“You tell him you did everything you could,” Zeth says. “Because you did. I saw it all. It was an impossible situation, Sloane.” He enters the room, glaring at the resident and the intern. “Leave,” he growls. “Go get someone or something.”
Both of them scurry out of the room. Zeth scoops me up into his arms and holds me against his body; I collapse, his heat and the security of his strong arms around me keeping me safe. I allow myself another moment of weakness, and I sob. She’s gone. I can’t believe it happened so quickly. We didn’t even get chance to assess her properly. The strain on her body was obviously too much.
“You’re a wonder,” Zeth whispers into my hair. “You’re amazing. You fought so hard.”
“Not hard enough.” I feel as though I failed. It’s normal for a doctor to feel that way, they tell us. That we’ll feel like we’ve let the ones who lose down. I know the truth: Millie was very sick. She was beyond saving. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel like she placed her trust in me to keep her safe, and that trust was misplaced.
“Don’t.” Zeth kisses my temple, his breath blowing hot against the side of my face. “You’re not god. You can only do so much.”
He’s right. It still hurts, though. It still hurts more than any pain I’ve ever felt. “You need to go,” I whisper. “They’ll be here for her body in a moment. You can’t be here when they come.”
“Okay. I’ll check on Michael, see if he’s managed to locate Mason yet.” He leaves, and I’m left alone with the little girl on the table. She looks so small. So fragile. She looks like she’s sleeping.
Above her on the wall, I check the plain white clock, its hands slowly ticking by the minutes, oblivious of the tragedy that has just occurred. My voice is nothing more than a whisper, and yet it feels as though I’m shouting.
“Time of death, one thirty-six am.”
Chapter Nineteen
MASON
I wake up to thumping. Sunlight’s pouring in through the gauzy, thin, frankly pointless material that hangs over the windows next to the bed I find myself in. Kaya’s bed. Somewhere I can hear someone shouting. Movement behind me. Kaya throwing an arm over me, her hand landing lightly on top of my bare stomach.
“Oh my god. I will pay you a million dollars to go see who that is,” she groans.
“No way. What if it’s your brother?”
“My brother came home at four am. He has a key, remember?”
Great. So I’m going to be sneaking out of Kaya’s bedroom in my underwear at…at six am in the morning? Shit. Wanda normally brings Millie back to the apartment at seven when she sleeps over. I have one hour to get home and showered before she shows up, otherwise I am in the shit.
“Mason! Mason, open the fucking door!” Three loud bangs echo through the apartment. I am suddenly very, very awake. Whoever’s out there knows my fucking name. Is it one of Mac’s boys? Did the fucker finally wake up and order my death warrant. Where the hell is my phone? I need to get the fuck out of here. This place had better have a fire escape.
“Who did you tell that you were coming here?” Kaya asks blearily.
“No one. I told no one.” I scramble out of bed, searching for my boxers, which are proving hard to locate. I find them kicked under the bed, along with a balled up wad of denim that turns out to be my jeans. I get dressed in a hurry, grabbing my shirt from the lounge. My cell phone is sitting on the coffee table, dead—it goes into my back pocket. I hear the front door opening, and then a deep voice echoing down the hallway.
“Mason doesn’t live here. If you don’t stop hammering on this door, I’m gonna knock your fucking teeth down your throat, asshole.”
“Is that so?” I recognize the voice. Takes a moment to place it, and then it hits me; it’s not one of Mac’s guys, it’s one of Zeth’s. It’s Michael.
I duck into the hallway, mostly dressed now but missing socks and shoes. Jameson stands by the front door, looking like he’s about to launch himself at the tall, well-dressed guy standing in front of him. Michael sees me and jerks his head back behind him. “Come on. We have to go.”
Jameson does a double take. “What the fuck? Where did you come from?”
“I’ll let your sister explain.” Snatching up my shoes, I slip past him out into the corridor.
“Kaya!” Jameson does not sound too happy. I don’t hang around to find out what he thinks about me spending the night with her; it can only lead to trouble. I’m sure Michael’s presence signifies more of the same, but I doubt he’s going to try and tear me limb from limb. At least I hope he’s not.
He grabs me by the shirt and begins to drag me down the hall. “Why the fuck haven’t you been answering your phone, you idiot?” he snaps.
“The battery died. What…Jesus, tell me what hell is going on!” I wrestle myself free, hurrying after him.
“We need to get to the hospital. Now.”