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The woman nodded at me, pity clear on her face. It was the way her eyes softened, the way her head tilted to the side, and how soft her tone became when she spoke to me. It wasn’t the same take-charge voice she had used when she was addressing the other doctors and nurses in the room. I had a feeling she was in charge of something in this emergency room.
I sank into a chair I found against the wall near where Mia’s bed used to be. I watched as they wheeled her away from me.
My phone rang in my pocket. Glancing at it, I saw it was Ally.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
“How is she?”
“She’s getting x-rays right now. We don’t know anything yet. Just that, judging by the size of her foot right now, it’s broken. And they gave her some Valium to calm her nerves a bit.”
“Okay, let me know when you guys will be heading here. I called Catherine to confirm that she’s meeting us at Mia’s place with Jackson.”
“Who is Jackson again?” I pinched the bridge of my nose, my thoughts racing too fast to recall what had been said about him yesterday. This morning wasn’t going how I thought it might. Mia and I were supposed to go for a run and come back to ravage each other in the shower. So much for that plan.
“He’s Catherine’s husband. He owns a security company, Cole Securities. They’ll help get rid of Chad.”
“What about the police? Can’t they help us get rid of Chad?” I began looking around the hospital helplessly, wondering where the police that had arrived at the scene had gone off to. They should have come here so they could get a statement from Mia. At least that was how I thought this worked.
“No police. Cole Securities has already reached out to them and told them they’re taking over the case,” Ally informed him.
“Wait, why would a security company take over this case? Shouldn’t someone be heading out to arrest this man?”
“It’s not that simple. They have it—they’ll take care of this. I have faith in all the Navy Seals who are storming around in Mia’s apartment right now. They. Will. Find. Him.” Ally emphasized every word, hoping to get through to me.
It only managed to calm me down a little bit. But in the end, I conceded. “Fine, yeah, whatever. Let’s just keep her safe, okay?”
“We will, I promise you. No one’s going to let anything happen to her again.”
“I thought that Danny and those men took care of this. Why is he back?” I asked the question that had been on the tip of my tongue since I’d heard about his return and what he had done to Mia. How they tried to solve it in the past hadn’t worked, and it seemed like we were going the same route. I didn’t like that.
Ally sighed heavily into the line. “I’m sorry. I thought we had. I did my best with what I had at the time. But apparently it wasn’t good enough. I want to keep her safe too. I want to protect her too.”
“I know you do, and I’m sorry for doubting you. I just don’t quite understand how these men are better than what you brought in.”
“They just are. You’ll see when you get here.” There was an edge to her voice, and I didn’t dare question her any further.
“I’ll let you know when I know something more. Or when we’re leaving here,” I promised.
“Okay, good. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said sheepishly before disconnecting the line.
Mia was wheeled back in as soon as I clicked off the line from Ally.
“We’re awaiting the results of the x-ray. We’ll be in to talk to you shortly,” the same doctor informed me before hurrying away to the next case.
“How are you?” I asked her when I reached her bedside.
“I’m all right,” Mia said with a shrug. “I’m still in some pain, but all these medications they have me hooked up to are certainly doing the job.”
I looked up to see two bags hanging from her IV pole. I wasn’t sure what was in either of them. If anyone had said what they were, I had completely missed it.
“I’m glad.” I looked into her eyes, and all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and hold her. Instead, I apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that he had the opportunity to get to you. That was the last thing I wanted to happen. I’m just so sorry,” I told her, lowering my head down and resting it on her shoulder.
“Terry.” Her voice was calm as if we weren’t in an emergency room awaiting the results of her x-ray. “Look at me,” she commanded.
I looked up at her, the grief in my brown eyes shining through.
