Chapter Thirty-Six #2
“Your sisters are here. Do you want to see them? We’ll have to take turns, but I’ll force myself to leave and let them in.”
Her eyes are sad, but she nods. “Yes, please.”
I give her a soft kiss before standing.
“I love you, Liam,” she tells me before I walk out of the room.
“I love you too. Always.”
I go into the waiting room, and Sophie and Lennon both jump up when they see me.
“Well?” Sophie asks.
“Just waiting on the results of the CT scan, but she’s finally awake,” I explain.
“Oh, thank God,” Lennon breathes out and places her hand over her heart. Hunter is holding baby Aaron in his lap, but he’s listening intently to everything we say.
“She wants to see you two.” I look at Lennon and Sophie. “I told her you were here.”
The two of them argue about who’s going first, but Sophie plays the oldest sister card and wins.
“I won’t be too long,” Sophie tells her, then gets a visitor's badge and is escorted to the back. Before I can sit with the others, a detective walks up. Mason stands and shakes his hand, and I’m sure they know each other because of their professions and who Mason’s father is.
“Hi, Liam Evans?” He’s older, but it looks like he could take any of us in a fight.
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s me.”
“I’m Detective Knight.” He turns his head and looks around. “Do you have a moment to chat in private about what happened?”
I glance at Mason and Hunter. Mason gives me a head nod, and by his reaction, I know I can trust this guy.
The two of us walk into a long hallway with no one else around us other than the random person going from the vending machines back to the waiting room.
The detective pulls a small notepad from his pocket and begins with his questions.
“So the car is registered to Victoria O’Leary. Did you not change it over into your name?”
“That’s my ex-wife,” I explain. “She was coming to pick it up soon.” I blow out a breath. “I actually have to call her and tell her about this because she’s not aware.”
“Oh, alright, makes sense. Can you tell me what you were doing before the explosion?”
I go through the afternoon, about how I went to work and explained what I do for a living.
Then I tell him we had a few beers and the girls came back from being together, and how I remembered I had bought something for Maddie.
I recall every step from kissing her, to going inside, to unlocking the vehicle.
“So it blew up after you hit unlock?” he asks.
I nod. “Within seconds.”
He studies me carefully. “Do you know anyone who would have some sort of vendetta against you? Someone who’d want to hurt or kill you?”
“Considering my profession, I’d say there are a lot of people who don’t really care for me.”
“Enough to want you dead?” he asks.
My mouth goes dry as I go through the list of people I’ve brought to jail this year. “Most of them have issues. They all seemed pretty upset, but I couldn’t name any one who would go to this extreme.”
“No one?” he presses.
I think about Victoria again, but the last thing I want to do is name-drop her and bring more attention to the mob than necessary. It’d just open more drama, and she’d somehow spin it to make me look insane, but it could be her.
“No one,” I say.
“Well, here’s my card. If you think of anything or anyone, please give me a call. We'll be doing a full investigation due to the nature of the explosion. Stay safe, Liam. This is a dangerous situation until we figure out who did this.”
“Thanks, Detective.” We exchange a firm handshake, and before I go back to the waiting area, I pull out my phone, look around, then call Victoria.
Having to reach out to her fucking sucks, but I need to confront her, though I’m not sure she’d admit it anyway. Surprisingly, she answers the phone on the third ring.
“What do you want?” she asks in her typical bored tone.
Not the nicest way to answer, but not completely unexpected either.
I release a frustrated sigh and keep my voice low. “What the fuck are you trying to do?”
“Excuse me?”
“Listen. I know you tried to fucking kill me, Victoria. You planted something in the goddamn Mercedes so it would blow the hell up when I unlocked it. That’s really messed up, even for you.”
“What’re you talking about? I didn’t try to kill you because honestly, I don’t give two shits about you anymore. And what do you mean, blow up? I scheduled to have it picked up next week.”
I pause for a moment, trying to comprehend what she said. “What?”
Between gritted teeth, she speaks. “I already found a buyer. Now I’m fucking livid. Is this a fucking joke?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “No! But it’s destroyed. A piece flew and struck Maddie in the head,” I tell her, still fuming. “You sure this isn’t just another one of your childish games?”
“How dare you! Why would I destroy something I spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on? Are you an idiot?” Her voice raises an octave until she’s nearly screaming. The sound is like nails on a chalkboard. “Wait, never mind. That was a stupid question.”
