“Veronica! It’s me.” Viv squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn’t expected the sound of her sister’s voice to make her want to cry. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. We’re fine. What about you? What’s going on?”
Viv glanced over her shoulder. The police were a few yards away, having their own conversation in low voices. She didn’t trust that she wouldn’t be heard.
“A lot,” she said. “Mr. Romano is some crime lord. Hopefully, he’ll be in jail soon, but just in case… go somewhere safe, okay?”
“I got your message. We’re at Cruz’s parents.”
Viv sighed in relief. Cruz’s parents lived over two hours away.
“Where are you?” Veronica asked. “I’m coming to see you.”
“I’m at the hospital. Well, actually, I’m on my way to the police station, but then after that I’ll be back here.”,
Unless the police saw through her story and arrested her for lying.
If that was a thing. Was that a thing?
She’d never had anything remotely close to a brush with the police, and her understanding of Florida law was vague at the most.
“Why are you going to the police station?”
“To give a statement. After that, I’m back here. Markus is… hurt bad.”
Veronica made a sympathetic noise. “I’m leaving now. I’ll see you soon.”
The ride to the police station turned out to be the most nerve-wracking part. Viv had to ride in the back of a squad car, which made her feel like a criminal.
At the station, she went over her story again, this time with a couple detectives in the room. She was asked a lot of questions about her time at HW and her relationship with Mr. Romano. Near the end of it, she thought they might arrest her for breaking into Mr. Romano’s office, but apparently since she still had an access card and was technically still on the HW payroll, the cops weren’t concerned.
Besides, they had bigger fish to fry.
Thank God.
“I’ll take you back to the hospital.” Officer Harrison nodded at the door as everyone else dispersed. “Unless there’s somewhere you want to stop first.”
“No.” She jumped to standing. “I need to get back there. Thank you.”
“You don’t want to stop at your home? Maybe get some clothes?”
So that she could ditch the too-warm jacket, one of the cops had given her an oversized T-shirt from the lost and found.
“Do I need to return this shirt?”
“Nope.”
“Then, no.” Viv took the first step to the door. “I really need to get back and find Markus.”
A tiny smile flickered across Officer Harrison’s face. “He’s a lucky guy, to have a girlfriend who loves him this much.”
On the ride back to the hospital, Viv sat on the edge of her seat. After gushing her thanks to Officer Harrison, she jumped from the car and ran through the main entrance.
“I came here with Markus Sinn,” she said in a rush to the young man behind the front desk. “I need to see him. The nurse on the, I don’t know, maybe the third floor told me she could help me.”
As she rambled, Viv realized exactly how little information she had.
The man nodded, though. “I’ll look him up, and I’ll let you know when you can see him.”
“Thank you.” She nearly melted against the counter in relief.
“Viv!”
She turned at the sound of Veronica’s voice. A second later, and her sister’s arms were around her. They hugged tight, Viv feeling on the edge of breaking for maybe the hundredth time.
Veronica drew back to study her. “Your face.”
Viv touched her cheek and winced as her fingers grazed a sensitive spot beneath her eye.
“I haven’t looked in the mirror.”
“It’s not bad.” Her smile was forced. “It’s only a bruise.”
“Are Cruz and the kids still at his parents’? They’re staying there, right?”
“Yes. They are. I basically had to sneak out, though. I called Cruz after I was on the road and told him I was coming back here. Let’s sit down.”
Veronica led Viv to the rows of chairs in the waiting area.
“He must be freaking out.” Viv sighed and plopped onto a chair.
“He wants answers, that’s for sure.”
Viv cast a look around them. There were only a few other people in the waiting area, and none of them seemed the slightest bit interested in what the two sisters were discussing.
Taking a deep breath, she launched into the story, beginning with returning home the morning before and finding Markus in her parking lot. By the time she had finished, it felt like a big weight had been lifted. She no longer had to carry what had happened on her own.
“But everything will be okay.” Veronica squeezed Viv’s knee. “They’ll go to that building and find whatever Mr. Romano has there.”
“If he still has something there.” She winced, hating to be pessimistic.
“If not, they have a real ID to connect to Dagger. He’s wanted for other things.”
“True.”
“You look hungry,” Veronica said, eyeing Viv closely.
Viv laughed—which took her by surprise. She wouldn’t have thought she could laugh with Markus in the hospital.
“I am hungry,” she admitted. “I haven’t eaten much at all.”
“And now you’re eating for two.” She grinned broadly.
Viv smiled as well, but her happiness came to an abrupt halt when she remembered she had no clue what kind of father her child would grow up with. A handicapped one? A dead one? She’d still received such little information.
“I’ll get us something from the cafeteria.” Veronica stood. “You stay here in case there’s some news.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Before she could leave, though, a determined woman in scrubs came out of a pair of double doors and beelined toward them. Viv rose but kept her hand on her chair’s back, not trusting her legs.
“Vivian Thomas?” The woman looked between the two of them.
“Yes. That’s me.”
“I’m Doctor Hanson. I operated on Markus.”
“Oh.”
Yep. There went her knees. Knocking already.
“Pleased to meet you.” Veronica put her arm around Viv’s shoulders. “I’m Viv’s sister. How is Markus?”
“The operation to remove the bullet shrapnel was successful. However, Markus received a great deal of stress from both the injury and the operation. As a result, he’s in a coma.”
“A coma?” Viv repeated dumbly. “For how long?”
Doctor Hanson hesitated.
“It’s uncertain. He could wake up tonight. He could wake up next week.”
The room spun. “Or not at all,” Viv said.
“Right now our focus is on providing him all of the support he needs. What happens next is uncertain, yes.” Again, she paused. “I’m sorry.”
“Can we see him?” Veronica asked.
The doctor nodded. “Yes. Right this way.”
She turned back toward the double doors. Veronica gave Viv an encouraging look, and together they began walking in the direction of an uncertain future.