“Yes sir, Agent O’Donald has already called about it since he was informed.”
“Let him know that I am handling it.”
My hair stood up on the back of my neck at the tone Mason was using. It was unusual for him to try and exclude PIB from the situation unless there was something fishy going on.
I stepped up to the counter with Merick by my side. Mason glanced at him and then to me. “Best I could come up with on short notice.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Can I have some idea of what is going on?” I followed him to the elevator. “What floor?”
“Third.” He pressed the button to call the car, and I went up the stairs with Merick.
“Who do you think they found?” Merick asked as he ran up behind me.
I shrugged. “I’m hoping not Liz.”
“Me too.”
We reached the third floor before the elevator got there. A couple seconds later, it chimed, and Mason walked out.
“We found someone, and their first request was to speak to you. I don’t know if we can trust him, so that’s why I had you bring a guard with you.”
Him.
So it wasn’t Liz. Part of me relaxed at that, but the other part of me was panicking, wondering who they could have found.
Mason led us down the hall past the nurse’s station and closed doors. At the end of the hall, he stopped and motioned.
I didn’t like all the secrecy, but if Mason did it, it was because he was trying to gauge my reaction.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door before I opened it.
The soft beeping of hospital machines hit my ears, and then I saw who was in the bed. His brown hair was a mess, and his eyes were closed as he breathed softly. A hospital blanket was pulled up to his chin. There was a nasty bruise across his cheek, making his eye swell a bit.
Nick.
He opened his eyes and tried to smile. “Abby, I should have known you would have been the one they called in.”
“You’re lucky I don’t strangle you where you lie, Nicolas Averin.” I tried to keep my voice down, and I swore Mason chuckled behind me.
Nick’s smile faded, and I wondered for a moment if he thought I would really strangle him.
The anger that swept through me was unreal. How dare he just randomly show up again after hiding in the shadows.
“Abby?” Mason asked.
“Leave us. Make sure no one walks in that door,” I growled.
Merick started to leave, and I put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re required to stay.”
Merick nodded but said nothing as Mason closed the door, leaving the three of us in the hospital room.
“What the fuck, Nick? What the hell kind of game are you playing now?”
“It was time for me to come back to the world of the living.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “And how do you expect to explain your death and resurrection to our new supervisor?”
“I was hoping to have your help with that.”
“Fuck. No.” I pulled the chair up to the side of his bed. “One, I’m on vacation. Two, he hates me. Three, there are very few people who know you survived that explosion.”
My phone rang, and I looked at it. Oliver.
I answered it. “I’m currently at the hospital.”
“I know exactly where you are. Are you hurt?”
“Nope, staring right into the face of Nick.”
Oliver was quiet for a moment. “Alive or dead?”
“Alive for the time being.”
Nick cringed. “You wouldn’t dare kill me.”
“I wouldn’t test her right now,” Merick spoke up.
Oliver sighed. “Well, I have a location on that call. If you’d like to check it out.”
“Send me the location, and I’ll check out once I’m done here.” Except I didn’t have a working car.
I glanced at Merick, and he nodded as if reading my mind.
“Be safe, niece.” He hung up, and I turned back to Nick. “I can’t help you. You got yourself into this mess, Nick. You can’t just come barging back into my life and demanding that I help you.”
He let out a dark laugh. “Fine then, Abigail. Walk away.”
I stood and started toward the door.
“I hope you have a lot of people at your back, because there are so many more threats to your life.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Tell me something new, Nick.”
“Oh, Princess, there is so much more I could tell you, but you’re not willing to help me out. So why should I help you?”
Merick put a hand on my shoulder and practically pushed me out of the room. “You are not to go near him again.”
I stared at him, getting ready to tell him that I wasn’t a child, but the look on his face made me pause. I started to ask, but Mason cut me off.
“What do we do about that?” He jerked his thumb towards the room where Nick was.
“We let you handle it until you have to hand it over to PIB. I’m on vacation, remember? I want nothing to do with it.” I knew I’d be called in for questioning, but right now there were more important things to worry about.
“I have to go check out a location. I’ll keep in touch with what I find.”
Mason glanced around and then to me. “Case related?”
“I don’t know yet.” I shrugged and headed back toward the stairs.
Merick stayed behind for a moment but quickly caught up with me. “Nick is covered in a black aura.”
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“I know you didn’t, or you would have walked out the moment you stepped foot in there. I’m not sure how he’s hiding it from you, but you need to
