"Do you… remember anything from before?" Aliana's eyebrows furrowed at her father's question, and then her muddled head finally began to clear as the last memories of her waking up came crashing back like a very unwelcome tsunami.
Her grey eyes widened as she recalled the wailing… the woman.
Her eyes snapped to the exact spot where she had last seen her.
Then she whipped her head around, scanning the room like a highly suspicious cat, only to find absolutely nothing except the overly expensive interiors of the VIP hospital suite.
Releasing a relieved sigh, she rubbed her temple while muttering under her breath, "Well… at least the resident banshee has checked out. Either I must have been upgraded to premium level insanity, or they must have had me on something far stronger."
While Aliana attempted to organise her thoughts into something resembling sanity, her parents sat beside her in silence, watching her mumble to herself.
To say they were worried about their only daughter's strange behaviour would be an understatement of the century.
They couldn't afford for the only heir to the Van Empire to go cuckoo before the next quarterly merger.
Exchanging nervous glances, husband and wife swallowed hard before looking back at their daughter, silently wondering if this was the time to start searching for therapists. One for her and one for themselves, of course.
Alester cleared his throat lightly, "Ali, dear?"
Ali paused mid- thought and looked at them, only to find both of her parents staring at her as she had just applied for a permanent residency at a mental asylum.
Releasing a small sigh at their painfully obvious expressions, she cleared her throat.
"Right… I do remember waking up before and… I think the medication must have been strong enough to…" she trailed off while observing her parents.
They looked so nervous it was as if seconds away from a full-blown panic attack.
Ali rolled her eyes, "Mom, Dad, please stop looking at me like you're about to admit me to a mental hospital while losing our entire business empire to your cousins."
Her parents flinched, looking every bit like they had just been caught red-handed.
"What! No! No, princess, we would never think of you like that," Alester said, quickly smoothing out his tone to appease his daughter.
Portia gave her hand a light squeeze, "We know, Ali. We were just… so worried about you after… you know… your accident."
When her mother mentioned the accident, Ali realised that she had indeed been in one.
Her eyes went wide as she recalled being at the Ross Club, her encounter with a child, and then…. those icy blue eyes.
'So I really didn't imagine that child!' she exclaimed in her mind.
Turning to her parents, she asked, "What happened then?"
Her parents exchanged another look before Portia clutched her chest dramatically, "Ah, my poor baby! You don't even remember that! You had a couple of drinks and then ran straight into the middle of the road, only to be struck by a speeding car!"
"We thought…we lost you!" Portia broke down, her voice wobbling as though she were performing a very emotional skit.
Alester quickly grabbed a tissue box to hand it to his wife. She accepted it with quiet gratitude, plucking one out to begin dabbing her eyes with her perfectly manicured hands.
"There, there, Portia, you've cried enough. You wouldn't want to distress our Ali anymore, would you?" Alester comforted his wife with a gentle rub on her back.
Portia nodded with a sniff, "Y-yes…I'm sorry, dear. I was simply so worried to see my poor daughter not waking up for an entire month! She missed so many society gatherings, spa appointments and skin care sessions. Ah, just look at her skin! It's become so dry it hurts my eyes!"
"What?!" Ali exclaimed, startling both her parents once again.
"An entire month…" she repeated in utter disbelief.
"Well… yes. You had only woken up yesterday night after being in a coma for an entire month," her father explained to her calmly.
Ali was still in shock, reeling from the revelation that she had been unconscious for an entire month, when far more pressing questions began to surface.
"So… who did the car belong to?" Ali asked, her eyes fixed on her father, and Alester's face darkened instantly.
"It was the CEO of Archon Group behind the wheel," he informed her in a tight and restrained voice as if he was barely controlling his anger.
"CEO of Archon Group? You mean Cillian Pierce?" Aliana asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Alester gave her a short nod.
"I intended to sue them for attempted murder of the heir to the Van Empire, of course. But the guards who witnessed the incident testified to the authorities that you were under the influence of alcohol. They claimed you bolted into the middle of the road despite their warnings, and because it was a blind turn with high-speed traffic, the driver had no time to react.
He paused, his jaw tightened, "We checked the CCTV footage outside the Ross Club ourselves, and it confirmed their claims that you ran straight into the road out of nowhere, claiming to see a child. Because of that, we couldn't press charges."
'So there was no child caught on camera?' That thought alone disturbed her greatly.
Aliana pressed her lips together, watching the sheer fury her father was trying to restrain in front of her. It was rare to see him like this, but she could understand why he felt so.
It was no secret that the Van Empire and Archon Group were constantly locking horns with each other.
Both were titans on a global scale, but if one were to see the rankings, Archon Group held the top spot, leaving the Van Empire in a frustrating second.
An heiress getting into an accident involving the CEO of a rival company definitely did not look good under any circumstances. Naturally, one would think that the accident was deliberate.
And yet… something didn't add up.
Aliana clearly remembered chasing that ghostly boy into the middle of nowhere, and then she saw those icy blue eyes, right before losing consciousness.
She had met Cillian Pierce many times at the business conferences before and knew what he looked like. Black hair and chocolate brown eyes.
So, just who was the man she had actually seen?
She tried to piece together her scattered memories to see if she could recall any other features of the man. But the blaring headlights of the car obscured her vision, leaving his face in deep shadow. All she could remember were those glowing, icy blue eyes.
'Ah, did I also imagine him?' she wondered. She wouldn't be surprised if she had, considering everything she'd seen so far was definitely not normal.
Especially when no one around her seemed to see a thing.
Just thinking about it brought the headache back. She leaned over slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose.
That little action alone was enough to send her parents into a fresh wave of panic for her health.
"Alester, why don't we save this talk for another time? Ali still needs her rest," Portia suggested, her voice thick with worry as her light brown eyes remained glued to her daughter.
"Y-yes, you're right. Don't worry, Ali, we can talk about this later. Your mother is right, you need more rest since you've only just properly woken up after so long."
Alester lightly scolded himself for letting his anger get the better of him while speaking about his rival.
Ali looked up to her parents and sighed, "I'm fine, so you both need to stop worrying about me. Although… I do have one more question."
"What is it?" Alester asked.
"Was there…. anyone else in the car with Cillian that night?"
"We didn't see anyone else. Why? Did you see someone suspicious?" Alester's eyes narrowed, as if already preparing to launch a full-blown war against whoever that person might be, and Ali saw that.
She considered telling her parents about the man with icy blue eyes, but she stopped herself. Given her recent track record of seeing things no human should, while having the need to prove to them that she hasn't gone crazy, she held back.
Shrugging her shoulders, she dodged the question and asked another instead. "So, who was the one who brought me to the hospital?"
"It was Cillian and Levi, your driver, who arrived just in time to see everything unfold," Alester replied calmly.
"Levi had reached by then?" Ali asked, her eyes widened slightly.
"Yes, he and Cillian were the ones who took you to the hospital. In fact, Cillian paid all the medical bills as an apology. A move that certainly led the authorities to side with him. That man surely knows how to handle a crisis."
Ali pursed her lips, making a mental note to grill Levi about the boy or the mysterious man later.
Before any of them could say more, there was a knock at the door.
Jade stepped in, followed by a familiar man dressed in impeccable suit while carrying a massive bouquet of flowers.