Kyros lost interest, it would keep me—and more importantly, my loved ones—safer. However, there was the small issue of not being fully informed and the extra restrictions he’d put in place in my mind during the exchange.
… Then again, if I posed a security risk already, Kyros would compel me further whether I liked it or not.
Which made it sound a whole lot like I had zero choice in the matter.
“I’ll take you in,” Laurel said, pulling up.
Leaving Fernando to park, she led me through the hospital and spoke with a nurse, introducing me as Rhys’s girlfriend.
We followed her through a set of swinging doors down a long ward.
“What were the police told about this?” I asked Laurel in undertones.
She didn’t break stride. “Clan Fyrlia altered the street footage to cover their tracks. All that remained was you and Rhys walking down the street prior to the altercation. Kyros told the police you weren’t willing to give a statement.”
My stomach flipped. “I didn’t know he did that.”
“At the moment, this is just an assault charge against three unknown men.”
At the moment.
The nurse directed us into a quiet and dark ward with a large nurses’ station in the centre. Rooms lined the perimeter. She stopped outside a room in the far corner and turned to me.
“I’m sorry to say that your boyfriend took a turn in the night. He came in with a crush injury that shattered his sternum and dislocated seven ribs. There was damage to his lungs and heart. He woke briefly after surgery, but our specialist has placed him in an induced coma to keep his stats level.”
My breath came fast and shallow. Not just a reaction to her words. It was this place. That Rhys could be in here when last night he’d been happy and laughing and calling me fascinating.
“I didn’t tell you to upset you,” the nurse said, eyeing me. “I tell you because Rhys is attached to a lot of machines right now. They’re helping him to breathe and monitoring his stats. Sometimes seeing a loved one like this is a shock, but Rhys is still there, and he needs you to be strong. You must always be positive in his hearing.”
“Okay,” I said hoarsely.
She smiled grimly and led the way into the dark room.
Her warning couldn’t have prepared me for the sight.
I stopped just inside the doorway, horror rooting me in place. “Oh god, Rhys.”
The nurse cut me a stern look, and I clamped my lips shut, recalling her warning.
He looked so fragile.
So small.
His face was pale—nothing like his bronzed complexion yesterday. All manner of flashing and blinking machines were plugged into him. So many wires and stands that I had no idea where they started and ended or what they were for.
A vase of flowers sat on a corner table.
“His family was here?”
How could they even leave his side when Rhys was like this?
The nurse drew the covers high to cover his shoulders. “I encouraged them to take care of themselves for a couple of hours. They’ll be back soon.” She threw me a curious look.
“New girlfriend,” I explained. “I haven’t met the family yet.”
I stared at Rhys again and forced myself forward to the bed.
“I’ll give you a few moments,” the nurse said. “Please keep your voices low and calm.”
Eyes closed, I listened to her leave. Laurel took a seat by the door, not uttering a word.
“Rhys,” I whispered past the lump in my throat. “It’s Basi.”
I listened to the sluggish blip of his heartbeat on the monitor. So slow. His chest beneath the bedspread was misshapen. A chest wasn’t meant to look like that.
The Tonyi triplets. They did this to him. Vissimo did this to him. Because of a stupid fucking game.
“You’re going to get through this,” I told Rhys fiercely. “You’ve got to make your own way, remember? You’ll end up richer than your mum and dad, and you’ll be proud of every cent of that money.”
I wanted to beg him to come back. Fuck. I so desperately wanted to say sorry, but those were words to make myself feel better. They wouldn’t help him recover.
I sniffed hard, squeezing his limp hand. “I’ll be back tomorrow to see you. I’ll bring some of that champagne and we can pick up where we left off. Well, maybe not exactly where we left off.”
Smile brittle as glass, I leaned forward and kissed his gaunt cheek. “Until then, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
The nurse startled as we passed a station in