by Rachel Blake
“As I’ll ever be.” Embry nodded, her eyes meeting his as she straightened her spine.
The short trip down the hall had them face to face with an officer as soon as they rounded the corner. “Ms. Worthington, I’m Detective Garner. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?”
Embry saw Maverick open his mouth to respond and stand up for her, to demand time, but she beat him to it.
“Actually, you’re going to have to wait until after I find out my father’s condition and make the necessary decisions for his health. If you still need to speak to me at that point, my lawyer and I will be happy to talk.” She smiled up at Maverick, and he steered the two of them around the reddening officer. “How was that?”
“I’m proud of you, Angel, but if you ever dismiss me like you did the officer, I’ll paddle your ass.”
Biting her cheek to keep her smile at bay, she turned to the sliding glass doors, where two more uniformed officers stood at either side. “Is this Ross Worthington’s room?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” one of the men answered.
“Are you at his door because you think he could be in more danger?” Embry questioned.
“Protocol,” the other officer said.
“If this is protocol, why isn’t anyone standing guard at V’s door?”
“Angel.”
Embry ignored Maverick, choosing to stare down the men in front of her. “Why aren’t you at V’s door? From what I’ve been told, she was attacked much the same way as my father. Doesn’t she deserve the same protection?”
Maverick wrapped his hand around her upper arm and pulled her a few steps away. “The police department offered a protective detail, Ezra turned them down.”
“Ezra?” Embry asked, subtly trying to pull her arm from his grasp.
“Her husband. He hasn’t left her side since they brought her in, and he’s still listed as her next of kin, so the choice was his.” Maverick explained, his brow moving toward his hairline as she continued in her attempts to free her arm from his hold. “Now, I think it best we find your father’s nurse and get the answers to our questions before the officers decide they need the answers to theirs first.”
Before she could respond, a man dressed in a pair of dark blue scrubs poked his head out the glass doors and interjected, “I believe I’m who you’re looking for. If you’ll step in here, I’ll be able to tell you what I know of your dad’s condition.”
“Father,” Embry immediately corrected as she moved into the room.
What assaulted her first was the constant beeping of the heart monitor, then she took in the pale form resting in the bed. First was the tube in his mouth, then the maze of tubes and wires that came from him in all different directions.
“What’s his condition?” Embry questioned, her eyes not moving from the rise and fall of his chest.
“We have to run more tests, but there was extensive damage. The trauma to his head was devastating,” the nurse shared.
Embry’s eyes instantly went to him. “Devastating?”
“Yes, ma’am. We need to run the other tests to see the extent of the damage.”
She felt as if she was going to be sick, but Embry knew she had to ask, knew she couldn’t simply push it away.
“Is he able to breathe on his own, or is the machine doing it for him?”
The nurse’s eyes dropped to the floor for a second before he looked back to her. “At this point, the machines are doing it for him. The tests will show us if there’s a chance he’ll be able to breathe on his own again.”
She didn’t know what to do. Part of her wanted to walk away, leave the room, and never come back, but she couldn’t, no matter how much she tried to convince herself it was all he deserved. She was a better person than that. “How long will the tests take?”
“The doctor has ordered an angiography and an EEG to test his brain activity. We’re just waiting for them to come get him.”
“Okay, so we wait for the tests.” Embry caught the look that passed between the two men. “You’re not expecting this to change anything.”
“Angel.” Maverick gave her hand a squeeze.
“No.” Embry pulled her hand from his as she turned to the nurse. “I need to hear him say it. I need to hear from him to make it real.”
“You’re right.” A sad smile played on the nurse’s lips. “At this point, we believe it to be a formality. We don’t think the test will tell us anything we haven’t already determined.”
She wasn’t sure what she would feel when her suspicions were confirmed, but it wasn’t the sense of calm that took over. The need to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life was gone, but a new concern rose within her.
“Who did this to him?”
“That’s not a question I can answer for you, but I think the officers in the hall may have some ideas.” He nodded toward the door a second before he moved to leave the room.
“Wait.” Embry swallowed hard but met the nurse’s eyes. “What about his organs? He was a shit person, who made everyone in his life miserable, but if these tests come back as you expect, I want to be able to say he did some good with his life.”
“We can discuss that more when the tests come back, but I think he would be able to help a lot of people.” This time, the nurse’s smile was genuine when he walked out the door.
Maverick pulled into his arms as soon as the door shut behind the other man. “You don’t have to make that choice now, Angel. You can take some time. Figure out what needs to happen. Plan things.”
“No.” She snuggled deeper into his chest, wrapping her arms tighter around his middle. “No, if the tests come back and there’s nothing left for him, I need him to do this. I need him to do something good in this life, even if it wasn’t by his own choice. I need to know he wasn’t put here with the sole purpose of torturing my mother and me, that there was a reason we endured it.”
His nod was answer enough. She didn’t need him to speak or tell her she was right, she just needed to know he was there for her, and he was showing her that by simply holding her.
