Chapter Sixteen
Tuesday
Rook’s hushed drawl in my ear set off alarm bells in my head. Years of working around male doctors with titanic egos had taught me never to back down when a man tried to assume power over me, even if they were the ones writing my checks. Sometimes, especially then.
I lifted my chin, my eyes sparking with challenge. “Punish me? In the same way you were punishing Beatrice in her office just now?”
“So, I have a voyeur on my hands.”
I shook my head quickly. “No! I didn’t want to see that. I’d cut it out of my brain if I could.”
The second the words left my mouth, I wanted to swallow them back down.
Too late.
His noseless features lifted with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “We can arrange that, Doctor.”
“I—”
“Shall I have you prepped for surgery?” His soft, almost sensual cadence, paired with his body’s proximity to mine, set alarm bells off in my head.
His hands clamped around my waist, fingers biting painfully into my flesh. He dropped his mouth to my ear, whispering, “I could have you on my surgery table and beneath my knife within the hour.”
Fear gripped my heart.
Was Rook threatening me with a lobotomy?
A braid of terror, anger and hatred wound tight around my lungs, making my breath run short. For a moment, I stood frozen, unsure how to navigate my way out of this safely. When his hand dropped from my hipbone down to my ass, instincts chose for me.
I shoved against his chest, pushing him. Harder than I thought possible. Dust rained from the stained drop ceiling tiles as his back slammed into the wall.
I braced for his reaction, expecting him to get angry. Instead, he donned that same unsettling grin as he uprighted himself and brushed the dust from his lab coat. “Do you feel that, Tuesday?”
“I’m feeling a lot of things right now,” I spat.
“The Treatment. It’s working. That power flowing through your veins?
That’s mine. I created it. You’ll be such an amazing asset to Saint Bartholomew’s once you’ve taken both of your shots.
My trusted right hand. Don’t get on my bad side.
Call me old-fashioned, but I’m not above administering discipline where it’s needed. ”
I swallowed. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Besides spy on me during an intimate moment? Or breaking into my private office and rifling through files you don’t have clearance to?”
“You were busy.”
“You should have made yourself known. I would have invited you to join us.”
He’d positioned himself in the doorway, blocking my only exit. I peered around him, looking into the hallway, but there was no one. Even if there was, I doubt they’d help.
Rook seemed to be the one be-all authority here. Defying him could be a lethal decision.
“I have work to do, sir,” I hedged, doing my best to keep my shit together. “You brought me here to help run your hospital. So, please. Allow me to do so.”
“You’re here because I want you here. You do what I say. Keep me happy, and you’ll have nothing to fear, understand?”
I gulped down the bile sizzling in my throat. “I understand, Dr. Rook.”
“I don’t think you do. The outside world barely knows this hospital exists. You have something to report, you report it to me. If I don’t care, I urge you to shut up and do as you're told, or make me care. Understand now?”
Sure. Either I have to be your simpering servant like Fredrick downstairs, or allow you to bend me over my desk to persuade you into allowing me to do my fucking job.
A shot of pain split my skull as my teeth scraped together to keep my response to myself. I’d make him regret being a misogynistic, power-hungry creep who deserved to have his license revoked.
And I had a feeling there was so much more he was hiding. I held onto the hope that Seventeen was pointing me to a trail that would lead me to all the evidence I’d need on Rook and his hospital.
“Oh, I read you loud and clear, Doctor.” I flashed him a smile that didn’t reach my eyes.
“Good.” He extended his hand, holding it out expectantly. “Now hand over the file. I won’t ask again.”
I paused, then handed him the file. What were my other choices? Either taking his tiny dick over his desk or his knife in the surgery ward. Neither were options.
He snatched the file from me and thumbed through it with a furrowed brow. “What do you know about Patient Forty-Two?”
“Nothing, that’s why I’m looking into her file.”
“Who told you about her?” he barked, the edge in his demand making me flinch.
Reading me like a book, he scoffed and flung the file down on his desk, papers flying loose in every direction.
“I should have known not to assign Patient Seventeen to you. He’ll use you.
Manipulate you and weave you into his agenda. ”
“And what is his agenda?”
For a tense beat, it seemed like he was going to snap at me again, but the mask he’d been wearing until today slipped back into place.
Now, I was beginning to see the cracks in his facade, to the vile creature beneath.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s a schizophrenic madman.
And he’s not a doctor here anymore. He doesn’t have clearance to our patient files, not even his own. ”
I froze. “He… He used to be a doctor here?”
“Yes. One of our best. Until he wasn’t.”
“So he killed his father while he was employed here? He was your subordinate when it happened? Why didn’t you say anything? And why is half the information missing from his patient records?”
“A regular little Sherlock, aren’t you? I found it cute at first, but it’s starting to annoy me.”
My eyes narrowed as I brindled what I really wanted to tell this noseless ghoul. “You could have at least mentioned that he was a neurologist.”
Rook’s brows kicked up. “Didn’t I?”
“No.”
“Well, what does it matter? Study him all you want. But don’t fool yourself into thinking you're helping him. That’s not your job.”
I blinked. “I’m a doctor who works at a mental health hospital. I’m supposed to help people.”
The doctor laughed, the sound cold and belittling. “If you haven’t noticed by now, Tuesday…”
He stepped close to me again, and in an attempt to keep space between us, I backed up until I was cornered against the filing cabinet. “This isn’t your average hospital. And your job is doing whatever the fuck I tell you.”
There was an awkward pause, then he nodded to the papers, the bunched muscles in his neck relaxing. “If you keep that in mind, you may do whatever you wish to Patient Forty-Two.”
I didn’t like that he kept calling a human being by their number, instead of their name. His wording didn’t sit right with me either.
“Do whatever you wish.”
Uncomfortable silence fell over the room as I gathered Barbara Reed’s scattered patient files. Tucking them to my chest, I hurried toward the door to make my exit.
Rook sidestepped out of the way, just enough so it forced my body to skim his as I squeezed past.
He snatched my wrist, smiling pleasantly at me. “Oh, and Dr. Beckett. One more thing. If I ever catch you going through my things again without my permission, I’ll lock you down in the basement with Fredrick for a week.”
Saint Bart’s pharmacist gave me the willies. Beyond that, being sentenced to work in the pharmacy didn’t seem all that bad.
As if he could track where my thoughts had wandered, Rook chuckled, his smile flashing his teeth.
“It’s worth noting that Fredrick is unique here, as he is technically both a part of my staff as well as an inmate.
He’s a serial rapist. Couldn’t stand trial due to insanity, so he’s here for life.
I wouldn’t get too close to him if I were you. ”