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By the time they got to the hospital, Marc was a ball of nerves. Hospitals at night always made Marc feel like he’d crossed into another dimension. The quiet sounds and clinical smells never let a person forget that sick people rested behind all the closed doors, and passing between them felt surreal. Like a macabre version of the Virginia Reel.
Walking into his brother’s room didn’t make him feel any better. Richard lay in the bed, pale, eyes trained on the door like he’d known Marc was about to come through.
He smiled when he saw Marc, but that smile slid off his face at the sight of Royce.
“You two joined at the hip or something?” he asked, his voice sounding like it had been run through a shredder.
“You look like shit,” Marc said, ignoring the question. There were so many wires connected to his brother, it looked like a snarled nest of thin snakes draped over his hospital gown. Richard’s blanket had slipped mostly off the bed, so Marc lifted it back over him. He looked at the different machines, recognizing what was going on. “Your heart?” he whispered as his own skipped a beat. They had the same heart issues. “You’ve been taking the meds?”
Richard nodded. “Always. This was something different. Potassium. Somehow, my system is full of it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” He closed his eyes. “But I have an idea.”
“Does it have something to do with why you said not to talk to Gabriel and Lilah?”
Richard slowly pointed at Royce. “He needs to leave the room, Marc.”
Marc shoved his shaking hands into his pockets. He looked at Royce to find the fierce scowl back on his face. He imagined that expression ran a lot of people off, but not him. Not even in the beginning. He walked into the hall and Royce followed.
“There is no fucking way I’m leaving you alone in the room with him,” Royce said under his breath, running a hand through his thick black hair, making it messier than it already had been.
“What’s he going to do? He’s pretty much tied up with all those monitors on him. He can barely move.”
“I’m aware, but I don’t trust him. Remember, I’m only around because one of them is trying to hurt you.”
The shock of pain that sliced through Marc with those words was so sharp, he couldn’t believe he managed to keep his expression the same. It took him several moments to get enough air to speak, though. “Fine then. Stand here with the door open, so you can see into the room.”
He started to move away, but Royce grabbed his arm. He couldn’t look at him, so he merely stood there, staring at the wall.
“I didn’t mean that the way it came out, Marc.” He stepped closer. “That’s not the only reason I’m around. Not anymore.”
He looked back into hazel eyes shot through with concern, and what he saw there made him shiver. This time, he couldn’t hide the emotion. He shut his eyes and nodded.
Royce pulled him against the front of his body and wrapped one hard arm around him. He kissed his shoulder, then stuck his nose into the back of Marc’s neck.
It was enough. For now. He patted Royce’s arm and pulled away, his worry for his oldest brother returning as he strode back into the room. Marc dragged a chair close to the bed. “Okay, you need to tell me exactly what happened.”
Richard grimaced, his hand pressing into his stomach. “The nausea is killer,” he muttered before sighing and closing his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was still raspy and low. “I sat down to catch the news after eating tonight and didn’t feel right. I got really nauseated, got sick. Then the pain in my chest was…indescribable. I thought I was having a heart attack, so I came here. I nearly did, Marc. I almost had a fucking heart attack. They did tests and came back with potassium and a lot of it.”
“How could that happen?”
“Someone must have given it to me. The only thing I did tonight was take my usual vitamins and eat the meal my housekeeper left me.”
Marc knew his brother overloaded on vitamins. He’d tried to talk to him before about getting nutrients from food and what too many could do to a person, but as far as he knew, someone would have to take a shitload of potassium to cause this. “Why are we keeping this from Gabriel and Lilah? And what about Elizabeth? Have you at least told your wife?”
“Elizabeth and the kids are in Florida for two weeks. They left four days ago, and I don’t want to upset them.”
“And Gabe and Lilah? Shouldn’t they know?”
Richard was silent a few moments. He glanced at the door, then back at Marc. “I think it was one of them. They’re the only people who have been in my house outside of Marcia, and she has no reason to hurt me. I pay her well.”
