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“Not very chatty then?” he asks as he takes a seat in the other chair. In my grandfather’s chair. And it infuriates me.

“Why am I here?”

“This is where you belong,” he says sarcastically. “At least your grandfather thought so.”

I glare at him.

“See, he is the reason all of this is happening,” Leon says.

“You are the reason this is happening. You and your greed,” I snap.

He grins at me. “You have bite. I like that. I’ll admit, after our first encounter, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“You mean after you drugged me and drove my car into the river?”

“Eh, nice try. See, you were so distraught over losing a patient that you took those drugs and drove yourself off the edge of the bridge. And unfortunately, even after being rescued by that Navy SEAL, you were still deeply troubled.”

“Deeply troubled?” I point to my face. “I look like an assault victim! No doctor is going to believe these bruises are due to a car accident.”

“Bruises fade with time, Miss Swanson,” he replies. “And thanks to a stunt by your friends, there’s not much I can do with you at the moment. Otherwise you’d already be dead.”

I stare at him, trying to figure out what he means. “What stunt?”

Leon glares at me, all humor fading from his face. “They think they bought you time, and sure, they did that. But all they did was ensure you’ll have to be my guest a little longer, Miss Swanson. And I have to tell you, I am not a nice host.” He glances behind me. “Get her back to the room.”

Chapter 31

Ryker

As the beeping of machines pulls me from sleep, I’m assaulted by the memory of what happened. Dahlia’s panicked face as she was ripped away from me.

Her screams.

I shoot up off of the bed, pain stabbing through my side as I move. After throwing the covers off of me, I grip the IV in my arm and rip it out, then get to my feet. Clothes.

I need clothes.

The door opens, and Weston comes in. When he sees me, he doesn’t try to stop me, just offers me the clothes folded on a countertop near the door of the hospital room.

“Where is she? Do we know?”

“The Prescott estate.”

“Is she alive?”

“As of this morning, she was.”

A growl leaves my chest that’s more animalistic than man, as I imagine tearing through that place and anyone in my way to get to her. Which is exactly what I plan on doing.

I head into the bathroom and change, my movements labored from whatever pain medicine they have me on. As I strip off the hospital gown, I get a look at my bandaged abdomen. The pole went just through the side of it, so while it will make my movement painful, it’s not completely debilitating.

I’ve operated with worse injuries before.

After dressing as quickly as I can, I head back out into the hospital room to look for my boots. Weston is leaning back against the far wall, and I see that Zane is here, too.

“My brother?”

“He’s fine. Left this morning when we arrived. Said he had some things to take care of but he would be back.”