“Youbothneed to stay for observation,” the doctor insisted.“You are lucky that you didn’t have any broken ribs, Mr.Bennett, but the bruising along your torso is quite severe.”
He didn’t give a flying shit about his bruising.“I think bruises are expected when you tumble down a flight of stairs.”
“They are consistent with a fall, yes.”A quick nod from the doctor—Dr.Phillip Owen.The man had introduced himself earlier.He was the doctor in charge of the ER.“All the more reason for you to stay here and?—”
“We’ll be leaving in the next ten minutes,” Atlas cut through the doc’s words to say.“Thank you for your time and care.”
The doc’s mouth hung open.Then his attention jumped to Lily.“Surely, you understand the need to stay overnight, Dr.Gallo.”
She hadn’t introduced herself as a doctor.She’d just said that her name was Lily Gallo.Atlas knew because he’d been with her at the time.
He intended to be with her for the foreseeable future.Lily getting out of his sight again was not an option.He’d told the woman to stay away before.She had not heeded that particular warning so…
You’re mine now.
“How the fuck do you know that she’s a doctor?”Atlas asked.
Just like that, Phillip Owen was back to gaping at him.“She’s…” Phillip cleared his throat.“I recognized the name.And the face.She…she looks a lot like her mother.”
And everyone knew Lily’s mother.
The woman who had killed a dozen men.
The woman who was currently sitting on death row in an Alabama prison.
Plenty of movies had been made about Magnolia Calhoun.The beautiful and vivacious southern belle who’d been a true monster.A cold, calculating killer.Poison had been her weapon of choice.A sweet poison that she poured from her grandmother’s prized teapot.
She’d smiled at her prey even as she killed them.
She’d killed Lily’s father.And, if the stories were true, she’d even attempted to kill Lily, once upon a time.
“I recently read your research piece about hybristophilia,” Phillip gushed.Seriously, gushed, as he slanted a glance back at Lily.“I did consider becoming a psychiatrist at one point, so I’ve always had an interest in aberrant behavior, but emergency medicine called to me more and I?—”
“Yeah, excuse me,” Atlas cut in to say.“But what in the hell is hybristophilia?”His head turned back toward Lily.
Those full lips of hers pressed together.The tear tracks on her cheeks had partially dried, but sorrow lingered in her eyes.Grief.He really wanted to get her out of there.Dr.Phillip Owen should not be seeing her grief.He should not be edging closer and closer to her.
A low, warning growl came from Atlas.
The doctor stopped his advance.
Lily’s gaze crashed with Atlas’s.“It’s a sexual attraction to criminals.”
He blinked at her.
“I’ve written a few papers on the intense attraction, the lust and the consuming need, that certain people can feel for individuals that they know to be violent and dangerous.”
Well, well, well.“Doyouhave an attraction to those who are violent and dangerous, Lily?”He was fascinated by her.And that very fascination wasdangerous.He’d told the woman to stay away, hadn’t he?But she hadn’t listened.
Her lips tightened.“Some women think they can somehow fix deviant men.”
He completely ignored Phillip Owen.“Isn’t that what you’re trying to do?”
“I want to understand deviance.Understanding is the first step.”
“The first step in what?”But Atlas thought he knew.Oh, poor Lily.She thought she could cure monsters, didn’t she?Precious.Admirable.But…
Not happening.“What if they don’t want to be cured?”
