Eliana’s fingers tightened.
“Injuries like this can affect memory, personality, speech—even Luci’s ability to walk and take care of herself. But the reality is, we simply won’t know until the swelling goes down.”
Carlos sat in silence, so Eliana said, “Thank you, Doctor.”
He nodded and returned to the desk, where he spoke with the staff member.
Eliana turned back to Carlos.
Before she could say anything, he stood. “I’m going to get coffee.” He looked at her, then turned to Tony.
“I’ve got this.” Tony nodded.
Eliana wanted to object to the fact that they both seemed to think she needed to be protected. But reality held her tongue. The truth was, she did seem to keep getting into life-threatening situations. Considering that one of those situations involved Tony, even if it was against his will, she wasn’t sure he wasexactly the right fit for a bodyguard position. But if he really did feel bad about it and wanted to protect her, that worked for her.
Not that she thought anything was going to happen in the hospital.
Eliana got up and wandered to the fish tank in the corner, and her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She drew it out and saw it was her mom calling. She almost slumped into the nearest chair in relief. Eliana slid her thumb across the screen, wishing the Shrine had bought her the kind of phone she was used to.
She put it to her ear. “Hey.” She drew out the word, tears filling her eyes.
“You’re on speaker, honey. You’ve got both of us.”
She faced the tank, but closed her eyes rather than looking at the colorful fish doing circles around one another. “I’m glad you called.”
“How is Luci?” her mom asked.
Eliana sniffed, explaining what the doctor had just told them. “Carlos went to get coffee.”
“He just left you there alone?” her dad said, sounding gruff and worried.
She shook her head, even though they couldn’t see her. “I’m not by myself.”
“There’s someone there protecting you?” her mom asked.
“Yes. Hang on.” She found the camera and twisted around, snapping a quick image of Tony. “It’s sending now.”
She wasn’t going to worry about the fact that the Shrine had probably given her a phone outfitted with security features—ones that probably gave them full access to everything on her device. They would know she had taken a picture of Tony and sent it to her parents, but right now she didn’t care.
Even if the Shrine thought that what Tony showed them at the house before they found Luci was proof that the FBI hadbeen lying to them, or at least withholding information, that didn’t mean Eliana was prepared to jump in with both feet and join their team.
She had a family, and it wasn’t a defunct organization who thought they still had power.
The Board of Governors might have located Luci—inadvertently—but Eliana hadn’t even asked them to do that. And didn’t need their help. Unless they had technology at their disposal that could heal Luci’s traumatic brain injury.
“Who is that?” her dad asked.
“Is that the person protecting you?”
Hearing her parents worry about her was both reassuring and frustrating. She didn’t want them to worry, but she also didn’t want to live a life where nothing ever happened to her.
“Tony is my supervisor,” Eliana explained. “He’s head of security at the Shrine, and they’ve been making sure that I stay safe.”
He would overhear everything she said, so Eliana didn’t explain about how Tony had told her they had history. Or about the bear tattoo on the inside of his forearm—something that might be a distinguishing physical characteristic that meant they could identify him.
“Just as long as you’re safe,” her dad said. “We just passed through Edmonton in Alberta. We have another twenty-seven hours to drive, but we’re making good time.”
Most likely, they would switch off so they didn’t have to pull over for hours and get some rest. But she was also aware that her parents were not as young as they used to be. Maybe years ago, they could power through, but these days they didn’t do that as much.
