Page 103 of Lethal Game

"Okay. I just want to see him. I want to go down to his room. Can I do that? Can Alisa and I be with him for a little while tonight before he's taken away? Please."

"I can take you there. He's just down the hall. Do you need a wheelchair, Mrs. Hunt?"

"No. I can walk," she said. "I've been standing up a lot today, pacing around this room. When I realized Alisa was gone, I knew I had to get better faster, so I've been trying."

"You don't have to push it, Mom," she said as she stood up. "I can get you a wheelchair."

"I can do it," her mother said, swinging her legs to the side of the bed. "I need my slippers."

"I've got them." She put the slippers on her mother's feet and then helped her up.

Her mother was surprisingly steady, and that made her feel even better. Things were turning around for all of them.

They walked slowly out of the room. The security guard who had been watching her mother's room was no longer there now that the danger was gone. At the end of the corridor, Jason opened the door to her father's room and waved them inside.

Her father was sitting up in bed. He had a bandage on his forehead, and his face was even more bruised than hers, but he was alive and that was a miracle.

Her mother rushed toward him, practically falling into his arms. Her father put one arm around his wife. The other arm was handcuffed to the bed railing.

"Is the cuff necessary?" Alisa asked Jason.

"I would need to get permission from people higher than me to take it off, and that's not happening tonight. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Alisa," her father said. "I understand I may have to pay for what I did. I am ready to face whatever comes. As long as you and Pamela are safe, it doesn't matter what happens to me."

"Of course, it matters," her mother said, planting a loving kiss on his lips.

Her parents' overt displays of affection had often embarrassed her, but now she found it to be a beautiful thing. Despite everything, all the secrets between them, their love was as intense and pure as it had always been. Her mother had no idea what her father had done, but she loved him unconditionally. Maybe that made her a little foolish, but it was also incredibly sweet.

She glanced at Jason as her parents continued to kiss, giving him a helpless smile. "This is the way they are."

He smiled back at her. "They're lucky."

"I was lucky, too, growing up in the circle of their love."

"Can I stay here and sit with my husband?" her mother asked as she finally let go of her husband for a minute.

"I'm afraid not," Jason said, a regretful look in his eyes. "But you can come back in the morning. He won't be moved before eleven, so I'll make sure the nurse gets you when you're both awake, and you can visit until he's discharged."

"I wish I could stay," she said, giving her husband another loving look. "I will come back as soon as I can."

"And I'll be here, my love," her father replied.

"The doctor said I could go home tomorrow, too," her mom added. "But I don't know where to go. I guess our house is gone."

At her words, her father stiffened. "Pamela and Alisa still need to be protected," he said. "Novikov will come after them."

She realized her father didn't know the latest. "Novikov is dead, Dad. He was killed tonight."

"Are you sure?" he asked in surprise. "He never even entered the complex. He was going to watch from afar."

"Yes, I'm sure. I saw him," she said. "And Stephanie is in custody."

"She's going to jail for a long time," Jason added. "We have also arrested several of Novikov's men, and now that Novikov is dead, as well as Dominic Ilyin, everyone wants to make a deal."

"Ilyin is dead, too? Thank God!" her father said with tremendous relief.

"Novikov's organization is done. He's no longer a danger to you or your family."