A walkie-talkie pings. “House, come in,” a man says.
Declan wipes his mouth and picks up the unit. “House here.”
“Your uncles are at the gate.”
My heart goes into overdrive, forcing me to gasp. I’m a moment away from a panic attack. His uncle saw me. Watched me from across the table where we sat together on the yacht.
Maybe he won’t recognize me. Can I take that chance? Hell no. I’d rather die. Which might happen anyway.
Before I die, I might pee on the chair. My hands shake, and the fork rattles against the plate.
Dina frowns. She doesn’t know why I’m freaking out. Nobody knows why I’m freaking out. Only I know. I must get ahold of myself.
“Come again?” Declan says.
“Your uncles are at the gate.”
Connor puts his fork down. “What are they doing here?”
I must leave before these men get here. How can I just bolt out of the manor? What if Cassian Macarley recognizes me and shoots me? Poor Hanna.
“I didn’t call them,” Declan says.
The brothers lock eyes, and you could cut the tension between them with a knife.
I colored and cut my hair. I changed the shape of my eyebrows, but I have no idea how much Cassian remembers from that night.
I force myself to stand on shaky knees. I hope my knees don’t fold and I don’t fall on my face. I can’t fall because my baby needs me to get it together. “Welp, that’s my cue to leave, I guess.”
“What do you want to do?” Declan asks Connor.
Connor grips the plate. Under the pressure of his fingers, it breaks. Blood drips from the cuts on his hands.
Dina leaps out of the chair, but I’m already there, grabbing the cloth napkin and telling him to wrap it over the two deep gashes that are bleeding the most. “Do you have bandages?”
“A first aid kit,” Dina says.
“I need stitches,” Connor says.
I can’t tell yet if he does or not because he’s fisting the napkin and barely containing his anger. “Can you do it?” he asks me.
I don’t answer because I don’t know what to do anymore. “What do you want me to do?” I ask, my voice small and weak. There, I asked him what to do. I asked for help.
“On your way home, you’ll bring me to the hospital, where you’ll stitch me up.” He stands so quickly that the chair flies back, hitting the glass wall behind him, making it shake. “Bye, guys,” he says. “Tell my uncles I better not see any of them near me for the next twenty-four hours, or they’ll find that precious doctor of theirs face down in the fucking river!”
“Take care, brother.”
“Handle them, Dec.”
Declan nods. “I will.”
Connor grabs my getaway bag, which doubles as a diaper bag. “Get the baby. Let’s go.”
“What is happening?” Dina asks. “Why the hospital? Declan has a first aid kit. Ekatia can stitch you up here.”
“Her name is not Ekatia!” Connor shouts.
Hanna makes a sad face as if she’ll cry. The four of us stand there staring at each other.