It’s not healthy for her to be so upset while pregnant, and although I don’t give two shits about her, I’m not going to let her use this to blame me for her going into preterm labor or anything, so I try to be civil and end the conversation.
“I apologize for accusing you and sorry about all this. I have no idea who did it.”
“Thankfully, I have insurance on it,” she says without any compassion that Maddie got hurt. “Guess it’s not a complete loss.”
I roll my eyes. “The detectives are gonna do a full investigation, so I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
“Alright, great. Well, I gotta go. You’ve wasted enough of my time already,” Victoria snaps before ending the call.
Frustrated, I shove my phone in my pocket, then walk back to the waiting room and see Sophie has returned. As soon as she sees me, she gives me a hug. I can tell she’s upset.
“They’re gonna move her into another room soon to observe her overnight. I’m so glad you’re okay. You could’ve died, Liam.” Sophie searches my face, and I place my hand on her shoulder.
“Soph, I’m fine. A little shaken up and anxious about Maddie, but I’m okay. And she’s gonna be okay too.” I try to console her and it seems to work because she sits down and places her head on Mason’s shoulder, who wraps his arms around her.
“What did Logan say?”
“Logan?” I ask. “Oh, Detective Knight. He told me to be careful and to call him if I think of anything that may help them find who did this.”
“It’s obvious this was intentional to kill you,” Hunter speaks up, Aaron asleep in his arms.
“Yeah, and that’s the scary part. Whoever it is knows where I live.
Knows what I drive. I don’t think this is gonna be over anytime soon, and I need to get to the bottom of it so no one else gets hurt.
” I can’t bring myself to make eye contact with them.
It’s not only me who’s in danger, but my friends too.
A nurse explains they’re moving Maddie to the sixth floor of the hospital and gives us the room number.
All of us make our way to the elevator, and once Lennon’s back, she tells Sophie they’ll need to go soon because Aaron’s getting cranky.
We say our goodbyes, then Mason, Sophie, and I step inside.
Before we go into her room, Sophie stops me. “Do you think Victoria is behind this?”
“Not anymore. I called her, and she was pissed because she’d already sold it.”
“That’s frightening, Liam,” she says. “The enemy you know is always better than the one you don’t.”
“I know.” I let out a ragged breath and contemplate putting cameras outside the house. Perhaps one of those camera motion-sensor doorbells would be smart so if whoever did this returns, I’ll be able to see who it is.
Maddie’s bed is adjusted higher than before, and she grins when she sees us.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, brushing my fingers gently against her cheek.
“Like shit.” A small smile follows her words, and I offer to help adjust her pillow until she’s comfortable.
Sophie chats with Maddie, asking her what she remembers from today. It takes her a minute to recall walking outside with me.
“Wait, weren’t you gonna give me something? I imagine it wasn’t a cut to the head and a concussion,” she deadpans.
“I got you a T-shirt with a ballerina on it that I thought would look cute on you. I forgot it when I cleaned out my stuff."
She sticks out her bottom lip. “That’s sad. Do you think it’s ruined?”
Mason chuckles. “There’s nothing left but the tires and frame.”
Mason stands and stretches as Sophie yawns.
“You all should go. I’m pretty tired,” Maddie says.
“Are you sure?” Sophie asks. “We’ll stay here with you for a little while longer.”
“No, I’m good. I’ve had a long day,” she insists. “Plus hospitals suck. Those chairs can’t be cozy.”
Sophie shrugs. “Okay, if you’re sure that’s what you want.”
“I am. Go. I’ll be fine as long as they keep pumping me with the good stuff.” She closes her eyes tight, and I know it’s her head. I had a concussion a few times, and it was terrible. I was unable to focus, and felt disoriented and exhausted all at the same time.
Sophie leans over and hugs Maddie. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
The doctor walks in and looks at Maddie. “I wanted to go over your CT scan results with you. Is it okay if they’re in the room?”
“Yes, they’re family,” she says.
“There are no signs of swelling or bleeding, which is a miracle considering how hard you were hit. So we’ll keep an eye on your vitals, and if everything looks good and stays steady throughout the night, you’ll be released tomorrow.
” He pats Maddie’s hand with a small smile.
“Sounds like you took a pretty hard fall, so enjoy the meds while you can.”
“I feel like I got my ass beat.” She musters a laugh.
“Do you have any questions for me?”
“I’m good, I think,” Maddie speaks up. “Just tired.”
“You might feel like that for a few days,” he warns. “It’s normal. If you need anything or start feeling worse, let us know, okay?”