Shattered: A Psychic Visions Novel (10 page)

She could only hope
her
lawyer had put things into place that would give them an edge.

Then again her father’s lawyers were hardly honorable players.

And if there was something slightly less honorable they could do to nail the job down, they’d do it.

“Your head will be sore for a while. Be sure to fill the prescription I gave your husband. No need to suffer while your body heals. And go see your doctor in a week or so to take the stitches out.” He moved around the front of her and flashed his little light into her eyes. The bloody one closed immediately. “Don’t leave it too late or the stitches will grow over. The eye is healing but slowly and will be sensitive to light for a while. Minimize the computer work and generally just listen to your body. It will always tell you when you’re doing too much.”

Then he had her lie down so he could check her ribs and collarbone. That latter surprised her. She hadn’t even realized that part of her body had been injured until he checked it. Then shards of pain had her gasping.

“That’s going to take a little longer than the head wound. No heavy lifting. Bed rest is what you need right now.”

She stared up at him mutely. There was no way in hell she’d have been able to run off on her own with these injuries. What would she have done without Trevor’s help?

He removed the bandage on her leg and muttered to himself. “This is not looking very good. I do wish you were staying here longer.”

“We’re heading to Maddy’s Floor,” Trevor said from the doorway.

The doctor looked up in pleased surprise. “Really? In that case…” he carefully re-bandaged the leg for traveling. “I expect she’ll be as right as rain tomorrow. Lucky woman.”

He patted her on her shoulder, made a few notes on his tablet, and headed to the doorway. “Take care of yourself. As you married this guy, and we work together, I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

And with that he slapped Trevor on the shoulder and walked out.

He plunked a plastic bag down on her bed. As she opened it and pulled out the jeans, t-shirts and other clothes, she looked mystified.

“These aren’t mine?” She held up the last item, a warm cardigan in rusty brown colors. “But they are beautiful.”

“They are yours.” Trevor grinned at her look of surprise. “Mina shopped for you. A wedding gift from her and Stefan. I’m hoping everything fits.”

“Wow, that’s so nice of them. She has great taste.” She looked at the pile then down at her hospital gown. “I guess the clothes I came with are not salvageable?”

“They are already in the garbage,” Trevor assured her. “Never to be worn again.”

She shooed him away. “We might be married but I’ll be getting dressed on my own.”

“Except for one thing,” he said gently. “You’re injured.”

She frowned and assessed her injuries mentally. “I’ll try first. If I need help, then I’ll call you.”

*

He had no
plans to leave. But she was nervous of him and this wasn’t the time to push it.

“Fine, however, I’ll stay here just in case.” He pivoted, turned his back on her and waited. He could hear the bedding being thrown back and the tiny smack as she slid off the bed and her feet hit the floor. The clothing rustled.

He waited. And waited. Then frowned. He couldn’t hear much. “How do they fit?”

“Take a look.”

He turned. She held out her arms. “Well?”

Except for the sheen to her forehead from the effort of getting dressed on her own, she looked fantastic. And then there was the dried blood in her hair.

“The clothes look great,” he admitted. She was slight and relatively average in height yet the clothes were a perfect fit and made her look special. Then he’d known they would. He’d given Mina the sizes. She’d been an injured waif to him so far, but in those clothes she was all woman.

He grinned as bare toes peeked out from under the edge of the jeans.

“Sorry, there was a pair of something in there, but they didn’t look like shoes to me. More a slipper.”

He walked to the bags and sure enough found what he was looking for in the second bag tucked inside the big one. He stared at them doubtfully. “I don’t know what they are meant to be, but you can’t walk in them outside.”

She laughed and snatched one out of his hand, and using his arm for support, she slipped it on. Stretching her leg forward she admired the ballet flat on her foot. Then put the second one on. “They are perfect,” she cried out happily.

“They offer less protection than socks,” he argued. “At least socks cover your foot.”

“They are how they are meant to be.” She reached up to brush her hair back and winced. “Right. Didn’t get a shower so still very grungy despite the prettier exterior.”

“I don’t know if that will be allowed right away on Maddy’s Floor,” he said. “But let’s get you away from here and find out.”

He motioned to the wheelchair. “Hop in.”

“I can walk,” she protested.

“You might be able to, but the more you can stay off those legs, the better and the faster you will heal.” Into the face of his logic, she took a seat and he wheeled her out into the hallway. There he stopped and assessed the people, the level of danger.

“Problems?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

“No.” At least not at the moment. He turned left and took her down to the parking level below.

*

They could run.
But they couldn’t hide. Not from him. Not like this. If he could figure out where she went on those times she did manage to get away from him, he’d have total control. As it was, she had some way to escape him, and it pissed him off every damn time.

