I blink at him, wondering how long I’ve been in this bed, and he blows out a breath as he squats beside me. His fingers tangle carefully in mine, and he swallows hard.
“You’ve been unconscious for a week, Rosa,” he finally says. Nico takes in the shock in my face before nodding as if I had spoken. “We haven’t been very patient. Dario has been searching for specialists while Dr. Walsh told him it’ll take time, and Riley called him an old quack who’s washed up.”
“Fuck.”
“Riley doesn’t think much of Dr. Walsh,” he admits, leaning in as if telling me a secret. “They might end up killing each other, but they’re keeping their shit together for the most part. The equipment is to watch your vitals. I don’t want to get you too upset because I don’t want to share yet. I’ve missed you.”
Tears soak the sheet underneath me as I whisper, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“Nah. You’re the strongest fucking person I know. We just needed to find you.”
Picking up a tissue box by my pillow, he pulls a few out as he dries my tears.
“Dr. Walsh says you said someone’s name a few days ago. Do you remember?”
Digging deeply, I shake my head slowly.
“Avery.”
That one word makes my heart begin to race as he winces.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”
“Papa sold me to her,” I rasp, gasping in a breath. My memories flood in quickly, becoming overwhelming. “One of his guards got away the night of the charity event. The only way he could know what he did is if he hid like a coward because we killed everyone in sight. He didn’t say it…”
“Of course not,” Nico scoffs. “Made men don’t enjoy looking bad. In and out, baby. That’s it.”
The monitor is complaining at me, and a hand slaps the door behind me.
“She’s awake.” Hearing Dr. Walsh’s voice triggers the dream I thought I had, and I realize he was the one speaking to me when I first opened my eyes.
“She is. Rosa is talking about difficult things, and that’s why the fucking machine is angry with us,” Nico explains.
I can hear Dr. Walsh as he walks around me and he does something to fix the noise. “I reset it so it won’t do that again unless she’s very, very upset or going into cardiac arrest. Let’s not do either of those things, okay?”
“Yes, Doctor,” Nico says, pretending to be abashed. He waits a moment before making a face once he leaves. “They’ll all be here soon. I don’t blame them, we almost lost you, baby.”
“Almost,” I whisper.
“Things are going to get hard, baby, but you can do this,” he promises. “Sometimes, living is the hardest thing you can do.”
My eyes close for a moment before I nod.
“You didn’t find her, did you?” I ask, opening my eyes.
“No. The bitch abandoned the building. Easton found a video camera above your body, and he thinks that she watched a stream of what happened.”
“Did it record?” My fingers shake at the thought of a video of it existing anywhere and Nico shakes his head.
“The video camera went dormant once the police arrived, and Easton climbed up on a ladder and pulled it down.”
“Thank you,” I sigh.
“I didn’t do anything,” he says, smiling. “Easton also made sure to destroy your blood so it can’t be used for anything. Your father’s experiments have altered your body, and we don’t want anyone getting ideas.”
“Has Dr. Walsh run any tests on my blood?” I ask. “Avery wanted to break our bonds. She was obsessed with it, and she shoved a bunch of shit into my blood trying to figure out how to do that.”
“She’s a fucking monster. I’ve heard stories about her, but this is next level evil shit.”
