Hearts of Glass (The Glass Trilogy Book 3) (10 page)

“What’s Sophie’s number?” I asked Elodie, without even saying hello. “I need to get the okay from the neurologist she procured so I can be allowed to visit Daniel.”

I could hear a long sigh coming down the line. “I’m so sorry, Janie, I was about to call you. Dr. Nadil’s been called away on an emergency. Some senator’s son has been in a car crash and the family has summoned him. He’s a close friend, apparently. He said he felt completely assured that Daniel was okay, and that Dr. Jürgen had behaved in a very professional manner. He refuses to stick around, even though he was offered silly money by my mother to stay.”

“So this whole thing has been a waste of energy, money, and time?”

“No, not at all. Daniel’s alive, isn’t he? He’s stable. Things could be so much worse. And all this will be noted in his medical file now, having been overseen by a third party: Dr. Nadil. We just need to find a safe way to get Daniel out of there as soon as possible.”

I leaned against the wall to steady myself. Every time we seemed to be making progress another jagged obstacle was thrown in our path. I wondered how much more I could take of this. “Where’s your mom?” I spat out, secretly blaming Sophie for all this, although logically I knew it wasn’t her fault; she’d tried her best, she really had.

“She left for Paris. I’m sorry, Janie, but this whole Natasha Jürgen thing has opened up a can of worms between her and her wife. Maman says she’s done all she can for Daniel. Not that she doesn’t care about him, but her focus was, and still is, on Alessandra and the animals. I feel badly for you, but the ‘rescue mission avenue’ has been exhausted, we can’t rely on my mom for anything more. We need to work out something ourselves. I have money, but I’m not sure what good that will do at this point. The medical world is very cliquey, very protected.”

“You need to get in to see him, Elodie. They won’t let me, I was barred from entering his room.”

“Um, not so simple.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mom had a big argument with Dr. Nadil, right in front of Kristin. Kristin got wind of the whole thing, and although she’s all smiles with Dr. Nadil—she has to be because he’s so respected—she doesn’t want me, or anyone connected with us, hanging around. She worked out pretty fast that me and my nurse’s uniform were bogus.”

“But she doesn’t get to tell everyone what to do! She isn’t Daniel’s wife like she was pretending.”

“I’m afraid she does.”

Fear rushed to my veins again—had they discovered she’d married Daniel, after all? “Does what?”

“Does get to boss everyone around,” Elodie said. “At least till he’s conscious and can make his own decisions. Daniel’s mom Bettina was here yesterday. They drew up papers with a lawyer. Bettina, as next of kin, gave Kristin power of attorney.”

I felt that familiar, watery feeling in my knees again. I could sense them giving way as I swayed, then tumbled to the floor.

15

Daniel.

I
AM SWIMMING up from a deep sleep, higher and higher, my arms pushing the water as I come up to catch my breath. I can see the waves above my head and light from the sky overhead. But it’s out of focus. I try to keep my eyes open, but the pressure on my head is immense. I close them again. There, that’s better.

“Daniel, don’t flinch, please. I need to attach these electrodes to your head and I can’t when you
move
like that! It’s three a.m., and I’ve got you all to myself for a few hours, so
please
cooperate, why can’t you make this easy for me, goddammit!”

16

Janie.

T
HE LIGHTS WERE bright, blinding my vision even though my eyes were squeezed shut. I could hear all kinds of different voices surrounding me, helicoptering above me. I tried to open my lids but my weary body wouldn’t allow me. At last I cracked open an eye and recognized the familiar surroundings. I was in a bed. My arm felt pinched and I saw a tube attached. A drip. Starchy white sheets. The smell of disinfectant. I made out a woman in uniform in my peripheral vision, leaning over me: a nurse.

Then I recalled blacking out earlier, here at the hospital, after I’d tried in vain to see Daniel.

I took in a long breath through my nose. A scent I recognized from somewhere—where? A sweet, heavy, woman’s perfume.

And something told me I was done for.

As good as dead.

17

Daniel.

T
HE PAIN IS unbearable as if my skull is in a vice being tightened by the second. It’s dark, the lights are off—there are no creaks of light filtering through my closed eyes. But white flashes are inside my brain like exploding stars—the kind of stars you see when you bash your head on something, only a thousand times worse.

The silence tells me it’s the middle of the night. There is only one person here.

My torturer: Kristin.

In my normal life I could have her on the ground in seconds. But what is happening isn’t normal, and it sure as hell isn’t a life. I have never paid much attention to God, never felt I needed Him. But right now I’m screaming for His help. Making deals. If He can just stop this pain, I’ll do anything in return.

Anything.

I’m offering up all I can think of that may interest Him. Foundations for charity—not that I haven’t already been generous over the years—but I’ll donate the lot. Hand over my fortune.

I ask two things in return. To get this agony to stop and to have Janie by my side.

