LOGINLucien Lucien held Michael’s hand, tears threatening to stream down his face. His brother recognized him. After ten years—a decade of wondering what it’d be like when he found him—Lucien was trembling with emotions he couldn’t control. “Michael,” he said softly, glancing at the door for a beat. Dr. Ashcroft had given him an hour before the nurse had to come and get Michael’s vitals. Which was good, because he didn’t want anyone else overhearing what happened that night. His brother blinked twice, to signify that he was listening. Lucien squeezed his hand gently. “I need to talk to you about something important.” He exhaled sharply, his chest hot and heavy with anticipation. This was it. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. It’d been a long time coming, but now that he was here, he was nervous. More than he’d been, even when Gerald bought him a one-way ticket, and he kept glancing over his shoulders as he walked through the airport checkpoint, half expecting cops to show
Lucien “You’re leaving?”Lucien stood outside Jonah’s room, his hands tucked into his pockets, a soft breath leaving him. “I’ll be back,” he told Eveline gently. “What about when he wakes up?” She asked, worriedly, rocking on her heels. Her eyes were slightly swollen from crying earlier and her bottom lip was trembling with panic. “It won’t take long. I just need to check up on something. But in the meantime, I’ve asked a good friend—the doctor who was with me during the operation—to keep an eye on him.”She bit her cheek, reluctant. His fingers curled in his pockets, his restraint slipping. He’d hugged her in the waiting room hours ago, but she was spiraling and everyone could see. Jonah was stable now, and if he initiated contact, it could lead to rumors. Not that he cared about that. When did he ever give a fuck what people thought about him? They’d done it in risky places too, and even then, he wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if someone caught them. But things were…somewha
EvelineEveline paced back and forth outside the operation ward doors, in the waiting area, her fingers tapping incessantly against her thigh. She whirled around when she heard a noise, her heart slamming hard against her chest, with a mix of panic and anxiety, but it was just a small girl dropping her train toy on the floor. She bit her tongue as a fit of anger took over, holding herself back from taking out her frustration on an innocent person. It wasn’t her fault. The little girl’s mother was seated beside her, her hands covering her face as she sniffed softly. She’d been sobbing quietly for the last hour—her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. They were waiting for a loved one too. Stuck in the same boat Eveline was on. But Eveline hadn’t sat down in…how long was it since her dad had been wheeled in? He held her hand as they led him through the hallway, his eyes bright and filled with hope. “You don’t worry, pumpkin. We’re going to spend so much time together once I’m out o
Lucien Patrick whistled low and long, shaking his head as he pulled back from his laptop, his arms crossed over his chest. “Yup,” he nodded at Lucien. “You were right to be worried. “If you’d inserted this—” he picked up the drive, holding it out on his palm, “—into your system, it would’ve not only downloaded a malware right away, but if you were connected to the hospital’s WIFI, it would’ve worked its way through and infected every single connected device.”So, his suspicion was right. It was more than a suspicion, though. Lucien had been almost certain that his nephew didn’t have a change of heart hours after getting his ass handed to him. And he knew that if there was evidence to convict Gerald—to put him behind bars for a very long time, there was no way it fell into his son’s hands. If it was that easy to get, Lucien wouldn’t have spent ten years—a fucking decade, trying to connect the dots and build a case. It was a setup. However Shane got his hands on the flash drive,
EvelineEveline raced through the hospital’s lobby, her lungs burning and her eyes stinging from the breeze that slapped across her face as she ran through the parking lot.She weaved past a patient, almost collided with a family that had a small child walking in front of them, and slammed into the shoulder of a doctor, stopping long enough to offer a split-second apology.“Hold the elevator!” she shouted before she even got close. She could hear the doors closing already—and it sounded like gravel coming down hard, delivering judgment, except it was her father who was getting sentenced.Please God. Please don’t let her be too late.Lucien had brought her dad in this morning because they needed to monitor him before his surgery. They wanted to make sure his vitals were stable and that nothing went wrong. Nothing that could ruin the day Jonah had been waiting—through numerous tests, checkups, prodding, other procedures—for years.And since he was Jonah’s primary doctor, he had to be t
EvelineThe bright morning sun hit the glass windows of the busy coffee shop downtown.It was the day after Lucien had dragged her out of Shane's apartment.Eveline sat at a corner table near the entrance, her hands wrapped tightly around a hot paper cup. Her phone lay on the small table right next to her hand.An hour ago, a text message had popped up on her screen from a number she didn't recognize at first. Surprisingly, it was Shane, asking her to meet him in public so they could talk one last time.She almost deleted it and blocked the number immediately. Her wrists still had faint red marks under her long sleeves where the ropes had dug into her skin.Every single part of her body told her to stay far away from him. But curiosity and anger had won the argument inside her head. She picked a crowded coffee shop right in the middle of the city center during peak morning hours.There were dozens of people sitting around, talking loudly, drinking coffee, and typing on laptops. If he
Eveline wasn’t sure how she got from the bar to this spacious, luxury high-rise apartment with the glass walls that overlooked the city’s skylight. But the stranger standing in front of her was looking at her like he wanted to devour her whole. “Something tells me this isn’t something you do on
Eveline The key turned with a muffled click, a sound drowned by the one that stopped Eveline cold in the foyer. It wasn’t the television as she’d thought. It was a low, rhythmic wet sound, punctuated by a sharp guttural gasp she knew intimately. His gasp. Her overnight bag slipped from her numb
“Miss Storm.” Eveline stood rooted to the spot as he walked into the room, a polite smile on his lips. He walked over to her, stretching out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Roswood. I’ll be handling your father’s case.” She couldn’t say a word. Her lips wouldn’t move and her brain wen
The elevator doors opened with a soft chime, and Eveline rushed out, panting softly. She’d run through the parking lot—from the free spot she found to park her car, through the hospital lobby, narrowly avoiding a man in a wheelchair and an IV hooked to his arm, barely making it into the elevator be







