Dr. Munoz. Miss O’Meara’s surgery was successful. Barring complications, she should be fine.”
“Where will you be taking her next?” Nick asked.
“She’ll be in Recovery for a while and then up to her room. Fourth floor. You can check at the nurses’ station for her room number.”
“There will be a police guard on her room until she’s released,” Nick said.
“As you see fit,” the doctor said. “But I don’t want our other patients bothered or frightened. If need be, I can have her moved to a smaller facility that might be easier to secure.”
“Understood, sir,” Nick said.
They walked out together and parted company at the door with Nick heading to the elevator.
Back in the waiting room, Dev was too keyed up to sit still. The woman was so close, but there was no way he could get to her from here without getting caught. So, they were going to put a guard on her room. That meant his only chance to get to her would be when they were moving her to the fourth floor.
He wanted to go up now and get the lay of the area, but he didn’t want it to appear as if he was following the cop, so he waited another ten minutes while he thought things out. He had a silencer. He could pop her and whoever was wheeling her to the room just as they exited the elevator, then make a run for it before anyone even noticed he was there.
After giving the cop enough of a lead, he made his way up to the fourth floor using the stairs. He noted which elevator they used to bring up surgery patients, but when he saw how close it was to the waiting room, and then realized the cop was already sitting within sight of the elevator, he knew he had to rethink his plan. He was going to have to go through the cop to get to her. Baba would be pissed if he killed a cop, but he also wanted the woman dead, so the way Dev looked at it, his job was to do what Baba sent him to do, regardless.
With a half-assed plan in place, he entered the waiting room and saw the cop on the phone. He headed for the coffee machine.
* * *
Dr. Fuentes wasted no time getting to the Baba estate, but had no idea it was Baba’s woman he would be seeing. He’d been there enough over the past few years to realize she was something of a fixture and was horrified when he saw the shape she was in.
She was lying on her bed with her back to the door and made no attempt to communicate when he came into the room. Upon closer examination, he was shocked by the condition of her bloody back and the unkempt state of her hair and clothing. He’d need to be cautious of how he worded his questions. To his relief, Anton initiated the conversation.
“Star was in a car wreck. There are other factors concerning her condition that do not affect how you need to treat her, and we will not speak of these, do you understand?”
“Yes, of course,” Fuentes said. “Where are her injuries? If she needs X-rays I will have to have her transported to an ER, and she might require hospitalization based on the results.”
Anton frowned. It wasn’t something he’d considered, but if she had broken bones, he couldn’t ignore them. Regardless of what happened between them, having her healthy would either facilitate a cease-fire between them, or render her a whole and healthy product ready to move.
“She hasn’t spoken of any specifics except that her back hurts, which is obvious.”
Fuentes nodded, took off his jacket, gloved up and began his examination by cutting away what was left of her blouse. He hid his horror at the gouges dug into her slender back, tried to ignore the quiet sound of her weeping and kept going, checking for broken bones and anything that might indicate internal bleeding.
Anton knew the doctor was paying close attention to the change in Star’s breathing, as well as the flicker of her eyelids when he touched on something painful, but when they began to turn her over and she screamed, Anton’s heart sank. She was worse than he’d thought.
Dr. Fuentes shook his head.
“She needs X-rays for sure. There may be some cracked ribs and I fear internal bleeding. As for her back, just at a glance I see small rocks and sand in the wounds, which will require a very sterile setting to clean up. Will you please allow me to call an ambulance for her?”
Anton frowned, but he obviously had no other choice.
“Of course,” he muttered.
Dr. Fuentes cleaned his hands and then stepped out into the hall to make the call.
Anton knelt beside the bed and ran a hand down the side of her cheek.
“Star?”
Her eyes opened, piercing him with a watery blue stare.
“Let me die.”
“Then who will take care of Sammy?” he asked.
Rage flickered on her face and then disappeared.
“I am no longer his mother. You decided that. You have destroyed me. Let me die.”
He stood abruptly. She’d nailed him on that. When someone had no fear of death, he had no way to coerce them to his will. Then Fuentes stepped back into the room.
“There is an ambulance on the way. I will wait for them in the foyer.”
Anton sat down in a chair beside the bed they shared and thought about the changes yet to come.
Star was shaking. Shock and pain were moving through her in waves. The fact that Sammy had been found was such a huge relief to her that the tears she shed were tears of gratitude. And she knew something Anton had yet to learn. The two people who died in that fire were federal agents. It was only a matter of time before the Feds made their move and took him down. However, if she was still under his control when he found out, he would kill her.
A short time later the ambulance came, and the paramedics loaded Star up and took her away. Anton called for his car and a couple of his men to go with him and followed, unwilling to let her out of his sight for long.
* * *
Quinn was struggling to wake up. She didn’t remember going to bed and didn’t know where she was. All she could hear was a woman trying to wake her up. She sounded like Mrs. Treadway. Quinn didn’t like Mrs. Treadway. She wouldn’t let them have butter or jelly on their toast.
“Quinn, can you hear me?”
Quinn moaned. She was so cold she couldn’t stop shivering.
“Please, Mrs. Treadway, I don’t feel like school,” she mumbled.
The Recovery nurse smiled.
“No school, Quinn. You had surgery and you need to wake up now.”
“Cold. Hurt,” she mumbled and then tried to lick her lips. They felt swollen.
“I’ll put another blanket on you,” the nurse said.
As soon as Quinn felt the weight and the warmth of the added covers, she
