Page 143 of That Last Secret

She nods.

“Logan Bennett,” Thomas interrupts next to me. “Where is he?”

“And you are?” she asks, completely unfazed by his tone filled with rage.

“Thomas Ford. Not related. But all he has,” he snaps.

She clicks away on her computer. “He’s on the fourth floor in the intensive care unit. He’s only allowed one visitor at a time because of the severity of his case.”

Thomas goes sheet white before swallowing and giving her a curt nod.

“You go see him. I’ll check on Emiline, and we can switch when you’re ready.”

Thomas nods. I can see the emotions building up inside of him.

“He’s got this, Thomas. Believe that. We don’t know what’s going on yet. Take a deep breath. We’re here now, and he’s got us.”

Thomas nods again before heading toward the elevator to the fourth floor. I turn toward the signs pointing to the emergency room.

I make it to Emiline’s room and find a girl sitting in a chair across from her. I recognize her from the photos Emiline sends us of her drowning in study material. This must be Brooke, the one who messaged us.

She notices me standing in the doorway and jumps from the chair to meet me.

“Hey, I’m Marc.” I extend my hand to her, working on keeping my voice calm.

“Oh good, you made it. I’m Brooke. I know we haven’t met, but Emiline tells me a lot about you guys.”

I acknowledge her but look over her shoulder into the room.

Emiline lays curled up with her knees to her chest on her side on a stretcher with two blankets draped over her.

“Listen, before you go in there…” Brooke starts. “She’s not taking this well. Just to give you a quick rundown, Logan was brought into the ER with another victim of a car crash. We don’t know what happened, but Emiline ended up in the room as I was performing chest compressions…” She pauses and attempts to swallow back emotions. “When someone took over for me two minutes later, I ran to find her, and she had passed out in the hallway. We brought her in here, and it looks like… it was a panic attack that caused it.”

The way she paused before finishing that sentence leads me to believe something more is going on that she’s not telling me.

“Is there more you want to say?”

Her eyes go wide, but she shakes her head. “No.”

Before I can argue with her, my phone chimes with a text message.

Thomas

Logan’s in critical condition. He has a broken leg and a fractured collarbone. He also has some internal injuries that forced the doctors to put him in a medically induced coma.

My stomach flips, and I want to throw up right here in the hallway, but I don’t have time because I hear Emiline call my name.

“Marc?”

I look over Brooke’s shoulder and sidestep her into the room as I pocket my phone.

“Em.” I sit right on the edge of the bed and wrap her in my arms. She falls into me, her body shaking with sobs as she cries into my chest.

“Shh,” I murmur in her ear. “I’m here. I got you.”

“I’m so sorry, Marc,” she says, but it’s muffled against the fabric of my T-shirt.

I pull back, slightly angry thatshe’sapologizing right now. I keep myself at eye level with her and my hands on her shoulders. “What are you sorry for?”

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