had died and he was sorry.  But he wasn’t really, she knew that.  He was relieved.  He wasn’t going to have a kid running around that he would never even know. But the fact that he couldn’t even bring himself to ask how she was doing echoed over and over in her head. She couldn’t believe that she had wasted her virginity on him.