“I may be forced to have you around because you’re Ella’s friend, but I don’t trust you enough to give you any information.”
“I wouldnevercompromise Ella.”
“Your last name is Morozov, so I will be keeping my cards close. Nothing you can say will move me on this. I’ll tolerate you, but if I find out you’re helping your cousins, willingly or not, there won’t be a place on earth you can hide from my wrath.”
Lucy’s brows raise. “Maybe you are worthy of her after all.” She pats my shoulder. “Time will tell.”
With nothing else to say to the viper, I lead her back to the bedroom where the others are gathered around a sleeping Ella.Natalie reaches down to stroke her cheek, and Ella stirs. A moment later, she blinks awake.
A sigh of relief rushes through me. Ella’s hardly been conscious since Alec took her off the sedation meds, and I haven’t even spoken to her about what happened. Alec and Brenda, the nurse, have taken turns to be here around the clock, so I’ve been assured many times that she’s okay, but seeing her awake helps to calm the nonstop anxiety I’ve felt since Sterling told me she’d collapsed at work.
“Ella!” Natalie rasps, sitting down on the bed next to her. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
Ella blinks slowly. “Mom?”
“Yes, sweetie. It’s me.”
“Why are you all here?” Ella slurs, her glazed eyes taking in the women standing over her.
“You were in the hospital,” Natalie says. “You’ve . . . been sick.”
Ella tries to speak again, but only gibberish comes out. Her eyes roll back into her head, and she dozes back off to sleep.
I stand over her, annoyed that she’s being disturbed. “Okay, you’ve all seen her. She’s alive and in one piece, but she obviously needs rest.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Zahra asks Alec.
“She’s fine,” he says in his reassuring, doctor voice. “Her labs all came back normal, and she’s doing very well. She’s just still very groggy, although I’m not sure why. I took her off her meds last night.”
“You know she’s a lightweight,” Zahra says.
He chuckles. “I forgot just how light, so this isn’t abnormal for her. I’m not concerned; she just needs to sleep it off.”
“Yes. Come back once she’s slept it off,” I say. These women’s presence is already overwhelming, and they’ve only been here for five minutes.
“You’re in a hurry to push us out. Why?” Lucy demands.
“Because I don’t want you all overwhelming her.”
“How can she be overwhelmed while she’s sleeping?”
“If she wakes and you’re all hovering over her, she will be overwhelmed.”
“I don’t like this,” Lucy hisses. “I don’t like that she’s trapped here with you, and I don’t like you lording over her, pushing her family and closest friends away. This is all your fault, Langford. If she weren’t with you, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Lucy,”Zahra grumbles.
“What? I don’t like this arrangement, and I think it’s time you terminate the contract. This is a nightmare.”
“What contract?” Natalie asks.
“The dating contract.”
“What?” Natalie looks bewildered.
“Oh, shit. You don’t know?” Zahra says.
“For fuck’s sake,”I mutter under my breath.
