Broken Bonds (Club Imperial Series) (3 page)

“We’re working on it,” Nathaniel said. “I have a private guard who is going to stay with her, and control in and out traffic to the room. Please, for ease of the situation, could you ask the nurses to designate just a few of them who can come and go?”

“Yes, of course,” he said. “We’ll set everything up with security.”

Nathaniel looked at his phone. It was twenty to seven. He wanted to go in and see her, but…“I have something to do, but I’ll be back later today. Do you know when she’ll wake up?”

“We’ll keep her sedated for at least twenty-four hours, so everything has a good chance to start healing and we can keep the doses of medicine low,” the doctor explained. “I’ll be around to see her around eleven this morning, and two this afternoon. I’ll let her nurse know about the security guard.”

“Thank you.”

“Take it easy, Mr. Walsh.” Fisckar nodded at his cast. “You were hurt too, and this isn’t easy.”

Nathaniel agreed and the doctor walked out. He pulled out his phone and dialed the taxi company. He had to get to the garage.

~*~*~

Victor saw Nathaniel’s taxi pull up and he leaned up from the car with the baby on his shoulder. Franz was there with two other men, looking very intimidating. The truck was idling. Nathaniel paid the driver and climbed out of the back seat.

The look that said Victor was about to give him a verbal ass-chewing slid off his face when Victor spotted the sling on his brother’s arm. Nathaniel walked over and instead of killing him on the spot, Victor pulled him into a one-armed hug to avoid squashing the baby. “You are a fucking asshole and I still hate you, but I think I now hate Greg more than you.”

“Didn’t take long, did it?” Nathaniel said.

“He beat the shit out of the best admin I’ve ever had. Of course not.”

“You are a dick, Victor.” Nathaniel looked over at Franz. “Ready?”

“Yup.” Franz held up a tool box. “Albright and Durham are going to meet us there.”

“Put the baby in her seat,” Nathaniel said. “Let’s get this done.”

They pulled out of the parking lot; Franz drove the truck with one of the two guys in the cab with him. The other, Darien, climbed into the back of the SUV, and rode with Nathaniel, Victor and Sylvia. They were able to park the truck right next to the service elevator under Emmy’s building. Albright and Durham were waiting.

“We have about an hour to get the stuff out.” Nathaniel addressed the group of men. “It all has to be disassembled so no one can identify what we’re moving. As much as possible, we need to avoid running into people so they don’t know we’re moving things. Her apartment isn’t far from the service elevator and no one will be using it this early.”

“Let’s get the stuff disassembled first,” Franz said, “then we can bring it down, swap it out for the stuff we have and get it all to the storage bin. We should be able to do this with minimum contact with other residents.”

They all nodded and Nathaniel unlocked the service elevator with Emmy’s key. They piled in, and he took them up to the fifth floor. It was a short ride and the elevator was quiet. They walked down the short hall to her door and Nathaniel let them all in. He locked the door behind them and felt like he was invading Emmy’s privacy.

“Key in the same spot?” Franz asked. Nathaniel raised an eyebrow at him. “I was here for drinks a few times, we’re long over.”

“Same spot,” Nathaniel confirmed. “Victor, come here for a minute.” He walked down the short hallway to the step that led into the living room. “Look, you’re the only one who’s come here and doesn’t know what’s in that room. You have to promise not to judge Emmy, or hell, me at this point, when you see it. But I trust you with this and I need your help. You need to know why we have to do this.”

“What the fuck is in there?” Victor said, handing the baby over to him.

“Go, look,” Nathaniel gestured to the room with a nod of his head, his heart racing and a cold sweat trickling down his back.

Victor held his eyes a moment longer, then walked over to where Franz had opened the door. The four others were pulling tape, screw drivers and wrenches out of the tool box, and Franz just held the door open. Victor walked to it and looked in. He stopped dead, looked back at Nathaniel, then walked on in.

Well, there goes the last of my brother’s respect for me.
He looked at the baby on his shoulder, and sighed. “Hey. You’re supposed to be sleeping,” he said to the little creature who was looking around with piqued curiosity. “Your daddy’s gonna hate me. I guess I should take what time I can get with you.” He paced around the room, bouncing her to see if she would take a nap.

Victor was suddenly back in the room. “I asked her if she was working girl. Did she lie to me?”

“If I could punch you in the face for that question I would. She’s not a whore, asshole.”

“What the hell is in that room?”

“Dude, she works at a BDSM club. What the hell do you think it is?”

He looked back over his shoulder and then back to Nathaniel. “What the hell does she do there?”

