Chapter 2. The Night the Boss Was Sent Outside

“Leo is your nephew?”

“My dead brother's son.”

She could smell blood. Evelyn looked at his collar. Beneath the dried stains, parts of the fabric were still wet. She lifted her chin as he came closer.

“Did you go near him wearing that?”

His gaze stopped.

“You're questioning my clothes?”

“Did he see that blood? Change first. Where's the person who gave him the medication?”

A nearby guard's hand went to his holster. Evelyn saw it. She wanted to step back. But she couldn't stop thinking about the update relayed to her earlier. They hadn't given the boy any more medication, but he'd woken up and started hurting himself again.

“What did you give him today, and how much?”

Dane didn't answer.

“Get whoever administered it. I need to check the last dose first.”

He lowered his head. With his eyes so close to hers, Evelyn's jaw tightened.

“So you are scared.”

“Yes. You kidnapped me.”

Dane looked at the guard beside him.

“Bring me a change of clothes. Stay out of the boy's room.”

“I still need to see him. Move.”

He stepped aside in front of a narrow steel door. When a guard tried to enter first, Dane blocked him with an arm. The others followed only after Evelyn had passed through.

They told her the facility had been converted from an old quarantine station. Everyone called it the fortress. Evelyn looked for exit signs. There was a steel door at the end of the left corridor and an elevator in the opposite direction. Inside the elevator, Dane stood by the doors. He kept his right arm close to his body the entire time. The floor indicator changed to a basement level.

A scream reached them as the doors opened.

Dane ran first. Evelyn gathered the hem of her coat and followed. At the end of the corridor, a nurse stood holding an empty cup, staring at a door. The doctor beside her covered his notes when he saw them.

“Did you give him more medication?”

As Evelyn asked, Dane seized the doctor by the collar.

“You said he was calm.”

He drew a handgun from his waist. The doctor pressed back against the wall. Evelyn swallowed and called to Dane from beside his raised arm.

“Let him go. I need to hear what he has to say.”

“You heard him. He did this to the boy—”

From inside came the sound of a child's head striking something. Evelyn turned toward it, then looked back at Dane.

“I need to check the medication. If you stop him talking, you put the child in danger.”

Dane lowered the gun. When the doctor tried to slip away, he pinned his shoulder to the wall. Evelyn took the notes from the nurse.

“Tell her everything you did. In order.”

The doctor began with the latest dose. When he named a drug that wasn't on the chart, Evelyn looked at the nurse. She nodded.

Evelyn wrote the name in a blank space. The screaming stopped. As she went to the door, Dane moved with her. His hand reached toward it, close enough to brush her arm, and her body stiffened. Instead of retreating, she took the place in front of the handle.

“Open it. You wait outside.”

Dane didn't move aside.

The child was crying inside. As Evelyn reached for the handle, his arm blocked her.

“He's my nephew.”

“Then look at who he's frightened of right now.”

His eyes narrowed. Evelyn looked through the gap in the doorway toward the child.

6-year-old Leo was curled beneath the bed. Scratches and bite marks overlapped on his wrists, and an overturned water cup lay on the floor. A padded wall panel had come loose, exposing the spot where his head had been hitting.

Evelyn took a step inside.

“Leo. I'm a doctor. My name's Evelyn.”

“Don't come.”

She stopped. Her relief that he could speak lasted only a moment. His sobs grew shorter, and his eyelids kept drooping. Again and again, terror gave way to his head sagging forward.

Evelyn beckoned to the nurse. Watching the boy's responses, she asked when the last medication had been given. There had been another dose after the time recorded on the chart.

“Bring that too. And whatever medication is left.”

Dane moved behind her.

“Leo. It's your uncle.”

The boy's eyes landed on his black clothes. Before Dane could even bend his knees, Leo flung himself backward.

Evelyn pulled the padding into place. In that moment, Dane caught Leo by the shoulders.

“It's me. Stay still.”

Leo ducked his head and bit the back of his hand. Dane sucked in a breath. As his arm jerked back, Evelyn spoke at once.

“Don't pull away. You'll hurt him more.”

He held his arm still. Even after the boy let go, blood seeped from the back of his hand. Dane tried to use that same hand to stroke his hair.

Leo retreated farther beneath the bed.

A guard who had followed them in picked up a leather strap.

“We need to at least keep him from moving—”

“Put that down.”

Marco, the head of security, looked at Evelyn. Bracing a hand against the wall where the boy could strike his head, he asked,

“What if he hurts himself again?”

“Block that spot. We don't need the strap.”

Evelyn pointed to the loose panel. After a moment's hesitation, Marco handed the strap to a subordinate. He lowered his large frame and held the padding in place.

Evelyn made room for the nurse to come in, then stepped in front of Dane.

“Go outside.”

“He recognized me.”

“He recognized you and still pulled away.”

His face hardened. Evelyn looked at the back of his hand. He hadn't even pressed anything against the bleeding wound.

“For now, keeping your distance will help him. We can work out why once he's stable.”

Dane moved his arm. Leo's shoulders hunched. Dane lowered his hand to his knee and tried to call to him once more, but the boy buried his face in the bedding.

He went outside, drawing his jacket closed so the child couldn't see him take out his gun.