3. ALEX #2
“She’s alive,” he replied. The tension broke all at once, and the air seemed to loosen.
“We had to put her into a medically induced coma. Danielle suffered multiple severe injuries, and her body needs intensive time to heal without the strain of movement or pain. When she wakes, the trauma may cloud her memory, so don’t try to push her for information right away.
The best thing you can do now is hope and pray for her recovery, and that she remembers something useful. ”
The edges of my rage had been smoothed over by the doctor’s report, but the rest of it still burned like magma begging to erupt.
The words she’s alive kept repeating in my head as I contemplated my next move.
Losing our parents had almost destroyed me; if I lost Danielle, too, there’d be nothing left.
For a moment, I just stood there feeling my heart pounding before I forced my hand into my pocket to find my phone and call the chief.
He answered on the first ring. “Chief here.”
“Danielle made it out of surgery. She’s alive. But she’s in a coma while she heals.”
“Thank God,” he let out after a long, burdened sigh. “I’m relieved to hear that. And you, Trase? Are you okay?”
“I will be once I find that bastard.” My reply was cold and sharp, as if I wasn’t myself. I could feel the hatred beneath my skin now, red-hot and uncontainable. If I ever crossed paths with Landon again, I wasn’t sure I’d be able, or willing, to hold back.
“Slow down, Alex.” Chief was firm enough with his tone that I knew he wouldn’t let me get away with anything unless it was exactly by the book.
The last thing I wanted was him taking me off my own sister’s case.
“There will be a time and a place for all of that. Right now, we’re doing everything we can to find him.
Your place is there with Danielle. No matter how long it takes, you have my blessing to stay. We’ll handle the rest.”
“Thank you, Chief. I’ll check in later.”
As I ended the call, a nurse approached and motioned for me to follow her.
As we reached Danielle’s room, my feet halted at the threshold, unsure if I could handle what waited for me inside.
The nurse noticed my hesitation and offered a steady, reassuring hand. I took it, allowing her to lead me in.
Danielle lay motionless, almost at peace, yet her body told another story—bruised, bandaged, broken. She looked both resilient and fragile at the same time. The only comfort I could find was knowing she didn’t feel the pain right now.
As the nurse slipped out of the room, I pulled a chair up beside the bed and cupped the exposed fingers that peeked out from beneath her cast. Lowering my head to rest beside her, the weight of the unfolding events broke through like a tidal wave.
I wept aching sobs that she’d never hear.
Words of apology and regret stopped uselessly at the tip of my tongue, stopping themselves from leaving my mouth, and the fear that I might never get the chance to say them to her gnawed at my chest.
-
The days started to blur together as I kept vigil at Danielle’s bedside, not once leaving the hospital. The sunlight crept into the room, but I was too exhausted to welcome the day.
I just need a few more minutes of sleep.
Before I could drift back into the inevitable, uncomfortable sleep, a faint voice broke my will to drift off.
“Hey, bro,” Danielle’s unmistakable voice whispered as she tried to turn her head toward me.
My chest tightened until it felt like my heart would shatter beneath the sudden, fierce pressure before undoing me.
All week, the doctors kept warning me that it could be weeks or longer before she would wake.
Yet here she was, greeting me with easy humor, as if she hadn’t been dangling between life and death.
I yelled for the doctor, then slipped out into the hallway to make a call to the precinct. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I dialed.
“Chief here.”
“She’s awake.” That’s all I could say as my throat tightened around the words. “Is there any news on Landon?”
“We don’t have much to go on yet,” Chief admitted, frustrated. “We’re trying, Alex. It’s like the kid just fucking disappeared off the face of the earth.”
I clenched my jaw in an attempt to contain my anger. “Are you serious? It’s been a week, and we know as little as the day it happened? How the fuck am I supposed to keep her safe, Chief? How can I promise her this won’t happen again? Give me something…anything.”
“We did speak to Landon’s brother, Liam.
Thankfully, he’s not cut from quite the same cloth as Landon, and he’s done everything he can to help.
He saw Landon the night it all went down.
Landon stole his car and gave him enough cash to buy another, but he didn’t say a word about where he was headed or what he planned to do.
There was one thing he gave us to go off. ”
The Chief went silent for a beat, and I knew he was hesitating. Instinctively, I knew whatever came next would be something I didn’t want to hear.
“What did he say?” I pressed.
The Chief sighed, low and measured. “There’s no easy way to put this, Alex. Landon told Liam he was going to come back for Danielle. He said he was going to ‘win her back.’ His words, not mine.”
“Excuse me?” My mouth shouted the words before I could reel it in, drawing stares from everyone in the hallway. I dropped my voice to a harsh whisper. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know yet, and Liam doesn’t either,” the chief replied, “He’s told us everything he knows, Alex.
He’s nothing like Landon; he’s a good kid, and he says he’ll help in any way he can.
For now, you need to keep Danielle in the hospital.
She’s safe there, at least while she’s healing.
If we haven’t found Landon by the time she’s ready to leave, we’ll figure something else out. ”
“Unbelievable.” I hung up, running a hand over my face as I stared up at the ceiling, searching for answers that wouldn’t come.
How the hell was I supposed to tell her any of this? After everything Landon had done that I failed to protect her from, there was no fucking way I could give her false hope by saying it was over. After everything she’s been through, I couldn’t even offer her the basic comfort of safety or closure.
The realization hit me hard: maybe I’m right.
Maybe I can’t be the one to keep her safe.
If Landon were out there, he’d expect that I’d never leave her side.
That predictability made us both vulnerable and made it a hell of a lot easier for Landon to devise a plan.
Maybe I needed to trust someone else, someone Landon wouldn’t see coming.
Cody. He was the only person I trusted with Danielle’s life, even if she’d never met him. The idea wouldn’t go over well with her, and it didn’t sit right with me either, if I was being honest with myself, but my options were running out. I had to get a plan in place and get this over with.
I steadied myself and started walking back towards the room. The moment I reached the doorframe, that nauseous feeling came back. How could I tell her all of this, knowing she didn’t have even a shred of fragile hope in her? The words caught in my throat, refusing to come out.
I slipped back into Danielle’s room and caught her discreetly questioning the doctor about what had happened.
I recognized her tone immediately. She was probing, searching for details, trying to piece together what everyone else might already know.
Most of all, she wanted to find out if I knew Landon was behind this.
I couldn’t let her keep guessing, couldn’t keep pretending. Stepping forward, I interrupted.
“With all due respect, Doctor,” I said, “I think this is a conversation Danielle and I need to have in private.” I met her eyes, bracing myself. “Danielle, we need to talk.”