“She a mistress,” Nathaniel bit out. “Why do you think the damn owner is here helping us? If the cops find that room full of her furniture and toys after she just got beaten to a damn pulp, they’re going to draw the wrong conclusions about what happened at the club.”

Victor stared at him. “I hate you so much. My goddamn life is falling down around me, and now you show me this shit.”

“I’m not into this,” Nathaniel said. “Well, not that way.”

“Not what way?” Victor’s mouth fell open.

“Come on, man. Don’t look at me like that,” Nathaniel said. “Goddamn, now I know what she means. Stop looking at me like that. I love her, damn it.
I love her
. If her bedroom proclivities are not mainstream, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m in love.” He stuck his finger from his casted hand in Victor’s face. “And you’d better fucking remember she’s your admin. If they find this stuff, they are going to be all over you too. You really want that after all the shit of the past four weeks? You really want my girlfriend’s bedroom habits to wreck your take-down of Tyndale-Dayton?” He took a step back. “Because it will. It will utterly destroy it. And me.”

“Fucking. Ass. Hole.” Victor poked his chest with each word, then turned on his heel and walked back to the room. Nathaniel had no idea what he was doing. He just started walking with the baby again.

Franz appeared about ten minutes later, waving him over. Nathaniel put the now sleeping baby in her carrier and joined Franz at the door. “Everything in here can come down. Is this everything?”

Nathaniel sighed, glancing at Victor. “Check the closet. She was storing stuff in there.”

“Good.” Franz motioned to the closet door. “Nothing else?”

“She kept everything but her…personal toys in there. Her stuff is in the bathroom.”

Franz raised an eyebrow. “Does she still have too many of them?”

“God, yes.”

“Go get them. Box them up. Leave one or two of them.” Franz glanced into the room and then back to Nathaniel standing there. “Let it sink in, Walsh. He’s in a pretty bad place right now with all that’s been going on. This is a shock to him.”

“I know.” Nathaniel heaved a sigh.

Chapter Three

Nathaniel walked into the hospital room with Franz right behind him. His stomach dropped to his feet, and he felt an uncomfortable lump in his throat. He walked to the bed and looked down at Emmy.

Her head was shaved where they had stitched up the contusion from the bat and the wound was raw. She was still intubated, the hoses helping her breathe, hiding most of her face. She had an inflatable cast on her arm, from shoulder to below the elbow, and it was strapped across her chest. There were several tubes running out from under the hospital gown and blanket—a drain for the incision to reset her rib and internal bleeding and who knew what else.

He looked up and saw Franz on the other side of the bed. “This is the third time I have seen this little girl in a bed like this.” His voice was softened by the brotherly love evident in his tones. “This is the worst, and I don’t ever want to see this again.”

Nathaniel had a thousand questions for him, but swallowed them all. He looked at Emmy, and wanted her to open her eyes and smile at him. He brushed a few strands of hair back in place and leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I was going to miss her while she was in Boston. I didn’t think I would have to miss her while she was here and recovering from this.”

Franz snapped his head up. “Shit. Boston. She was supposed to leave on Sunday.”

“Oh, shit. We never called her parents.”

“Mother,” Franz corrected. “Her mother needs to know.”

“Do you know her mom’s number?”

“No, but I’ll bet it’s on her cell. She always left the cell in her locker. I’ll get it opened and have them bring everything here.” Franz pulled out his cell phone and headed for the door. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Eventually.” Nathaniel took a deep breath. “When I hear what the doctor has to say about her.”

“Keep me posted,” Franz said, walking out.

He stared at Emmy for what felt like hours. He just kept wanting her to open her eyes. He couldn’t even bring himself to think any other thoughts. She was small in the bed and looked utterly vulnerable—he wanted to pick her up and hold her in his arms. He wanted to tell her it was all going to be okay, and he wanted that to be the truth. 

“Dude, you have an empire to run,” came Victor’s voice from the door. Nathaniel found his brother standing there. Victor walked into the room, and over to the bed. He saw his brother’s eyes go wide and lips twist in shock. “Holy…” He glanced quickly at Nathaniel, and then back to Emmy. “I didn’t realize it was this bad...”

“Yeah,” Nathaniel said. “She got the shit beat out of her.”

“Greg did this?” Victor’s voice was tight and controlled, the rage leaking through anyway.

“Greg, and someone else. The someone else broke my arm with a bat and ran. He’s still out there, somewhere.”

“Will she be okay?”

“I don’t know.”

The silence hung between them for a moment.

