had happened after he left? She had felt a little warm and her eyes were red, but she hadn't once told him that she didn't feel well. He pounded his hand against the steering wheel.
Idiot. Why would she tell you after what you said to her? He put his foot down on the accelerator, increasing his speed.
The nearest hospital was about ten minutes away. She'd better not die on him before he apologized.
After serious consideration, he'd realized that Shaundra would never cheat on him with Yori. Every day she tried to show him that she loved him with her mind, her touch and certainly her body. And she had chosen him over the more sexually advanced Yori and married him. She had given up her home, partial citizenship and left her kids to follow him to a country where she couldn't even speak the language. He felt like such a fool. It was just a dance, and had he not put his business before her, he would have been there to go clubbing with her.
Shaundra had never asked him for anything, but she had unselfishly given him her everything. If they made it through this, he promised that he'd be more attentive, less jealous and even apologize to Yori. Don't let her die, he prayed.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and Ichiro quickly answered it. "Yes."
"Where the hell are you?" Satoshi. He sounded very upset.
"About five minutes away from the hospital."
"Get your ass here now. They're asking us questions we can't answer, and they can't do anything for Shaundra without a family member's signature."
"Tell them I'm on my way." He paused. "What happened?"
"No time to explain. Just get here to the emergency room." Satoshi hung up.
Ichiro looked down at his phone. He had twenty messages.
He was in deep trouble.
He didn't even remember parking his car or locking it.
Ichiro dashed into the emergency room and ran to the desk.
"My name is Ichiro Yoshida. My wife was just admitted."
The triage nurse looked at him oddly and then looked over toward the waiting room.
Ichiro looked around. Yori, Satoshi and Takumijo stood against the wall. They weren't even wearing disguises.
Yori nodded at the nurse. What the hell had happened when he left?
"Your wife is in pretty bad shape, Mr. Yoshida. We need you to fill out some forms and we need to see your insurance card."
He didn't have time for all of this. His wife could be dying behind those double doors. "What's wrong with her?"
"We don't know yet. She was brought in by those three gentlemen, and she hasn't regained consciousness yet. But we need your signature to perform tests."
Ichiro quickly scanned the medical documents while signing and initialing them. He pulled out his wallet and gave her his insurance card.
The nurse made a copy of the card and handed the original back to him.
"Can I see my wife now?"
"Not yet," the nurse told him. "You'll be able to see her as soon as the doctor finishes examining her. Please have a seat."
Takumijo walked over and led him away from the desk and to a seat. His heart pounded in his ears, and he couldn't concentrate. He'd nearly lost her once before. He couldn't keep doing this. "Will someone please tell me what happened to my wife?"
"We don't really know," Takumijo said. "We heard a loud noise upstairs right after you drove off. Satoshi and I ran upstairs and found her out cold on the floor. She had blood on her head and on her face."
Satoshi gasped. "Blood?"
"Yeah, the interns think she might have bumped her head when she passed out. She wasn't breathing real well when we found her. We couldn't wait for an ambulance. Yori had just arrived, and he put her into his car and we jettisoned her as fast as we could."
Ichiro started to hyperventilate. He put his head down between his legs and wrapped his hands around his knees. He should have been there for her. Instead Yori had to step in and handle things.
A hand touched his shoulders. "She's going to be okay." It was Yori.
Ichiro raised his head and stared at him. Concern showed in his eyes.
"She's a fighter and too damn cynical to die."
Tears welled in Ichiro's eyes, but he refused to let them fall, to let Yori see that he was weak and couldn't handle this devastating situation. "I can't lose her," Ichiro said. "I don't think I can go on without her."
Yori raised an eyebrow but did not comment at first. "The two