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The man’s giant paw swallows mine. “Young lady, I’m honored to meet you.”
Mr. Knot emphasized the young lady part, offering Austin a side-eyed grin when he said it. I get the feeling these two are a bit closer than your typical boss and employee, evidenced by the fact that Knot is here. “I know you helped. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Sure you can,” he says with a wink. “Keep this asshole in line, and we’ll call it even.”
Mr. Knot releases my hand and asks to speak to Austin privately. The two men walk out, leaving us girls to chat for a bit. I pat the bed, and Piper gingerly climbs up and stretches out beside me. She rests her head on my lap, and I lower mine to the pillow and stroke her fur.
I must doze off, comforted by my guardian. The door opening later pulls me from sleep again. “Apá!”
A nurse rolls my father into the room in a wheelchair. His face is pale, and he looks older. Though I saw him earlier when I woke briefly, the only word I’ve received about his condition was Dario’s. “Your father’s not dead, but if you try that again, he will be,” he told me when Apá was lying motionless on the pavement.
“My bebita.”
Tears flood my father’s eyes and mine as he takes my hand in his. “I almost lost you.”
“But you didn’t. I’m here. I’m safe.”
I look around the room, noticing my surroundings for the first time. This doesn’t look like a hospital room. It seems more like a hotel. “Where are we?”
“A private hospital. Mr. Knot had me moved here two days ago.”
“How long will you have to stay? How long will I?”
“You were asleep when the doctor came by earlier. We should both get to go home in the morning. He left you a copy of his notes since you’re a doctor.”
My father hands me a stack of papers neatly stapled together. … bullet pierced small intestine… exited abdomen… bowel resection… full recovery expected… continued antibiotic treatment for peritonitis.
“And you?”
Apá shrugs. “I won’t heal as fast as you, but I’ll be alright.”
In his eyes, I see the truth of what El Gran told me. Maybe I should feel betrayed by my father keeping this secret from me, but I don’t. “So, what happens next?”
“Next, we work on getting you well enough to return to Virginia.”
I think of my barely used office, a beautiful craftsman house with gardens in the back, and Austin’s warm eyes. Virginia could have been my home. I felt happy there for the first time in my life.
“Do you want to come back to Virginia?” Austin’s voice at the door draws my eyes up. “I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of your things. They’re stored away, waiting for you to claim them.”
“I made a mess of things in Virginia.” I upended Austin’s life and shredded my reputation in the medical world.
“If you’re talking about those two guys—”
“No,” I interrupt. “Dario said he hired those men to scare me, expecting I’d run back home with my tail between my legs, which I did. What I also did was make myself look like a pathological liar at best or a neurotic psychopath at worst, especially if someone I worked with decided to look me up and found any of the news articles.”
Austin lifts my fallen chin, but my father interrupts whatever he had been about to say. “That is one thing you will never have to worry about. The press has been handled.”
After the cryptic announcement, my father gestures to the nurse outside to wheel him away.
Austin and I are once again alone.
He sits on the side of my bed and levels his steely eyes at me. “I want you to come back, but only if you want to. I won’t take the decision out of your hands. Just know that if you choose to stay here, you’ll still be stuck with my ass because I’m not leaving you.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “You’ve lost your mind. There’s no way I’d let you uproot your whole life for me.”
Austin smiles devilishly. “It’s cute that you still believe it’s up to you.”
“You’re being ridiculous. What about your career? All your rental homes?”