They stood there for a few minutes before a clearing of a throat had his arms stiffening around her.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have a few questions for Ms. Worthington.”
Maverick didn’t let her turn, holding her strong, and spoke over her head, “You can ask her those questions when she’s ready, and only after you answer a few of hers.”
“George.” She looked up at him, loving that he was standing up for her, but knowing she needed to get this over with and as fast as possible. “It’s okay.” Turning in his arms, she faced the detective from earlier. “But he’s right, I need some answers first.”
“We don’t have many,” Detective Garner stated, looking her dead in the eye as he lied through his teeth.
“I really hope you don’t play poker because your tell is far easier to spot than you think it is.” Embry shook her head when he opened his mouth. “My father used to take me to games and trained me from a really young age how to call a bluff. Until the other players caught on, anyway.”
“Noted.” Garner’s voice lacked any compassion.
Embry didn’t waste any more time. “Do you think my father’s attack is connected to V’s and Parker’s?”
“At this point, we’re not entirely sure,” the detective hedged.
“That’s a yes.” Embry moved on to the next question.
“When did this happen?”
Flipping through his notes, the officer read off the time. “911 was called at 1439 this afternoon.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Embry looked at the watch wrapped around her wrist. “It took more than three hours for me to be notified of my father’s state? What if a life-threatening decision had needed to be made? What the hell took so long?”
“You’re not an easy woman to locate, Ms. Worthington.”
Embry curled her lip at the obtuse detective. “That’s the point when you�
��re hiding from the man who had abused you your whole life and, when he ran out of money, tried to sell you to the highest bidder in order to gain access to my trust fund.”
Garner studied her face for a few moments before turning to look at the man lying in bed. “Why didn’t you come to us?”
“I tried when I was a kid, but it turned out, my father has a few of your brothers in his back pocket.” Embry watched the man carefully.
“Those are not brothers of mine. Those are imposters lying in wait.” When the detective finally looked back to the couple standing in front of him, his expression was slightly softer, understanding. “There was one thing left at the scene where your father was attacked. A note.”
“A note? What did it say?” Embry questioned.
“Wait.” Maverick held up a hand, shaking his head slightly. “So, it isn’t connected to V and Parker’s attack?”
“No, we believe it is, but with Parker having seen nothing and Violet still in a coma, we don’t have much to go on.” The detective rubbed his hands over his eyes before he continued, “The thing is, we think you’re the connection.”
“Me?” Embry felt the color drain from her face as her belly started to roll. “Why me? What does anyone have to gain in doing this in my name?”
“You mentioned a trust fund before.”
Her feet were moving in an instant, taking her to the trash can near the bed, and emptying the contents of her stomach in a few hard retches. Breathing heavy, Embry closed her eyes against the tears threatening her ability to hold it together. “I don’t want the money. Whoever this is can take it if it means they’ll stop hurting people.”
“They’re not sure it actually has anything to do with you or the money, Angel,” Maverick said as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.
“It’s a lead we have to follow, but at this point, it’s just that, a lead.” The detective knelt beside her and offered up a wad of paper tissues.
“Thanks.” Embry wiped at her mouth before allowing them to help her from the floor. “What did it say, the note?”
“You don’t have to know that, Miss.”
“I don’t have to, or you won’t tell me?” Embry crossed her arms over her chest, offering a little too much arrogance for a woman who just vomited.
Garner didn’t even have to look at his little notepad to rattle off the message left with her father’s maimed body. “‘I tried to warn her.’ That was all the note said.”
“You think I’m ‘her?’” Embry questioned.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The detective’s conformation had Embry kneeling next to the trash can once more.
***
A little round medal was the only proof Embry had of the bit of good her father had done in all his sixty years of life, and it was by no choice of his own. She had had to make the decision if not for him, then for herself. She hadn’t suffered for all those years for nothing.
Hell, she hadn’t even known how old the man was until she had started signing all the paperwork involved with removing someone from life support. God, she’d lost track of how many times she’d signed her name, but she hadn’t lost track of the number of people she had been able to help with the decision she’d made—29. Because of her father, twenty-nine people were helped, something she was damn proud of, and she hoped against hope, he was happy with it, wherever he was.
Chapter Twelve
Embry looked around the office she’d been given. It wasn’t very big, but it was hers—her very own office, not a cubical in the middle of an otherwise open floor plan, an honest to God office.
Gone was the constant drone of the conversations, the ever-present clicking of keyboards were a thing of the past. She had her own office, where she got to put her degree to work, with the knowledge the money she was earning was her own.
It had been a month since she had been forced to make the decision of her father’s fate—one month. It felt like it had only been yesterday, but Maverick kept telling her that’s what happens when you feel safe—the past doesn’t seem so long ago.
Granted, she still had a guard following her around at all times, but until they were sure the attacks didn’t have anything to do with her, she was stuck with him. Eden’s orders.