“Nate, man, I’m sorry.” Victor was the only person on Earth Nathaniel let slide on that nickname. “I didn’t mean to pull that judgy shit on you. Whatever the hell you two do in bed, or on that cross, is your business. Not mine. You have always been the most supportive brother I could dream of having and the instant I find out that your girlfriend is into that stuff, I got all wonky.”

“But that’s why we were in there this morning.” Nathaniel shrugged. “Just because you realize it’s not right to judge, doesn’t mean the rest of the world won’t. Franz is going to have to pull a rabbit out of his ass to make sure this doesn’t go really bad.”

“Blank check.” Victor stepped back and looked at Nathaniel. “Tell him he has carte blanche. She doesn’t deserve to be dragged through the mud.”

“He knows. Not that I want that kind of shit going on, but you’re right.” Nathaniel sighed. “I just want her to be okay.”

“You’ll get that, Mr. Walsh.” Doctor Fisckar walked in. “The nurse told me you were here and I wanted to talk to you.” He walked down to the end of the bed and grabbed her chart. “I’m guessing this is your brother?”

“Yes, sir, Emmy is his administrative assistant.”

“You’re welcome to stay. It’s all good news.” Nathaniel actually felt the room spin from the relief he felt. “She’s going to have quite a bit of healing to do and will need some nursing care, but she should be able to recover completely.” The doctor walked to the other side of the bed. “Her MRI showed the barest signs of diffuse axonal brain injury, and it was put in the zero to one scale. Basically, she’ll be a little dizzy and have a headache for a while. We were able to fix and repair everything else she arrived with.” He looked at the two of them. “I did find evidence of very old injuries. A spiral fracture of the forearm and a broken clavicle.”

“Spiral fracture?” Victor asked. “Isn’t that a sign of child abuse?”

“It can be.” The doctor looked up from studying the chart. “But both are healed, and clean. My concern is her current state. I’m going to keep her sedated until tomorrow. Do you know if she has a family we need to contact?”

“Her mother,” Nathaniel and Victor chorused, and Nathaniel continued. “We’ll have the number in about an hour or so. I’ll get her out here.”

“Good, she’ll need the support. With the way she’s already showing strong signs, she’ll probably be ready to release in about a week,” Fisckar said. “As I said, she’s going to need care. I understand she lives on her own?”

“She’ll be staying with me,” Nathaniel confirmed.

“Excellent.” Fisckar nodded his consent. “I’ll have the nurse and staff talk with you about her after care and what’s going to be needed.” Fisckar indicated the cast Nathaniel was sporting. “How’s that doing?”

“Hurts like hell. I have the pain killer called in, I just didn’t pick it up.”

“Well, she’s safe here. Your security hasn’t moved.” The doctor glowered at him. “I want you to go get your pain killer, go home and rest for a while. I’m going to decrease the sedation tomorrow morning and we’ll see how she does.”

“I’ll be back in a few hours.” Nathaniel had no interest in being home. Or even being more than a few feet from Emmy.

“Mr. Walsh.” Fisckar’s voice was utterly reproving. “I appreciate that you want to spend time with your girlfriend, but you need sleep. You need rest. Go home. Come back tomorrow. She’s safe, and I’m sure some of her friends will be by to keep her company. Rest. You need it as much as she does, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He snapped the chart closed, and hung it back on the end of the bed. “Don’t argue, Mr. Walsh. Just follow the doctor’s orders.” The doctor walked out.

Nathaniel looked over at his brother. “Where’s the baby?”

“Joanne has her,” Victor answered. “Nathaniel. I really am sorry.”

“I am too, bro. I didn’t want you and Greg destroyed. Even if I didn’t like him, he made you happy and you deserve that.”

“You didn’t like him?” Victor sounded a little shocked. 

“Not really.” Nathaniel cringed. He hadn’t actually meant to tell his brother that. Ever. Clearly, he was tired, and he just went with it. “He never really made an effort to get to know me. I was just competition for your affection. He just never…I don’t know. Made nice for your sake.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because you were in love, and you were happy,” Nathaniel answered as if it were the most obvious thing. “I’d never seen you that happy. If he did that for you, I was overlooking the other stuff.” He paused. “But when Emmy came in and told me Greg was defrauding you, I had to check into it. I couldn’t let you be ripped off by a con-artist. I didn’t want your heart broken five years down the road. And with all the information Albright had—”

“I understand why you did it, man.” Victor waved him off. “I’m still reeling. Everything he was to me was a goddamn lie. And then he comes back and beats up Emmy because she ratted him out.” He nodded slowly. “It’s safe to say I’ve moved into the realm of ‘hate’ in the space of two days.”

“Are they going to let you keep the baby?”

