“How did she seem? Devastated. She and her mother stayed by her father’s side the entire time he was in the hospital. Stayed even after he woke up and her mother left.”
Now it was Vaughn’s turn to lift his brow. This was the first mention of Ivy’s mother.
“Her mother?”
“Yep—Wendy Reeves. Couldn’t handle the idea of looking after her vegetable of a husband for the rest of her—or his—life. Don’t blame her.”
“How long—”
Darnell interrupted Vaughn.
“Ishe a vegetable?”
For a long time, Howe said nothing. He just smoked and drank.
And then, “You know what? That’s something I’ve asked myself a thousand times. I honestly have no idea.”?
?Chapter 50
Ivy batted atthe arm that gripped her throat, scratched at it. She was struggling to breathe, her airway slowly being closed off.
Shoved backward, Ivy barely managed to stay on her feet. Then her ass hit something—a table?—and she fell, her head bouncing off the hard tile.
The man went with her, knocking what little air she had left out of her lungs.
The fall, however, forced her attacker to release his hold on her throat.
Ivy blinked, tried to clear her darkening vision. Her head swelled. She barely had enough presence of mind to kick with her legs.
Hit something.
Heard a grunt.
Ivy scooted backward. Finally got a clear look at her attacker.
It was Zeke, and the man was brandishing an eight-inch blade.
A blade that was covered in blood.
My blood?
Ivy did a quick mental inventory of her body. Her head ached and her throat was raw. But she didn’t feel any stab wounds.
“Don’t move,” Zeke warned. “Don’t you fucking move.”
Ivy wasn’t sure she could, even if she thought Zeke was bluffing.
She knew he wasn’t.
“Please...”
Zeke looked like he was in physical pain, the way he was snarling, but Ivy didn’t think that her weak kick could have done that much damage.
The blue polo he’d been wearing earlier in Dr.Moorehead’s office, and was still wearing now, was heavy and dark with blood.
“Zeke, think about what you’re doing.”
Ivy coughed. It felt as if she’d swallowed a cactus.
