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“I want to warn you. She’s beaten up pretty bad. There is a lot of swelling and bruising. Take a deep breath,” Mandy said as she opened the door.
When I walked into her room, the waterfalls started up again. I had never seen her like this before, and it made my stomach turn. She looked utterly helpless, lying there, beaten and bruised. Who would do this to her?
“How does no one know what happened? How did she get here?” I asked, pointing at her broken body lying there in the hospital bed.
“I’ll get the doctor. He’ll be able to tell you more than I can. I’m sorry,” she said, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.
I demanded answers. Someone had to pay for this. I clasped her hand in mine, bowing next to her bed.
“I’m here. Please don’t abandon me.” I cried.
Lacey was many years younger than me, only twenty-one, and worked full time at a security company on the side to help pay for her college classes. Maybe someone there would know something. I walked to the desk in the hallway.
“Excuse me? Could I see my sister’s things?” I asked politely.
The nurse handed me a bag with everything that was on her when she was brought in. Optimistically, she had a phone in there somewhere, so I could reach out to her work. They must be wondering where she was and why she hadn’t shown up for work in a couple of days. I powered her cell phone on, and there were six voicemails. Initially, I thought I shouldn’t listen since they were private, but I needed to. The first three were from a friend named Alexa, but the last three were from a man named Hudson, who claimed to be her boss, wondering where she had been. I dialed the return call number.
“Where have you been?” the man on the other end asked.
“This is Laurel, Lacey’s sister. She is in the hospital.”
“What on earth happened to her?” he asked.
“We are unsure. She was beaten and bruised bad and is in a coma.”
“Which hospital? I’ll be right down.”
Most bosses wouldn’t rush down to the hospital just because their employee was there. I hoped she wasn’t foolish enough to fool around with her boss. Number one rule in the workforce for a woman:Never sleep with your boss.
It’s possible Hudson knew something, anything that would assist us. There was no telling when she would wake up, but we needed to know what happened to her sooner rather than later. I stayed sitting next to Lacey, turned on the TV, and hoped she would wake up soon. All I could do was pray and wait. I never let go of her hand, so she would unconsciously know someone was there with her.
I guess I fell asleep, dozing off then startling myself awake. I woke to a man standing next to my sister’s bed. “Who are you?” I asked, darting up from the chair, my hands out to the sides, protecting my sister. After all, I had no clue who did this to her, and for all I knew, it could be him.
“Sorry, I just got here but didn’t want to wake you. I can imagine how hard this is for you. I’m Hudson.”
This was Hudson? Holy crap. If my sister was sleeping with him, it was understandable why. He was nicely dressed in a well-tailored suit with a military cut, straight teeth, and just a little stubble.
“Do you know why she is in this place?” he asked, peering at her.
“Absolutely not. I was hoping you could inform me,” I replied, looking at him anxiously.
He must know something. Why else would he rush down to the hospital?
“The doctors said they don’t know what happened to her. She has been unconscious since she got here. No answers until she wakes up.”
“Until? So that means they think she will?”
“They seem to think she received a concussion during whatever happened, which caused the brain to swell. Her body naturally went into the coma to defend itself. Once the swelling goes down, she should wake up.”
He flashed me a genuine smile. I didn’t think he had anything to do with this. If he did, he hid it well. He seemed genuinely concerned about my sister.
Chapter 2
Hudson
Hearing Lacey was in the hospital upset me. There wasn’t any attraction there, but she was an exceptional employee, very hard-working, and got things done on time. The least I could do was visit her and figure out what was going on. Her sister, Laurel, was fascinating. Her long chestnut hair came down to the small of her back in waves. Don’t even get me started on her body. I nibbled my lip, examining her up and down when she wasn’t paying attention.
I must remember my rule. I only had one. I was not to sleep with the client’s or employee’s family members. My rule was absolute and had kept me out of drama and complications. Observing her, though, compelled me to want to throw my rule out the window. I didn’t want to marry her or anything, but I wouldn’t mind her coming to bed with me. It could be fun.
