Chapter 36 Dissolution #2
Kate blinked again, her eyes gradually focusing on the familiar furniture, the soft glow of the lamps she’d left on. Her suite’s living room. The throw pillows she’d arranged that morning.
“How did I… I thought I went to the restaurant for dinner?” She frowned, confusion knitting her brows together, her head stuffed with cotton.
Zach strode through the open connecting door, his massive physical presence pulling her attention to him like gravity. The doorway shrank around his broad shoulders. Why was that door open? “Hi, Zach.”
With a soft sigh, Zach kneeled beside Nick, his calloused fingers enveloping her wrist with quiet authority. His hand was warm, steady, his thumb finding her pulse point with practiced ease.
“Hi, Kate. How are you doing tonight?” His tone was gentle, the careful softness you’d use with a cornered animal.
“I don’t know, Zach. I’m confused. I thought I went to the restaurant, but then I was here, and Lena’s here, and Nick came in, and the door is open, and I don’t know why the door’s open.” The words spilled out in a rush, her voice rising with each phrase.
Kate’s mind was a whirlwind of confusion; her thoughts fragmented and scattered like puzzle pieces dumped on a table, refusing to fit together into any coherent picture.
“You’re in shock, honey.” He held her gaze with steady blue eyes even as he spoke to the others. “Nick, find a blanket for her. Lena, can you get a glass of water? Kate, your pulse is racing. I need you to slow it down. Breathe with me, ok?”
Kate nodded, but her hands wouldn’t stop trembling, shaking like leaves in a strong wind.
Her breath came shallow and fast, her chest rising and falling in quick, inadequate gasps.
Her vision blurred around the edges again, the room going soft and hazy, and the sweat on her forehead was cold and clammy despite the warmth of the room.
“You’re safe,” he said again, softer this time, his voice a comforting rumble. “In through your nose. Out through your mouth.”
She tried, her breath hitching, swallowing down the rising nausea that clawed at the back of her throat. “I—I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve had anxiety before, but this feels… different.”
Zach studied her—his eyes sweeping over her face, her posture, cataloging details with clinical precision. Then he paused, his gaze narrowing on her arm, his brows drawing together.
He reached out and turned her left arm to the light, his grip careful but insistent. Near the upper inside, barely noticeable against her pale skin, was a faint, irregular patch of residue, sticky-looking, as if something adhesive had been there.
He brushed his thumb over the spot, his touch feather-light. “Kate, did anyone touch you after you left here? Brush against you? Bump into you?”
Kate blinked, trying to wade through the fog in her brain. “What?”
“I know it sounds strange, but try to remember.” His voice remained patient, coaxing.
She searched her memory, digging through the haze. “Mario—he took my cart. I went inside. Yes, I think so, in the lobby. A man. He muttered ‘sorry’ and kept walking. Why?” A thread of fear wove through her confusion.
Zach ran his finger over the spot again, his jaw tightening minutely. “Because this looks like the remains of a transdermal patch.”
“What does that mean?” Her voice trembled, her stomach dropping.
“It means someone may have tried to drug you through your skin.”
“What?” Nick snapped, jaw tight, his voice sharp as a whip crack, as he settled a blanket around her shoulders with hands that shook. The soft fleece was warm, smelling faintly of lavender.
“I’m not saying it worked—but the symptoms match: confusion, pupil dilation, disorientation, memory loss. I’ll run a tox panel, and David can pull the footage. But someone touched her deliberately.” The words hung in the air like a threat.
Kate took the cup handed to her with shaking hands, water sloshing close to the rim, sipping as Nick sat beside her, his thigh warm against hers. Her mind began to clear, the fog lifting in patches.
“Are you back with us now, Kate?” Zach continued speaking in that soft, gentle tone, watching her with unwavering focus.
“I think so. What happened? Why don’t I remember? I swear I went to the restaurant for dinner, but I don’t remember anything after that. Wait, did you say I was drugged?” The words sounded absurd even as she said them, like something from a thriller novel, not her real life.
