9. Mark My Words #3
"So, I take it you're a friend of Iris's, then? Not Nash?"
"Yes, Iris and I became quite close in the last few years."
"The last few years—" Ash cut his words off when Iris blinked her eyes open and let out a light cough. The action sent her throat bursting with pain.
"Iris!"
"Lily!"
Both of them spoke at the same time. She smiled wanly at them, watching bemusedly as they both rushed to her bedside. Before she could say anything else, an elderly woman with blonde hair wearing a doctor's coat strode in.
"Ms Blackworth, so wonderful to see you up. I am Dr. Bryne." She bustled around the side of the bed to wrap a blood pressure cuff on her arm. "How are you feeling?"
Iris could do nothing more than stare at her numbly as she tried to process how she was feeling.
"Sore," she finally croaked out. Her throat protested the action. It felt like fire, and she weakly reached up with her hand to caress it. The doctor saw the motion and smiled sympathetically. Her brown eyes were warm as she reached over to grab a cup with a lid and a straw.
"I'm sure that hurts. We had to intubate you during surgery and that can often leave some pain behind." With smooth movements, she raised the bed up slightly and helped bend the straw to her mouth. "Here, sip this. The cold water will help soothe the abrasions."
Iris sipped gratefully. The water, contrary to the doctor's words, burned on its way down. But, regardless, Iris was so thirsty that she relished the cold water.
The door opened violently, and Nash strode in like an avenging angel. He closed the distance between the door and her bedside in three long strides.
"Iris—" His words were choked off, his eyes had violence swirling in their depths. He looked like a man barely holding it together. His eyes cut over to the doctor.
Dr. Bryne gave him a pinched smile, clearly unhappy to see him.
"She is doing better than we could have hoped.
All the organs that were damaged look like they are coming back as strong as ever, according to her most recent blood work.
The fact that she woke up on her own is a wonderful sign after her head wound.
Vitals are all good. All she needs now is rest."
Nash's muscled were tight, bunched up like he was ready for the next attack. At the doctor's words, they relaxed ever so slightly. He nods his head, "Thank you, Dr. Bryne."
"Now—"
"Get out. All of you. I need to talk to my wife." Nash dismissed them all with an arrogant scowl thrown at them. Daisy huffed, but scooped up Dhalia, who was sleeping on a couch in the corner of the room. With one small smile sent Iris's way, she was gone. Ash was another matter.
"She's not your wife!" Ash barked. "I'm her brother. Her actual next of kin. I have a right to be here."
Nash, faster than her eyes could track, spun around and slammed his curled fist into Ash's stomach. Ash let out a pained grunt, and then slowly fell to his knees.
"Carson," Nash barked out. The same man that posed as the photographer to lure her away walked in. With one casual sweep of the room with his eyes, he bent down and lifted her brother from the floor by a harsh grip on his arm. He nodded his head on his way out, dragging her brother behind him.
"Sir," were his only parting words.
Dr. Bryne looked red in the face. Whether from fear or anger, was anyone's guess. But Iris would have put her money on anger. She stiffly walked out of the room. She paused at the doorway and sent a cold glare over her shoulder.
"The nurses will need to come by within the hour. I would appreciate it if none of them faced abuse just doing their jobs."
Nash remained silent, staring at her until she finally left and closed the door behind her. Nash collapsed into a chair near the bed and then gently cupped her face.
"I was so afraid, so afraid I lost you." His words were shaky, filled with emotion she never heard from him before. "Sarah is in police custody. She was high as a kite on some hard shit. Tweaking out of her mind."
Iris blinked at him, the only action that didn't hurt. Slowly, she twisted her hand so her palm laid face up. He took up the silent invitation immediately. His much larger hand enveloping hers.
"You'll be safe now. I have increased security. You will never be alone outside of the penthouse." Her brow furrowed.
"Why?" she croaked. "She's locked up, right?"
"She's locked up, yes." His words were bitten off.
As if they offended him. "But from what I was able to dig up in the past few days is that she wasn't working alone.
She was acting on someone's orders. Someone drugged her out of her mind, took advantage of her anger at you, and then orchestrated you going into the alley all alone.
That wasn't Sarah. She was just the weapon.
Someone went through a lot of trouble to kill you. "
Iris felt her eyes bulge. "Who?" Her words were a mere breath in the room. "Who would want to kill me?"
"I don't know," he growled. "But when I find out, I'm going to kill them. Mark my words."