12. Ophelia
Itry to ignore the officer riding in the elevator with me. I guess he’s stationed there until they get my dad back to prison. Mr. Higgins stayed upstairs, and I’m glad for that.
It’s true. What Ethan and Sly told me about my grandfather and uncle, it’s all true. How has Dad kept all this from me for so long?
It explains some things, though. Or at least forces me to see them from a different perspective. How protective he’s always been of me. Why I was never allowed to get even a summer job once I was old enough, never allowed to have friends over and going to friends’ houses was such a rare treat. With Mom being gone, I thought he was just afraid to lose me, too.
The elevator doors slide open in the lobby, which is busy with activity. Hamish pushes off the wall he’s leaning against. His jaw is set tight, his narrowed eyes boring into me. Without a word, he lets me know he’s pissed but honestly, I don’t care.
I walk past him and toward the exit doors. He follows close behind. An ambulance pulls up to the curb, lights flashing, sirens blaring. Staff runs toward the entrance, and we get out of the way as they unload a gurney from the back of the ambulance and wheel the patient away.
Something drops off the gurney and I’m surprised to see Hamish hurry to pick it up and rush after them. It’s a kind gesture and I watch him catch up with a nurse just before they disappear through the doors to emergency. He hands off the item and turns back to the lobby, searching for me. I raise a hand to let him know where I am when I feel a presence at my back. I don’t know if it’s a familiar scent or something else, but a shiver runs through me, and I turn to find Ethan standing just inches away watching me.
“Phee,” he says, and when he takes a step toward me, I take one back, wondering how he knew I was here.
He puts his hands up as if he’s harmless. He’s not.
“Are you following me?” I ask him.
“Just here to have some stitches taken out, compliments of your boy Silas. But I will admit, this is lucky. You okay? Saw you hit your head pretty hard when Silas rammed his SUV into us. I swear he was trying to kill us all.”
He closes the space between us as Hamish comes up beside me. “Let’s go,” Hamish says, looking at Ethan.
Ethan barely spares him a glance because his gaze has landed on my ring finger. “What the fuck is this piece of shit? Where is the ring I gave you?” he demands, taking my hand roughly.
“Hey!” Hamish is on him before I can pull my hand away. I open my mouth to tell him Ethan isn’t worth it, but before I can, someone behind us shouts. I turn just in time to see Silas knock a woman’s bag off her shoulder as he rushes to us, his face the expression of fury. Nigella enters through the glass doors a moment later.
“Silas!” I call out as he flies at Ethan, capturing his forearm.
“You don’t touch her. You don’t lay a finger on her!”
He tugs Ethan off and shoves him backward. Someone calls for security. The officers at the elevator are already moving toward us. Hamish blocks the officers’ path while I rush toward Silas.
“Silas, don’t!”
Déjà vu. I remember when Silas tore Ethan off me that time in Ethan’s bedroom when I was sixteen, how he threw him against the wall so hard Ethan’s head left a dent. I remember what Sly told me he’d done to Silas after that, the consequences Silas bore. As the police push past Hamish, I have a feeling those consequences will be far worse now.
“Silas, stop!” I capture his arm, but it’s like he doesn’t even see me. He’s got Ethan pressed up against the wall and he’s fuming. All the while, Ethan is grinning because he sees the police approach. He knows how this will go.
“Every lash you gave her, you will take double. Every bruise, every cut, every fucking scratch you put on her, you will pay for, and when I’m done with you, you pathetic, weak bastard, you won’t walk away just like she couldn’t walk away. Except that you, you will never fucking walk again.”
“Are you threatening me?” Ethan asks loudly. “Did you all hear that?”
“Silas, let him go. Silas. Silas please.”
Nigella comes to his other side. “Silas. You get arrested now, there will be nothing I can do to get you out of jail, you hear me?”
“What kind of man beats a woman? What kind of coward?” Silas asks Ethan.
“Silas.” I manage to squeeze myself between them, wrapping my arms around Silas’s neck, feeling Ethan’s fingers dig into my waist. “Take me out of here. Please. Silas get me out of here.”
He looks down at me as if seeing me for the first time, as if just realizing I’m right here.
“I need you to take me home, Silas. Now!”
“Home?” Ethan snorts.
Silas wraps his arms around me and lifts me away, turning right into the path of the waiting police officers.
“Let’s go,” Nigella says, stepping between them and us.
“You should arrest him. He’s a danger to society. He kidnapped her!” Ethan is yelling. “It’s all over the fucking news.”
“My client did no such thing. This is his wife.”
“Wife?” Ethan calls out. “Are you fucking serious, Phee? That ring… You fucking married this bastard?” He grabs my arm and it’s lucky he does because the officers stop looking at Silas and turn their attention to Ethan.
“Ma’am,” one asks me.
“He’s my husband. He didn’t kidnap me.”
“I’m taking my client out of here,” Nigella says.
“You fucking cunt!” Ethan calls out.
“Sir, you’re going to need to calm down,” an officer tells Ethan, and Nigella and I use that opportunity to drag Silas out of the hospital, Hamish following close.
“You’d better drive,” Nigella tells Hamish. “And you,” she turns to Silas. “You just keep yourself at home and try not to get arrested in the next twenty-four hours.” She looks at me, eyebrows raised.
“I’ll make sure.”
“Good. I’ll be there soon to go over the clusterfuck your husband has made of his life. Now get him out of here before the cops change their minds.”