Page 83 of Unspoken Lies

CHAPTER 20

THEO

The mental institution looms large in front of me and I take a shuddering breath as I frown at it. Mr. Reyes called me to explain that Liliana is currently in a jail cell for fighting with a police officer, while Rachelle is here.

His lawyer is an hour away currently, which is why he called me to attempt to get Rachelle out of here. The law office I retain is also on the way. I have goosebumps all over my body right now because if I had been born to a family outside of privilege, I may have been committed to a place like this and had the key locked away.

No one deserves this, much less Rachelle. She’s not a danger to anyone, and I hope Mr. Reyes removes her therapist’s head from his shoulders with extreme prejudice.

“Are you okay?” Elijah asks, his voice breaking. It reminds me of when he was going through puberty one summer and his voice was all over the place. The poor kid had it rough.

“No. I won’t be anytime soon. I couldn’t find anything about her in the computer files here, nor is she even in their system yet,” I grumble. “I honestly couldn’t find much of anything when I hacked into their files. They may only have paper copies of their patients.”

“Who the fuck uses paper?” Jared grunts.

“This place,” I reply. “If I don’t get the responses I want, we are going to need to figure something else out. The Oxnard Facility for Mental Health has some of the worst reviews of any others in the state of California, but it’s one of the few long term locked down institutions as well.”

“This place gives me the creeps,” Elijah mutters. “If we can’t get her out, maybe we can find a way to get in.”

“We aren’t committing you,” Jared says immediately. “There are too many things wrong with us that they may keep you.”

“While this is true, I may be able to create a job in their system for Elijah,” I muse. “Rachel Thompson doesn’t have any family. Due to this, we can’t pretend to be a family member to get entrance. I look older than I am, which is why I’m entering as a junior associate to argue Rachelle’s case.”

“We may need our lawyers to push this into court,” Jared says. “What are the other options?”

“Rachel Thompson may need a husband,” I respond ruefully. “Someone needs to be able to check her out of here who has lawful control of her health. Under the eyes of the law, a husband would qualify as such. Secret husbands happen all the time. It would be easy for me to be able to do that, especially if the wedding happened in another state.”

“I guess I’ll volunteer as tribute as her husband,” Jared says with a smirk. I noticed the way he very clearly didn’t tack on that it was fake.

We are not good people, and while we shouldn’t be using this unfortunate situation to our advantage, we absolutely will.If Jared is her husband and we’re able to get her out of this institution, then she’s more likely to give us a chance. Manipulative or not, I’ll take her any way I can.

We own our mistakes. Rachelle can put us through hell to allow us back into her good graces, but I fully support binding her to us so closely that she’ll never be able to get away. I’ll gladly fight with her forever.

“I’ll be back then,” I promise, getting out of the vehicle and shutting the door behind me. I drove the Bugatti today, feeling the need for a little financial clout.

Our business is doing very well, and we are building a nest egg of wealth with it. None of us thought we’d see a profit this quickly, but it couldn’t be happening at a better time. I need to see how bad this situation is and if I can’t handle it myself, I know that my lawyer is ten minutes out.

Swallowing hard, I pack up all of my bullshit and begin striding across the parking lot. It’s a gloomy afternoon here, the weather taking a turn as if to mirror the current state of Rachelle’s life. The girl can’t seem to catch a fucking break.

I know that in some sense, I could be responsible for this because I brought up my concerns about her therapist to Mr. Reyes, but I was concerned. I still am because the police report states that Rachelle was injected with some type of sedative to calm her down. I have no idea what it was and if it was a sedative at all. I’m worried that there could be some kind of issue from it being administered along with everything else that she’s taking.

Pushing the button to announce my presence, I wait outside of the door for someone to answer it. The building has fucking bars on the windows, the glass of every surface is reflective so I can’t see inside. Refusing to let my face show any emotion, I nod when someone finally opens the door. She appears to be a nurse, dressed in scrubs, and she gazes at me with a pinched expression.

“I’m here in regards to a patient who was recently brought in,” I say, prepared to lie my ass off to get inside. “I’m her attorney.”

“Come inside,” she sighs. “Lawyer people rarely have any luck here.”

Stepping inside, I gaze around the drab green and white tiled floor and light green walls and stifle a shudder. There’s a desk where the nurse is returning to her seat, and I walk over to her.

“Rachel Thompson was brought in today,” I say, raising an eyebrow. “I need to see her and begin the paperwork to get her released.”

Her once sympathetic expression drops off as she gazes up at me, and I have a feeling that the canned response she’s about to give is one that’s been hammered into her skull.

“Unfortunately, as she was brought in due to neglect and harmful behavior, she’s here for at least seventy-two hours,” she says. “What is your name?”

“Theodore Zorn Holmes II,” I state, using my full name. The nurse merely purses her lips in annoyance, but I don’t care. “I’m also not leaving until I get answers. Another one of her lawyers is coming as well with paperwork to remind you of her rights.”

“She doesn’t have any rights,” the nurse says with a shrug. “In here, she does whatever we say. We are her medical providers since she fired her doctor and he made the call to get her help. Any decisions without someone who can legally show that they are responsible for her needs will be made by us.”