I hear a noise. At first I think it’s within my head, but then I’m aware of voices. The pain abruptly stops.

Has He answered my pleas?

“Whatever you’re doing, cut it out,” a woman’s voice commands. “Take that shit off his head, turn off the power, this second. Star has you on film, Kristin. For the last few minutes we’ve been recording your every move.”

Few minutes? Fuck, why didn’t they stop her sooner
? Did she say ‘Star?’ Do I know that voice? Who is she? The accent’s French. I feel a release. My head is free. Light. Thank you, thank you, Whoever you are Up There, you’ve got my vote from now on.

Kristin lets rip a throaty cackle. I’d know that laugh anywhere—just like her sister’s. “All I was doing was measuring Daniel’s dreams. It’s an EEG scan. It doesn’t hurt him. Honestly, this is normal practice, nothing to be worried about.”

“Tell that to my ten million Twitter followers,” says Star, confirming to me that it is, in fact, Star Davis.
Where the hell did she pop up from?

“Kristin, you’ll do exactly what we tell you, from now on,” the French girl says. “You want this live on
YouTube
for the whole world to see? Daniel’s pretty damn popular with the ladies—he’s quite a celebrity. You think they want to see him being tortured like one of your lab animals?”

Another nervous laugh from Kristin. “How do you know about . . . it was
you
? You broke into my laboratory? Look, I don’t know who the hell you are, but I’m a respected doctor and researcher. And you can’t prove a thing. In the eyes of the medical board and my peers, I have done nothing wrong. I’m calling security
right now
, you’ll be sorr—”

“Not so fast, you fucking bitch.” There’s a scuffle . . . a loud thump that sounds like someone falling with a crash to the floor . . . then silence. Muffled whispers. The door opens.

“Are you done?”
Jesus, it’s my nurse.
She’s in on this too
? “Oh, God, what have you done to Dr. Jürgen?” she cries. “I’ll lose my job!”

“Just giving her a taste of her own medicine, Dexter style,” Star says. “She’ll be fine in an hour. She’ll wake up a bit groggy, but she’s okay. Just an injection of barbiturates. Let’s get her on one of these beds, and wheel her over to another wing. Here, help me lift her up. Fuck, she’s heavier than she looks.”

“I-I-,” my nurse stutters, “I had no idea you’d knock her out, I—”

“Relax, remember what I promised you? A night with me and Jake at the Oscars? You’ll forget all about this little incident when I have you dressed in Armani and coming with us to the Vanity Fair after-party. You play dumb, remember? Just like we discussed. You were visiting the ladies room at the wrong moment, that’s all. You have no idea what happened. One minute Dr. Jürgen was here with Daniel, the next she wasn’t. You’ll be fine, believe me. Just stay cool.”

“I’d love to finish the bitch off right here, right now,” the French girl hisses, “but that would cause too much suspicion. I’ll get her one day though. Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

I tumble that phase over and over in my mind . . .
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
I’m thanking the Man in the Sky . . . or the Woman?
Thank you for stopping the pain
. All I want now is to see Janie.

But before I know it I, and everything around me, fades to black.

18

Janie.

I
T’S BEEN A week since Kristin was finally stopped in her tracks, thanks to Star and Elodie.

I was fine after twenty-four hours or so. It took Daniel a while to be
compos mentis
—for the drugs to be flushed totally out of his system, but slowly he emerged. He told me that he’d had vivid dreams, mostly concerning visions of pink elephants, a brief visit from his mother, and his dead father, and Natasha, who apparently “forgave” him. Oh yes, and that his character Finn from
The Dark Edge of Love
had made a few appearances. Other than that, he didn’t remember a thing. Zilch. Thank God. I held off revealing the truth. I wanted him to fully recover, not be fuelled by rage and end up back in a coma from a heart attack.

His
main concern, of course, was not for himself, but for me, having relapsed into my anemic state for not taking care of myself properly. He couldn’t understand why I’d missed meals, hadn’t taken my supplements, to the foolish extent of ending up in a hospital bed again. “Silly girl,” he admonished several times. “Silly, silly girl, Finn might have to give you a good spanking.” I was desperate to explain what had happened, but I didn’t want him losing it, which he would have done if he’d found out the truth about Kristin.

Besides . . . Elodie—with her skills at hacking—had Kristin’s every move monitored. She told her that if she continued to practice medicine, or have anything at all to do with the medical world, she’d expose her. Despite Kristin’s insistence that she had been innocent and done no harm to Daniel, she obviously didn’t want to take any risks. Far better, Elodie explained to her, to resign from her job, use the generous inheritance from Natasha, and keep quietly to herself. If Kristin went near an animal again, Elodie warned, she’d let the world know what a monster she was. Elodie had tabs on her computer, her banks, her social life. Kristin would be hard-pressed to make the wrong move.