“Bring him here.”
“That may not be possible.”
“Why?”
“He’s being transported to another hospital. He appears to have been drugged.”
Wyatt’s hand tightened around mine.
Detective Beckett continued.
“He told the officer your parents had been keeping him in the basement since yesterday.”
A coldness spread through me that no blanket could stop.
My parents had not merely planned an attack.
They had imprisoned a witness.
“Is he going to live?”
“We think so.”
“What did he see?”
“He hasn’t given a full statement yet.”
Dr. Hart entered before I could ask more.
“We need to take Sadie into surgery.”
“I’m not finished,” I protested.
“You have internal bleeding around the fracture. This cannot wait.”
Detective Beckett put away his notebook.
“We’ll continue when you’re stable.”
As the nurses prepared to move me, Wyatt bent down.
“I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“What if my parents come?”
“They won’t get near you.”
“What if Melanie runs?”
“She won’t get far.”
His confidence should have comforted me.
Instead, fear pressed harder against my ribs.
Because Melanie had always been underestimated.
She smiled beautifully, dressed carefully, and cried whenever someone confronted her.
Growing up, she could break a lamp and convince my parents I had done it.
She once stole money from my purse, then accused me of being jealous when I found it in her room.
She didn’t lie like an amateur.
She lied until the truth felt cruel.
As they wheeled me toward surgery, I caught Wyatt’s sleeve.
“Don’t believe anything she says.”
