I glance up at the familiar voice, and my face crumples at the sight of Yasmine standing in the doorway of the waiting room, her familiarity a balm. She drops to her knees in front of me when I dissolve into tears for the first time in… I can’t remember how long.
“Shh,” she says, and I suck in a desperate breath, breathing in her familiar scent of vanilla from her favorite perfume laced with traces of antiseptic and mint.
“When Reggie called me, I knew it was you. I nearly had a heart attack. You’re not ever allowed to do that to me again,” she says into my hair.
“He’s a little tattletale. Always has been.”
“I’ll make sure to tell him you said so.”
When I finally suck back the tears, I give a watery laugh. “I’m sorry. I know you’re probably busy.”
Yasmine takes the empty seat next to me, and I don’t resist when she arranges me until my head rests in her lap. “Shut up.”
I do, letting myself relax completely as she runs her hands through my hair. Time passes, I’m not sure how much, and I drift in and out of reality, reliving the moment I heard the gunshot over and over and over again, like I do when I’m caught in memories of my mother. God, I hope he’s okay. I don’t know if I can handle losing someone else.
“I know you’ve been keeping things from me,” she says after a while and cuts me off before I can object. “Don’t try to deny it. You’re a shit liar. I’ve known you were up to something since you came back the night after the Halloween party, looking like you’d been through the wringer. You’re going to tell me what’s going on, and it better be the truth.”
“What would you say if I told you O’Connor isn’t just a billionaire businessman?” I swallow hard. “What if I told you he’s something much worse?”
“I’d ask if you need me to help you disappear. I’m sure we can hustle you up a fake ID or something. I’ve seen enough movies to figure it out.”
My responding chuckle is watery. “He’d find me.”
“Seriously,” she says, tugging at my arm until I roll over to face her. “Do I need to worry about him? You can tell me.”
I press a hand to my tired eyes. “No, I can handle him. But I didn’t want to involve you any more than I already had. His life is dangerous. Really dangerous. And you’re the most important person in the world to me. It wouldn’t have been fair of me to drag you into it.”
“You’re going to need to explain to me what you mean by really dangerous,” she says gravely.
“Not here, but maybe when you come over for that girls’ night? We can do it at your place if you’d be more comfortable there.”
“No, I’d rather go to yours. I don’t want my parents or Reggie eavesdropping.”
“I—” Then I hear the raised voices in the hallway, and I sit up, trying to discern what they’re saying.
One of the voices I’d recognize anywhere.
“Where. The. Fuck. Is. My. Wife.”
O’Connor is here.
CHAPTER 17
AIDEN
As soon as I know she’s unharmed, I’m going to strangle her.
Advisor, my ass.
The little manipulative liar. If I weren’t so worried I’ll find her in one of these hospital beds, I’d be tempted to bend her over my knee again.
“Where. The. Fuck. Is. My. Wife.”
The nurse in front of me goes bone white, and I inhale deeply through my nose so I don’t cause an even bigger scene in the middle of the hospital.
“Please,” I add through gritted teeth, for good measure.
“Like I said before, Mr. O’Connor. Your wife isn’t a patient here, so I can’t help you.”
