Page 19

Secret: Not known or seen, or not meant to be known or seen by others.

B ut what did you do when the truth was uncovered?

“Sir, please calm down. Your fiancé is healing well. She has undergone passive rewarming lung irrigation, and her body temperature is back to normal. The previous hospital took all the proper measures. There is not much else to do, so we have her on fluids and a vitamin regimen.”

I heard the sound of items falling from a shelf and a surprised feminine gasp.

“Sir, please, I understand you are angry, but there is truly nothing more we can do for your girlfr—”

“She is my property! Not my girlfriend. She is to be wed to me. I go away on a business trip to come back and find her compromised with a male. You can see how my anger is warranted, doctor. Who is the heathen that defiled my betrothed?”

The woman cleared her throat and sighed. “Mr. Grosvenor, as I sympathize with your situation, I cannot disclose another patient’s medical information. I can tell you that the rape kit we did on your fiancé, per your request, came back with no unusual findings or foul play present.”

“Does she still contain her innocence? What of her hymen?” His booming voice in the room cut her off, the shelf clattering with more items as they fell.

There was a pause.

“Sir, that is an outdated analogy. Many things can break the hymen. A tampon, for example, or simply riding a bike.”

The anger that was coming out of him was low and deep. I hated that someone’s vocal noises were making me shiver. Despite the warm blankets draped over my body, his chilling presence made a sickening cold seep through my bones.

“So you’re telling me my wife-to-be is not intact?”

How can I be intact when you constantly rape me asshole?

There was more silence, and it was so loud that it was almost painful. The doctor finally cleared her throat to speak.

Crash!

My whole body jolted. Pills fell to the ground, plastic containers bounced on the hospital floor, and bottles burst open from the impact.

A final bottle or lid swirled around like a top until it stopped, and then a thud that sounded an awful lot like a body hit the floor. My heart rate picked up, but I kept my eyes closed. I could hear a monitor beeping faster beside me, sending a silent prayer that it would shut up.

Prayer denied because I now felt his presence behind my closed eyes, but no other sounds from the doctor.

Had she left?

“Wake up, Pet,” he said, sliding his hand down my face to my jaw.

I swallowed and opened my eyes, knowing I couldn’t feign sleep with that stupid monitor wailing in my ear at my bedside. Blinking, I tried to get my bearings.

Ferdinand’s cold stare was blocking my vision, his face so close to mine I could smell a weird metallic scent mixed with his aftershave.

“Good morning, Fallon. You certainly had an interesting night while I was away, didn’t you?”

I swallowed again, the lump in my throat making it hard to speak.

“Hello, dear,” I said, trying to regain some formality.

“You certainly deserved this punishment, don’t you think?” He gestured to my body, covered in tight blankets with heating packs.

I was hooked up to a stupid IV, but I wanted to run.

“I saw someone in need of help, and I tried to help them,” I said stubbornly, sticking to the truth because, as weak as I felt, I had no desire to lie.

He smiled, and it looked even scarier than his glare. “Oh yes. A male in distress. Silly me for not thinking my wife to be would be the first to put herself in harm’s way.”

I started to speak up, but his hand came up before I could move away.

Smack!

A palm-sized sting heated my cheek, and a metallic tang seeped onto my tongue. Fuck, my lip was beginning to swell.

I glanced down at my hospital attire. There was blood dripping down and pooling into the fabric. Wanting to touch my lip but not daring to, I knew it was busted open.

“Look what you’ve done, Pet!” he shrieked, running to grab a tissue paper and shoving it on my wound. “You made me angry, and now you’ve gotten a mark.”

I didn’t speak, and my head felt dizzy from the backhand.

“What have I told you about protecting my assets? You belong to me. I won’t have you risking your pretty little neck for some louse that managed to put himself in peril.”

I continued to stare at the blood stain, the bright red sinking deeper and deeper into the material. I wished I could sink deep into the blankets…get away from this man and everything and everyone.

Just…be free.

A nagging feeling pulled at my consciousness.

Pharaoh.

He wasn’t here.

The doctor said I had been moved from a different hospital. Was he there? And what about the doctor? Where had she gone?

“I need the doctor,” I said, feeling sick all of a sudden, nausea roiling in my gut, making me swallow over and over to avoid vomiting on my lap.

Ferdinand looked over at the closed door and back at me.

“Stay here. I will fetch your doctor.”

I eyed him cautiously, noticing his usual suit and business wear was slightly skewed. His tie was moved sideways, and ‘Nandi wasn’t one to have a hair out of place. He wore too much hair gel. His hair reminded me of a man from the 1950s.

“Sorry to have disturbed your business trip, darling. You can return to your meetings. There is no danger present now.”

He stood up to his full height, which I used to think was terrifying until I met a true giant, my professor. Now, it made me secretly smile. He leaned down by my bed and kissed my forehead, tilting my chin up to his emotionless face.

“We shall see.”

With Ferdinand looking for my doctor, I didn’t waste time. I got up and unhooked the finger monitor from my hand, pulling the bag attached to my arm through the IV off the hook and carrying it with me as I looked around the room.

I walked to the side area. A sink was there with toothpaste and a toothbrush wrapped in plastic packaging.

Sighing in relief to rid the awful taste of seawater and whatever medicine was shoved into my mouth, I ripped open the package and turned on the sink.

Brushing my teeth made me feel a bit more human.

I was too fast to put the brush back onto the counter, so I dropped the lid on the toothpaste.

“Damnit!” I cursed, getting to my knees and crawling around, looking for the fucking white cap that flew off.

It was darker in this corner of the room. I squinted, scooting on the ground with my ass hanging out in the damn hospital gown. My hand rolled over a small object, and I picked it up, standing and walking toward the light to see it wasn’t the lost cap but a pill.

My breathing hitched as I remembered the encounter with Ferdinand and the female doctor. I turned my attention to the closed door in the corner, a feeling of unease bringing a chill to my exposed body.

I snatched a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders, walking in my grippy socks over to the door. I put my ear to the cold metal, listening for anything. I expected to hear the boogeyman growling from the other side, ready to eat me.

I huffed, my chicken shit attitude getting the best of me. I definitely was not the person who would run toward the sound in the night in a horror movie. I would take off running the opposite way with my camera ready to capture the dumb fuck that went toward it.

I thought about the silence—the rattling of the shelving unit and the crashing of the bottles. The pill weighed heavy in my hand.

I took a baiting breath and pushed down the door handle.

The door wouldn’t open. It wasn’t locked, but when I pushed on the handle, it was like it was blocked by something.

The opposite door to the suite opened, and I froze. The light from the hallway was lighting me up as sure as fire.

“What are you doing out of bed, Pet? I brought your doctor.”

I turned around and looked at the man in a white lab coat. There was nothing feminine in his voice when he spoke to me.

“Good evening, Miss Summers. Your chart and recent tests show that you are doing quite well.”

I stared at the man, looking over my shoulder to the door behind me.

“Were you always my doctor?” I said, confusion lacing my foggy brain.

The doctor scratched his beard and started to speak, but Ferdinand cut him off by swiping his finger over a space on the wall.

“My god. How is anyone supposed to be healthy in a sludge-filled cesspool? Look at these walls. I demand the immediate removal of my betrothed. She is ill and clearly cannot function with the amount of filth in this place.”

I frowned and looked at his finger. It was clean.

“Uh. But, of course, Mister Grosvenor. I will have her moved to a different room immediately. She will be taken to the VIP wing. I apologize for this inconvenience and will see to it that the cleaners are called at once for this matter.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but a mill of nurses came into the door, grabbed my things off the desks, and reached for me, ushering me away.