Yet, as surely as the morning followed the night, Harper maneuvered past each perceived obstacle and convinced everybody involved that, until there had either been a response from Jackson, or alternatively, his radio silence, staying in the hospital with a police guard was really the best place for us. Even Kaspar and her bosses abandoned their defenses in the end, conceding his hospital room could be easily secured with relatively little additional expense.He had offered to pay, after all.They would know where we were until a decision needed to be made about what came next.
His talent for engineering almost any outcome he wanted appeared to know no bounds.Naturally, I’d been vaguely aware of his proficiency in Fortorus, but I’d always assumed it had been his rank and the threat of possible repercussions for denying him that had enabled his conceited sway.Life in Switzerland, though, was proving otherwise.Harper got his way because he was so bloody good at charming people.Despite his history, people couldn’t help but like him.
“You’re quiet, little girl.”
I glanced back from the window of his room to find him staring at me from the bed.It was strange how the relatively small space had become so much like a home since his health had stabilized.Somehow, he’d even persuaded Elsa and the other nurses to bring us two meals three times a day, reminding them that he had the ability to pay for all our additional expenses.I had no idea if he actually was reimbursing the facility for the room and food, but I wouldn’t have been surprised either way.
“I was just thinking, Sir.”Crossing the floor toward the bed, I sat down on the covers next to his left hand.
“Of course you were.”He smiled.“My little girl has always been an over-thinker.”
“It helps sometimes.”I shrugged.
“And often, it makes you feel worse.”He folded the newspaper Elsa had brought him and offered me his full attention.
“Maybe.”I didn’t want to argue with him.“It’s just while we’re stuck in this limbo, there’s not much more to do.”
“I can think of a few things.”He cocked one delectable eyebrow at me.
“We can’t keep doing those things here.”My gaze flitted to the closed door, half expecting to see Elsa or Kaspar bursting through to interrupt us.I loved the passion we shared and was absurdly thankful that events of the last few weeks hadn’t diminished its power, but we had to be reasonable.How long would the medics put up with our constant fucking before they expelled us?“This is a hospital, not a hotel.”
“It’s the best we have until the ICC makes a decision.”Sighing, he leaned back against the stack of pillows behind him.“But it’s still better than being without you.”
“Of course it is.”Inching closer, I grabbed his nearest hand.“We’re lucky they agreed to such unconventional living arrangements.I know that, Sir.”
“But the cramped conditions and not knowing what comes next is starting to grate, right?”His tone had shifted to that same wry timbre he employed with such regularity since we’d left Britain.
“I think it’s more the not knowing than anything else.”My gaze flitted around the room.“I’ve actually started to like this place.”
He chuckled at my assessment.“Well, as the patient, I can confirm that regular doses of your medicine have certainly helped me feel a lot more like myself.”
“Sir.”My tone was chiding, and shaking my head, I looked back at the window.
“Don’t‘sir’me.”A playful grin lit up his face as I spun back to see him.“We both know how we feel.”
“Yes,” I ceded.“But I can’t get used to being together in a place where there’s no real privacy.We need somewhere of our own again.I loved being at the house with you, and...”I hesitated, recalling the first place we’d called home in Switzerland.
“What?”He leaned closer.“What is it?”
“I just remembered Fabian.”I rubbed my thumb over his knuckles.“I had to tell Kaspar about him to get her to take me back to the house for ‘our clothes’.”
I used my fingers as inverted commas to describe the final two words.I had packed what limited attire we had that day, but I’d also picked up Harper’s gun and wads of cash, all of which were still stowed under his hospital bed.
“And?”He reached for my hand again as it lowered to the bed covers.
“And he’s probably going to be in trouble for leasing the house to us.”I sighed, still uncomfortable with the sense of having betrayed Fabian.
“Fabian’s choices are not our responsibility, little girl.”
“No, but without him, we’d have been screwed that first morning in the city,” I reminded him.“I just didn’t mean to drop him in the shit.”
“I’m sure he can look after himself.”Harper squeezed my fingers.“I’m not an expert on Swiss law, but he’ll probably suffer no worse than a fine.”
“I still feel bad.”Frustrated that he couldn’t see my point of view, I peered back out of the small window.“He was nothing but helpful to us.”
“I know, but we have bigger fish to fry right now.”
He certainly wasn’t wrong about that.I’d lost track of how many days had slipped past since Akari had approved the video of Harper’s apology for publishing, and so far, there had been no reaction from the British.Naturally, I was thrilled that odious prick who’d been intent on killing me, and thousands of other women like me, hadn’t instructed Harper back to the place we’d fled, but at the same time, that low-lying anxiety lingered in the absence of Jackson’s reply.
