Page 106 of Broken Daddy

“Uh, right. Well, she’s likely to wake up feeling pretty awful from the blood loss and the general anaesthetic. As well as her arm.” He blew out a small breath. “The cut wasn’t that deep, but it was long. Thankfully, it didn’t hit any arteries or she might not have been so lucky.”

Jesus. Fuck.

“She’s going to be in some pain from for a while. And there was a lot of tendon and ligament damage. We repaired it as much as we could. But the recovery will be quite long and painful. Lots of rehabilitation.”

“Oh no,” Michelle said, taking a seat. “She’s a potter. She makes beautiful pottery. I don’t know how she’ll do that with one arm.”

“I’m hopeful that with proper rehabilitation eventually she might gain most of her movement back,” the surgeon said. “But there’s no guarantees, unfortunately.”

“But she’s going to be all right?” Hayes asked. That was the most important thing. He’d find her the best physical therapists, a new surgeon, whatever he had to. As long as she was alive.

“Physically, she will recover. But an attack like this could adversely affect her mental health. Especially with the cut to her face.”

“There’s a cut on her face?” Silla asked. “How bad is it? Will it scar?”

“It will likely scar. I did my best to stitch it back together in a way to minimize scarring. However, I’m not a plastic surgeon.”

“Plastic surgery could take care of that, right?” Mac asked. “Gonna cost a bomb, though.”

“Yes, it would. But it would be worth the cost for her self-esteem. A young girl like that shouldn’t be left with scars from an attack like this. I’m going to go write up my notes. If there are no other questions?”

“Just when can I see her?” Hayes asked.

“She’s in recovery. A nurse will come get you soon. But it is one at a time at the moment so I suggest the rest of you go home and shower. Get some food. Take it in shifts. She’ll need to be here a few days, at least.” He eyed Silla again. “Ah, I feel like I should ask about the basketball.”

“Huh? Oh!” Silla went red. “Didn’t realize I was holding this. Sorry. I sleep with it.”

The doctor blinked. “Um, right.” He still looked bewildered as he left.

Hayes turned to the rest of them. “I’m going in. You should all go home.”

Mac shook his head and sat. Michelle sat next to him. Silla ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ll get us coffee and food and put Basket in my car.”

Basket was the name of the ball? He could ask . . . but he didn’t really want to know.

“Well, I’m going to go and get Kent and Liam from the airport,” Honey said.

Shit. He hadn’t even noticed her entering the waiting room. “Why he needed to fly out here, I have no idea. We have this covered.”

Hayes didn’t care who was here or what they were doing. All he cared about was making sure that Devi was all right.

23

Devi opened her eyes slowly, wincing. “Ouch.”

Why was it so light in here?

“Oh God! Have I overslept?” she cried. She tried to move, but barely managed to shift her legs.

She felt so weighed down. Exhausted. And her left arm just wouldn’t budge.

“Careful!” a voice barked. “Stay still. You’re in bed.”

“I know I’m in bed,” she grumbled. “It’s getting out of bed that’s the problem.”

Then her mouth caught up with her brain and she gaped up in shock at the man standing over her bed. She blinked. Nope. He was still there.

“Why are you in my bedroom?”