Page 107 of Ice Cold Christmas

Hatterson began to follow them out.

“Hatterson!” Victor’s voice came out like a hard bark. Yeah, he was already feeling better. Feeling better and he had one focus.

Where in the hell is Melody?

Hatterson glanced back at him.

“A word. Alone.”

“I’ve got him,” Tracy murmured.

Sebastian and Tracy slipped away.

Hatterson ambled to the foot of Victor’s bed. “Melody is with that Ice Breaker guy, Hunter,” he said, clearly reading Victor’s mind. “They’ve got loose ends that they are trying to tie up. And you have two guards stationed outside your room. Calista and Luis. Melody insisted that they stay close.”

He didn’t need guards. He needed information. “Brant McKee.”

“What?”

Not a what. A who. “Brant McKee.”

Confusion first, then understanding appeared on Hatterson’s face. “That prick from when Melody was a teen? Why the hell are you asking about him?” But he leaned over the bed. “Did he have something to do with this mess? Because I warned him—Sebastian and I both told that little prick that if he ever came within fifty feet of her again, he was dead.”

Victor locked his jaw. “He hurt her.”

“Broke three of her ribs.” Flat. “So I broke twice as many of his. You don’t hurt our Melody and just walk away.” He shared a long look with Victor. “Guessing the detective learned that fact, didn’t he? Word is that he’s the one who took her. Melody said—said she remembered him. Being in the car with her. And when the EMTs were trying to save him, they ripped open his shirt. The bastard had some kind of scar on him that Melody was freaked about.”

Because she’d stabbed her attacker when he’d held her in that cabin so long ago.

“The detective didn’t make it, FYI,” Hatterson informed him bluntly.

No, Victor hadn’t thought that the man had. “I aimed for the heart.” Only fair, since the bastard had tried to take Victor’s heart.

You took Melody.

“Haven’t thought about Brant McKee in years.” Hatterson rubbed a hand along his beard. “Was he involved? Did he help? Thought we taught that prick a lesson. You never, ever put a hand on a woman. I showed him what pain felt like.”

“He’s running for attorney general in Maryland.”

“Oh, the fuck he is.” Hatterson dropped his hand. “That can’t happen.”

“It won’t.” Victor grimaced as he twisted on the bed. “Time to get my ass out of here.”

“Yeah, well, in spite of what Sebastian said, good luck with that,” Hatterson informed him. “Don’t think the docs intend for you to be home before Christmas. Your ass is gonna be staying here for a bit.”

Victor stilled. “Then the docs need to think again. I will be home for Christmas.” He’d be with Melody. This Christmas and every Christmas that came after.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Did you really get tased?” Melody asked Hunter as they stood in the hospital corridor.

He quirked a brow. “Did you really shoot your best friend?”

Her former best friend. Before Melody could respond, the door to the nearby hospital room opened—the door for her former best friend’s hospital room. Olivia Hatcher was in that room, and Melody intended to see her. But, first, she had to get past…

Detective Laila Williams. The detective stood in the room’s now open doorway. Melody and Hunter met her before, when she’d arrived at Mage Industries with a team of uniforms to find chaos waiting. Her dark hair framed her glowering face in a short pixie cut. The detective’s displeasure was plain to see. “This is damn unusual,” Laila began.

Hunter just sighed. “Yeah, look, your captain gave the all clear for us. The Feds are on their way down here. Before we can all blink, they are gonna be sweeping in and taking over, and if we can get a nice, neat confession for you before they barge in, then how about we do that? Wins all around, am I right?”