Kate pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to gather the fragments of her memory like scattered photographs.
A dull ache throbbed behind her eyes, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
Her stomach clenched, frustration and confusion adding to her nausea.
She rubbed her forehead, making small circles, the motion the only thing keeping the rising panic at bay.
Her chest tightened, heart hammering so fast it left her shaky and spent, hollowed out by the effort to hold herself together.
“It’s the shock, honey. Don’t worry, it’ll come back in a minute. Breathe.” Zach shifted his gaze to Lena, who gracefully kneeled beside him, her skirt settling around her like a flower’s petals.
“Kate, you did come to the hotel. You came to the lobby and heard Jessica yelling at my clerk. Do you remember that?” Lena’s voice, soft and laced with concern, soothing as a balm, reached her through the confusion.
A flash of something in her mind. A blonde in a red dress. Anger burning hot in her chest. Applause echoing. “Red dress.”
“Yes, Kate. Jessica was yelling at my desk clerk, and you intervened.” Lena smiled, her eyes crinkling warmly. “You were brilliant. Mr. McHenry even gave you a standing ovation.”
A rush of images—the lobby’s beautiful rattan furniture gleaming under crystal chandeliers, the polished marble floor reflecting light like water—flickered into her mind before her memory flooded back in a sudden, overwhelming wave.
“Oh, my god. I remember. I can’t believe I did that.
” She was so mortified, heat flooding her face.
“And then I freaked out on you. I am so sorry, Lena.”
Lena’s warm smile crinkled the corners of her eyes, genuine affection shining through. “Stop apologizing. Now, how about you tell us what set this all off? You said you had a shock this afternoon, and that you might be leaving tomorrow.”
With a sharp intake of breath, Zach’s gaze snapped to hers, his eyes filled with concern and remorse, his face draining of color. He didn’t think he caused it, did he? Her fingers squeezed his, still wound around her wrist, their warmth a surprising comfort, an anchor in the storm.
“My publisher dropped me. Callie called earlier. Someone filed false complaints that I stole my current book series from them. My entire series is frozen. No, they froze sales of all of my books, not just this series, even though Deanna gave them my copyright paperwork.” The words sat bitter on her tongue.
Kate stared at her hands, her knuckles white where she gripped them together, not looking at anyone as she waited for their reaction to her being fired, the silence deafening, pressing against her like a physical weight.
Zach’s fingers tightened, his grip reassuring. “Kate, do you think this is related to the warning you got?”
She jerked her head up, her muscles tense, every nerve alert, and met Zach’s questioning eyes just as Nick’s menacing growl, “What warning?,” sliced through the air like a blade.
“You think it’s connected?” Relief and concern warred in her chest, unsure which emotion was right, which one to trust.
“I do, especially now.” Zach turned to Nick, his expression unreadable, controlled. “Kate told me this afternoon that she got a note a few days ago telling her to go back where she belonged, and that was the only warning she’d get. With everything else going on, she forgot about it until today.”
His gaze met hers again, steady and certain. “Isn't freezing sales of all your books an overreaction?” Kate nodded, hope flickering like a candle flame. “I’ll get Ghost on it. See what he can find out. If it’s related to all the other stuff, we can get it cleared up.”
Kate’s muscles loosened as tension seeped from her like air from a balloon, a sigh escaping her lips, her eyes remaining locked on Zach’s. “You think so?”
“Yes, Kate, I do. Now, I think you’re stable, so I’ll leave you to Nick while I get my kit. I want a blood sample. Lena, you can take the cart. Someone can fetch it later.”
Zach gave her fingers a final, fleeting squeeze that conveyed reassurance and promise, before he released her hand and rose to his feet with fluid grace.
Lena smiled at Kate, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder with warm fingers. “You call me if you need anything.”
Kate watched them go; the quiet settled around her like the eye of a storm she hadn’t meant to unleash. The silence felt fragile, temporary.