Chapter 34
S he sat back in bed with a sigh of frustration. “I want to do more.”
The hospital’s physical therapist shook her head at her. “No, that’s enough for now. You don’t want to push it.”
“But I barely did anything.”
“You’re less than four days post-op,” the woman said. “You’re doing amazing and you can’t push it or you’ll go backward.”
“But?”
“Devi,” Hayes said warningly. Then he gave the woman a nod. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t overdo anything.”
The other woman gave him an assessing look. “I’m sure you will.”
Devi narrowed her gaze at the physical therapist. What was she doing eating up her fiancé with her eyes?
Well, he’s not really your fiancé.
She had to keep reminding herself of that. It would be all too easy to fall into the dream that was Hayes.
The physical therapist left and Devi huffed. “She has no idea what she’s talking about.”
“Devi,” Hayes said sternly. “You will be doing exactly what she told you to do.”
“I don’t like her, though.”
Yes, she was aware that she was acting nuts. But she didn’t want the other woman near Hayes.
He leaned forward and grasped her good hand. “You don’t have to see her again after we leave. But you do have to listen to what she says.”
Well. That sucked.
But hopefully she could leave tomorrow. The doctor had made it sound like it was a possibility.
And she really wanted to get out of here. There was no privacy and she was feeling claustrophobic.
However, she was still weak and tired. So fending for herself was going to be a bit of a shock to the system.
She’d cope.
She always did.
There was a knock at the door and she glanced over as it opened and the detectives from the other day walked in.
“Do you normally just walk into a woman’s room without waiting to be called in?” Hayes asked. “What if Devi had been getting changed?”
Detective Brown scowled. “Well, she’s clearly dressed, isn’t she?”
Detective Williams looked slightly embarrassed.
“I’ll be sure to let Devi’s lawyer know about your views on walking into a woman’s private space,” Hayes said.
Her lawyer?
Oh, did he mean Gwen? But Gwen wasn’t her lawyer and she honestly seemed to have more to worry about. Devi would prefer Gwen focused on Rohan rather than her.
“Her lawyer? Why the hell does she need a lawyer if she’s innocent?” Detective Brown demanded, his face growing red.
He really should get his blood pressure checked.
“Is this what you do to female victims?” Hayes asked. “Have you done this before? Barged in on them without notice? Trying to catch them in a vulnerable position?”
Whoa. That seemed a stretch.
But then she looked closely at the detective’s face. He looked . . . guilty.
Okay, now she didn’t feel so bad about Hayes siccing Gwen on him.
Asshole.
“You have no right to accuse me of anything!” Detective Brown said. “Coming in here, throwing your weight around. What? Is she that good in bed? What happens once you leave? Huh? And she’s all alone?”
“Is that a threat, detective?” Hayes said, standing and getting between her and the older man.
Devi peered around his wide body to look at Detective Brown.
“Because you do not want to threaten Devi,” Hayes added. “You threaten her, then you answer to me. I’m not a vulnerable woman who you can intimidate. I’ve lived through things that would make you piss your bed.”
“That was a threat to me! You heard him, Gray,” he said to the other man. “I could arrest you.”
“Oh, shut up, Barry,” the younger detective said.
Detective Brown gaped at him. “What?”
“I’m sick of you using the law to bully people. That’s not why I became a cop. And I think you better leave.”
“Why should I leave?”
“Because this is my hospital room and I don’t want you here,” Devi said firmly.
Oh. She’d just surprised herself. But she was tired of people pushing her around.
“I’m a cop,” Detective Brown said. “You can’t kick me out.”
“Do you have a warrant? Are you here to arrest me for something?” she asked.
He said nothing so she was going to take that as no.
“Then get out,” she told him firmly.
“Leave, Barry,” Detective Williams said tiredly. “You’re making things worse and this is difficult enough as it is.”
The older man glared at them all and then huffed. “What? Telling her that her deadbeat father was found murdered shouldn’t come as a fucking surprise to her.”
“Get out!” Hayes snarled. “And you’ve fucked things up now. Your career is over. I would go home and pack your stuff because your life is going to become utter hell.”
“You just threatened me! If anything happens to me it will be on you!” Detective Brown said, spittle flying from his mouth as he spoke.
“I didn’t threaten you. No idea what you’re talking about,” Hayes said.
“Nice try, but Gray is here,” Detective Brown huffed.
“I didn’t hear him threaten you,” Detective Williams said.