She smiled at the framed photo sitting on her desk, a gift from Prim when Embry had finally taken her down last week. Staring back at her were three smiling faces—Maverick, Prim, and her, smiling the broadest of all. It sounded stupid, but she loved that photo. She had never had anything like it before. Hell, she’d never had people to take photos with before. Yeah, she’d had the single snapshot of her and her mother, but those smiles were forced, demanded by her father, so the neighbors thought they were a good, loving family. Now, her phone was filled with photo after photo of smiling faces, every one of them genuinely happy.
Then why did it seem as if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop? Her mind wandered back to the line of guards she had following her at all hours of the day. Someone was still out there, and they had no idea what they had ‘tried to warn her’ about.
A knock on the open door pulled her from her head.
“George, what are you doing here?”
“One of the other employees had a court hearing, so I thought I would pop in and see my girl.” Maverick smiled as he leaned against the door frame. “I love what you did with the place.”
Looking around the office, she quirked a brow, “You mean nothing?”
“Last time I saw this room, it was filled with boxes and spare chairs.”
“You’ve always sucked at beating around the bush. Did something happen? Did they find who’s doing all of this? Did they confirm it’s all been about me?”
“Take a breath, Angel. I haven’t heard anything, and I don’t think they’re right with that lead. Hell, I’m not convinced it was the same person.”
“The note left with Parker and V could have blown away, it was windy that day.” Embry reverted back to her tried-and-true argument with ease.
“I know, Angel, but that’s not why I stopped. I stopped because I realized we’ve been a couple nearly two months now, and I have yet to take you out on a proper date.”
“That’s not true. We’ve been places.”
“Oh, yeah?” Maverick quirked a brow as he came into the office and quietly shut the door behind him. “Name one place we’ve been other than your apartment and my house.”
“We went to Eden’s place just the other night.”
“As did everyone else who works for her. I hardly think going to the monthly barbeque at your boss’ house counts as a date.”
“Alright then, Mr. Grandgeorge, tell me what counts as a real date?”
“I think I should take you out on the town. I pulled a few strings and got us tickets and a reservation at one of my favorite places in the city. What do you say?”
“I don’t know.” Embry pretended to think about it for a few seconds. “What will I wear? And my hair.” She touched the brown mass she had pulled into a bun at the top of her head. “I can’t get it to cooperate.” She hadn’t finished talking before he was rounding the desk and scooping her out of her chair. When she was on her feet, she tried desperately to school her features.
“Mr. Grandgeorge, this is a place of work.”
“I’ll show you a place of work.” Without missing a beat, he pushed her down, so her top half rested on her desk. “This is a place of work.”
As she opened her mouth to reply, his hand fell on her ass. “Hey.”
“Oh, do I have your attention now, Angel?”
“Well, to be fair, you’ve always had my attention, I was just mocking you a little. Ow.”
Holding the squirming woman in place, Maverick let his hand fall on the same spot six times before moving to another area of her ass. “I’ll teach you to mock me when I am trying to be a gentleman.”
When his hand moved to the crease below her ass, she started backtracking,
“Okay, I�
�m sorry. I won’t mock you anymore, I promise.”
“Hmmm…” Hand still resting on her ass, he paused. “Are you making this promise because you’ve learned your lesson, or you don’t want me to spank you here?” He pinched her sit spot.
“Um, will my answer determine whether you’re done or not?”
“Possibly, but either way, you better make sure to tell me the truth, or this playful spanking will quickly turn into a punishment.”
“Have I ever lied to you?”
“Never.”
Embry smiled at his instant response, happy to know he believed in her honesty. “It’s a combination of both. I think I’ve learned not to push when we’re in a semi-private setting because you’ll still spank me. I’m not saying I’ll never do it again, but I learned my lesson for today. Also, I really don’t want you to spank my sit spots.”
She rested for a moment, chewing on her lip, waiting for his verdict. He’s probably checking out your ass in your slacks. The thought had her stifling a giggle.
“Is something funny?”
“No, Sir. I was just thinking about you checking out my ass while you had me bent over the desk.”
“It’s a fine ass.”
The snort that escaped was anything but ladylike. “You’re such an ass man.”
Maverick palmed her cheeks.
“Damn straight, I am.”
Looking over her shoulder, it took everything she had not to stick her tongue out at him.
“Me pointing it out to you was not an invitation for you to play grab-ass with me.”
“Oh, but I love playing grab-ass.”
“How about you do it on your own time, Maverick?”
The sound of Eden’s voice had Embry trying to sit up.
“No, stay where you are,” Maverick ordered, putting pressure on the small of her back, so she had no choice but to do as he wanted.
“George!” Embry gave him wide eyes over her shoulder before turning back to her boss. “I’m sorry, Eden. George, let me up.”
“I suggest you stop making demands before he decides to take offense and light your ass on fire.” Eden smiled as she crossed her arms over her chest.