It went toward why he kept her around. She was a challenge. As he poured more onto her, learning who and why, what made her tick, investing into her system, tying her to him, she developed bigger and stronger as she found ways to defeat him. That he loved. Most games once you beat them, they were done. Boring as hell afterwards. But not in her case. She just got stronger, more devious. And it challenged him to do the same.

Adding to the fun was she had no idea.

He crept into her dreams and turned them to nightmares. He woke her up in a cold sweat over nothing. He made her panic from the voices in her head and he laughed.

For all that she was so malleable, she had this one part of her that she held inviolate. And he hated it. He wanted into that part of her. It was the mechanism that continued to defy him. He wanted to know how she was evading him. He had to know. It was the only trick she was doing on her own that he had no idea about. The scientist doing research inside of him needed to know. The man inside demanded to know.

The owner of all control over her was
desperate
to know.

He couldn’t help the feeling that there was more to this than he knew, and he suspected there always had been. He hated to be made a fool. And she’d done so time and time again.

How? What? Why?

He needed to understand her tricks.

So he could put a stop to them permanently.

It was time. But not until he knew how she’d been evading his strongest efforts up until now. Then he’d kill her. And find someone else to play with.***

Stefan stared at the phone in his hand. It had been ringing all morning. He’d just gotten off a call with Trevor letting him know they were on the move when Dr. Maddy’s partner called. “Drew, Could you repeat that please?”

“I said we received an anonymous tip that Trevor was involved in a murder years ago. That he had a hand in killing a teacher fifteen years ago.”

“Was the case ever solved?”

“It was never closed. It ended up in cold cases. Hence the file landed on my desk.”

“Interesting timing.” Stefan shook his head at the ploys of men. Goodman required having an eye kept on him. How much trouble was he planning to cause Trevor over this marriage? He suspected it was just the beginning.

Drew hesitated. “You’re sure about Trevor? That he’s a good guy?” He cleared his throat. “I’ve met him but don’t
know
him.”

Without hesitation Stefan said, “Yes. He’s never killed anyone.”

“There is something very important there.” Stefan watched as the energy in front of him shifted and changed. “It leads down a convoluted path but I think at the end there is evidence of wrong doing – but not at Trevor’s hands.”

“Good. I like a good puzzle. If the teacher was murdered, then justice will prevail.”

Drew hung up, leaving Stefan to deal with the painful yet faded image of a teacher’s badly burned body from the blast that dropped the science building at the school.

S
he understood taking
precautions but he was being paranoid. Maybe he’d just realized how serious her father was. That he couldn’t take
enough
security measures.

At the parking lot, he led her to a small silver car and assisted her into the front seat. She waited for him to make his way around to the driver’s side and get in.

His gaze never stopped searching the area.

When he got inside, she asked, “You’re expecting an ambush, aren’t you?”

“I’m expecting anything and everything,” he said, then added, “Especially the unusual.”

“My father metes out punishment that is pretty mainstream. Knifings, beatings, a gunshot or two, but mostly he likes to crush people by taking away their homes, businesses, and savings accounts – you know, their livelihood. In a perfect world he’d like to see those that defy him injured and homeless.”

He turned to look at her. “Your dad sounds like a piece of work.”

“He is,” she said coolly. “I’ve been fighting with him since forever. But I believe he loves me. Will on the other hand – I’m not sure he knows what that word means.”

Her self-confidence had taken a huge beating at Will’s threat. Yet she didn’t think he’d be waiting outside on the street for them. Unless it was to follow them. No, he was more subtle. He’d assign someone else to follow them, but he’d come
personally
in the middle of the night to terrorize her. Maximum pain. That was something he’d enjoy.

“You’re really scared of Will, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “With good reason.”

“Has Will ever physically hurt you?”

She frowned thinking about it. “No, it was always an implied threat. Something hanging over me that I’d better behave or else.” She hated that man with a passion.

“There must have been something that made you believe in his brand of fear, originally.”

There was. But telling it would hurt. She stared out the window. “When he first arrived, he was determined to establish order. One night my dog escaped. I was grounded by my father and not allowed out, but I went out after my dog. Will killed my dog as a punishment,” she said softly. “I got the message.”

Trevor’s breath gushed out. “I’m sorry, that had to be tough.”

“It was,” she whispered, tears trying to form in the corners of her eyes. “It was a long time ago.”

“Maybe, but that’s not a memory you forget.”

She glanced around, looking for anything else to talk about. The pain of losing Tidbit was just too much to bear even now. And that’s when she realized they were whipping down the city streets in an area she didn’t recognize. “I didn’t even realize we were out of the hospital lot and on the main roads,” she exclaimed.