“W-what?” Detective Brown gaped at the younger man.
“Leave!” Detective Williams barked.
Detective Brown turned and strode out, slamming the door behind him and making her jump.
She let out a pained moan.
“Shit, baby. Are you all right?” Hayes turned to her. Picking her up, he sat on the chair with her on his lap.
“I’m okay. I just moved too fast.”
He cupped the side of her face and drew her head back so he could look down into her eyes. “I didn’t just mean physically.”
Right. He was talking about emotionally too.
Because that asshole detective had just told her that her father had been found . . . murdered.
Devi sucked in a breath and waited for the sadness to hit her.
But it didn’t.
There was horror at what he might have gone through. And maybe a bit of regret at the loss of the father she could have had.
Devi turned to the detective. There was some sympathy on his face.
“Was it . . . how was he found? I mean, where, and did he . . . how did he die?” She knew that she wasn’t making a lot of sense. She couldn’t even manage to get a full sentence out.
“I think it’s best I don’t go into too much detail,” the detective said.
Right.
Because that meant it was bad and he didn’t want to upset her.
“A member of the public found him when they were on a trail walk with their dog. It seems that his body had likely been hastily dumped.”
“Have you been able to find the assholes who kidnapped him and hurt Devi?” Hayes asked.
“They’ve yet to be located,” Detective Williams said.
“If you hear anything from them, please let me know right away. I’ll leave you my card.
I’m sorry about my colleague. If you wish to file a complaint, I will support you.
” His face tightened. “I’m getting tired of making excuses for his behavior. ”
“He should have been stopped a long time ago,” Hayes said.
The detective just nodded.
“What about the body? Do I have to . . . to identify him?”
He shook his head. “Not necessary. But there will need to be an autopsy before the body can be released.”
“Do I have to take care of that?” she asked. “The body? A funeral?”
Detective Williams appeared startled. “Urgh, yes. Next of kin normally arranges to have the body sent to a funeral home.”
“I just . . . I don’t want to deal with it.” She closed her eyes. What was she doing? She couldn’t just run away from her responsibilities.
That wasn’t the way that life worked.
“I’ll take care of it,” Hayes said.
No, no. That wasn’t fair. She would argue with him about that. But later.
“I need to tell my brother,” she said to the detective. “It’s not fair if he hears about it from someone else.”
“I’ll message Gwen,” Hayes told her.
The detective nodded. “Here is my card if you need anything. Do you know when you’re getting out of the hospital?”
“Hopefully tomorrow,” she told him.
His face tightened and he nodded. “Be careful, Devi. The men who took your father, they are violent and vicious. You need to make sure that you keep yourself safe.”
“Don’t worry, Detective,” Hayes said. “That’s my job now.”
What if these guys came after her? What if they hurt anyone who was near her?
Oh God.
However, she said nothing in front of the detective. Once he was gone, though, she turned to look at Hayes.
She was scared and feeling kind of numb.
The future was terrifying. And it had never really been that certain or safe in the first place.
“Hayes?” she asked. “What do you mean that it’s your job to keep me safe? How long are you staying?”
“Not long,” he said as he typed something on his phone. “I’ll be going home as soon as you’re out of hospital.”
“Oh, right.”
So he’d keep her safe until then.
“I think we’ll drive rather than fly. It will take around ten hours without stops. But there’s less chance of you getting bumped by people. And I hate flying.”
“You do?” Her mind was spinning. What did he mean by we ?
“Yeah, I don’t like not having full control.”
His phone rang before she could question him further and he answered it.
“Derick’s body was found, did you know that?” he asked whoever had called. “Have you got any leads on them? Do you need anything? Yeah. Okay. Good.” He ended the call.
“Who was that?” she whispered as he sent another message.
“Hmm? That was Zander. I wanted to make sure he’d heard about Derick. He and his team are still searching for Fury and those assholes. They think they dumped the body and fled town.”
A strange noise left her. Something that sounded like pain.
Hayes froze and then set his phone down before turning her carefully in his arms. He cupped her chin, staring down at her with searching eyes.
“I’m sorry, baby. That wasn’t thoughtful of me. Are you all right?”
“I think so.” She still felt odd. But then she’d felt odd since she’d woken up in the hospital.
As though all of this was happening to someone else. Like she was just a participant in a play. It felt like her emotions were becoming more and more diluted as each thing happened to her.
“You think so?” he repeated.