Page 72 of Hades

“Sir, you can wait outside. We need to talk to the patient,” he boldly directs the man.

The man doesn’t move. “You see her condition. I’m here to stop that. I’m her bodyguard.”

I don’t believe him, and neither does Travis, but that’s a battle we don’t want to fight right now. The important thing is to check Melanie out and make sure she is okay.

“Can I examine you?” I ask Melanie.

She nods. I move closer to her, Marie at my side. After a quick overview, I notate everything I find on her chart.

“Can I take some blood so that we can rule out illnesses?” I hear Marie ask her.

Melanie must say yes because when I turn back around, she’s taking blood.

I move over to where Travis is standing guard.

“I need you to call our friend. Make sure that her blood is walked down to the lab by someone we trust and run for drugs. She seems out of it,” I whisper to him.

He nods. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“Marie is here, and you will be right back. Get him here now,” I hiss, thinking of Hades.

Travis hesitates, but ultimately decides to leave.

I turn around and go back to Melanie.

“What happened?” I ask the guard.

“She was in an abusive relationship. She got out, but he didn’t take no for an answer.”

I study the man. I don’t believe that he isn’t working for Dansworth. He doesn’t seem to have a stitch of concern for Melanie.

“I see. Where is he now?” I ask, wondering if I would trust the answer anyway.

“Not here. Fix her. We need to go.”

I nod, turning my attention back to her. We work on her for ten minutes. We look at every single scratch and wound. I take pictures of each and every one, cataloging them in the system for later review.

Every single bruise has my anger growing more and more.

When we are done, Marie gets her hooked up with an IV.

I step to the side, pulling Marie over with me.

“I’ll stay this time. You go check on everything. Find out where the fuck Dr. Hemlock went. He was supposed to come right back.”

She nods, leaving the room quickly. When I turn back, Melanie is lying back on the table.

“We will need scans to rule out broken ribs and any internal bleeding.”

He nods.

“Melanie, we are going for a ride.” I pull the wheelchair that was left in the room from transporting her up here closer to her.

She carefully gets out of bed and sits in it.

I turn, heading toward the door. The guard opens the door for us, letting us pass through.

Each and every moment I wait for him to stop me. To do something to me or her. To demand to come with us. He doesn’t, though. He allows us to go down the hall and around the corner.