Since I have time between afternoon calls, I open her notes to see what happened before I joined the meeting. The notes are impeccable as usual.
She loves to antagonize me, no question, but there’s no disparaging her work quality.
She calls me Wardhole throughout the document. Did she clean it up before she sent it to anyone else?
It’s another fucking eye roll, but I prefer the whole senior staff not knowing me as Wardhole. That juvenile Warden nickname they fling around behind my back is bad enough.
Holly’s right, though.
I did my share of stupid crap in my youth, especially before I enlisted in the Army. A decade older and so much wiser, and I still do stupid shit.
I almost married Maria Duchessny, for one, only the most self-absorbed witch on the planet.
Apparently, I also can’t shut my yap when it involves repeatedly savaging a gorgeous, smart, and talented young woman. Even if I can’t stand Miss Holly, perhaps I’ve been too harsh.
With the worst of securing the Winthrope contract over, maybe I should back off.
Lighten up.
Can I handle being less of a Wardhole? Her nickname almost makes me smirk for once.
I hate that I haven’t seen her since she bit my head off in the lobby.
We need to clear the air.
I open my door to call her into my office, but her desk is empty.
Not just hers, I realize a second later. There’s some kind of commotion.
People dart around the lobby like confused bees. Eerily quiet. When someone speaks, it’s in hushed tones.
Something’s very wrong in this office.
My eyes assess the situation, trying to suss it out.
After watching two people run in and out of Grandma’s office, my heart begins to pound. I sprint across the lobby and burst through her door, eyes flicking over the scene and—
My fucking pulse stops dead.
Grandma lies on the floor, a contorted, pale mess that looks more like a crash dummy than the living, breathing, vibrant woman who gave me my world.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I’m going to lose it.
I want to move, but I don’t know how, my brain rabbiting into the darkness.
She raised us. She raised me. Is she—no, she has to be okay.
We can’t lose her.
Think, dammit, a voice barks in my mind.
My hand knots into a fist. Sweat beads on my brow. Something squeezes my chest so tight any air is crushed out of me.
I’m not sure how much longer I can stay vertical. I take a few clumsy steps forward and rest my hand on her desk for balance.
Then Nick appears in a stricken rush at my side.
“Ward? What happened?” His voice is thin, terrified.
It’s also the kick in the ass I need to hear my little brother scared.
I take a deep breath, hold up one finger, and become myself again. The oldest. The protector. My voice is low and shaky, but it works. “Paige?”
I don’t get tripped up on formalities. This isn’t the time.
“I just...” Her whole body moves with the next compression. “I found her like this.”
Nick starts past me. I throw up my arm to keep him back.
“No. Paige has it. Let her try.”
“But—”
“Nick,” I growl.
The one-word admonition has always been enough.
His face goes slack. “You think she’d leave us with someone we barely knew?”
I know what he means, but at the same time Miss Holly is working her fingers to the bone, and I want to defend her.
“If you can’t stay calm, you can’t be here. They need space. Keep it together for Grandma. We have to,” I grind out.
Nick nods woodenly, moves to a wall, and slumps against it, ruffling his shirt.
Paige takes a deep breath and presses down on Grandma’s chest again. Right now, I wish I had a shred of first aid skill, but I wasn’t a medic.
I turn to the door, my legs pure concrete, eyes searching for some way to help.
“What can I do?” I force out. My voice is low, ragged.
“Already called 9-1-1.” A few seconds later, Paige lets out a long sigh. “She’s okay. I think. She has a pulse.”
She collapses against Grandma’s desk with her knees up, head resting on them, taking deep breaths.
“How do you know?” I ask.
“She’s breathing.” Paige catches her breath and stands.
“She is?” Nick straightens up.
Paige picks up Grandma’s arm and checks her pulse. She smiles. “Yep. Feels stable enough and she has a steady pulse.” She grimaces. “But it might be a little slow.”