“I’m pushing for the adoption,” Victor said. “I have a really good lawyer on it, and all of this is so damning, she thinks it won’t be a problem.”

“If for no other reason, I’m glad he was in your life,” Nathaniel confessed, trying to do some damage control on his poor brother’s opinion of him. “She’s a beautiful little girl and you’ll do right by her.”

“Never thought I’d get to be called dad.” Victor smiled. “I’m going to head back to the office and make sure Gwen, Tank and Henry aren’t drowning. You’re staying?”

Nathaniel carefully ran a thumb over Emmy’s cheek. “Until Franz comes back with the phone so I can call her mother.”

Victor didn’t move right away. “So, she’s really a dominatrix?”

Nathaniel gave a half laugh. “Domme. D-o-m-m-e. Dominatrix is old school seventies porn stuff.”

“There were some interesting things in that room.” Victor raised an eyebrow. 

“Very interesting,” Nathaniel agreed.

“Can she use them?”

“How personal do you want to get with this, Vic? Because you’re skirting the edge.”

“I’m just...curious.”

“I’m not going into details.” Nathaniel looked over at his brother. “Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.” Victor tossed him a sidelong look. “Well, what do you want me to say? This is the best relationship I’ve ever had. In three weeks, I’ve completely fallen in love with her. She’s interesting, funny, bright. Her bedroom habits are different, but Christ, Victor. The sex is amazing.”

“Ugh, girl sex.” Victor pretended to shiver.

Nathaniel chuckled, and soon the two of them were laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe.

~*~*~

“Hello, Emmy!”

Nathaniel cleared his throat. The voice on the other end of the phone was one of a mother looking forward to talking to her daughter, and the sunny answer caught him off guard. “Mrs. Greene, my name is Nathaniel Walsh.”

“Oh, God, what’s happened?” She gasped.

“Emmy’s been beaten up, very badly.”

“Is she all right?” He could hear the tears in her voice.

“She’s in the hospital and is sedated for now. I know she was supposed to come out and see you this week, but she won’t be out of the hospital for quite a few days, if not weeks.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

Nathaniel went through the list of injuries Emmy had, and neatly avoided where she’d been when it happened. “The doctors are positive she’ll be just fine, but the healing is going to take a while.”

There was a quiet weeping on the other end of the line. “I only get to see her once a year. And now she needs me and I can’t be there.”

“She’s in capable hands right now,” Nathaniel reassured Alyssa. “Perhaps you could come out when she’s feeling a little better to make the visit worthwhile.”

“How do you know Emmy?”

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“And you’ve been with her during all of this?”

“Of course,” he said.

He could hear her polite hiccupping sobs off to the side of the phone. “And you’re sure she’s going to be okay?”

“I will do whatever it takes to get her there,” he answered. “Why don’t you come out and see her? You can stay with me at my house. She could very well be out next weekend, and you could get to spend some time with her.”

“Mr. Walsh, Emmy always comes out to visit me because we simply cannot afford to come out and see her. We’re not wealthy people. I don’t even think I can talk my husband into a Greyhound ticket for me.” Alyssa started sobbing, hard on the other end. “I can’t even get to my daughter when she needs me.”

“Mrs. Greene, can you and your family come out next week? Not this Monday, but the following?” Nathaniel had a few ideas brewing. “I’m not asking about the cost, I’m asking about the vacation time.”

“My husband is on disability and I can switch my vacation time,” she answered. “But Allie goes to school.”

“Can she handle being pulled out for a week?”

Nathaniel could almost hear her smile. “Yes, she’s as bright as Emmy was at that age. Missing a week of school would be nothing for her.”

Nathaniel smiled at the phone. “Okay, I’ll send someone to pick you up next Monday at ten. Is that all right with all of you?”

“It’s not as simple as that, Mr. Walsh...”

“First, please, call me Nathaniel. Second, it
is
as simple as that. You need to be here to see your daughter, and I’ll get you out here. There will be someone to pick you up. And you’ll stay at my house.”

“You’re being too generous,” she protested.

“Hardly, you need to be here. Do it for Emmy.”

There were a few sniffles from the other end. “I’ll check with my husband. May I call you back?”

“I have Emmy’s cellphone, just call it. Any time, Mrs. Greene.”

“Thank you for being so kind to her, Nathaniel.” The sound of her heartbreak on the other end came through loud and clear. And the sound of her resignation leaked through as well—she didn’t think she was going to be able to convince her husband to make the trip.

Nathaniel pursed his lips. He realized he was finally getting a glimpse into Emmy’s life, and the glimpse was bleak. He looked at the sedated woman in the bed, watching her breathe softly. “She deserves it.”