“What kind of favor?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.
“Does it matter?” he responded, raising his eyebrow in return.
“You bet your ass it does,” I said with exasperation. “I need to know what happened so I can protect my sister!”
“Trust me—Lance won’t put a hand on your sister ever again. I can promise you that.”
“Would you please just stop being difficult and tell me what happened?” I was starting to lose my patience and sanity, all at the same time.
“Eva, you don’t need to know the details. Okay? The less I say, the better.”
“You’re really starting to worry me. Is Lance dead?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know that he won’t come after her again?” I asked.
“Because I promised him that if he ever laid a hand on her again, I would be the one to dig the hole that his body would be thrown in.”
“Youthreatenedhim?” My eyes were wide with shock.
“No. A threat is something you say but don’t mean it. I meant every word of what I said.” He pushed off from the counter and went to sit down.
I wasn’t done with the conversation and had a thousand questions for him. As I marched back over to where he was, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Lucy’s eyes flicker open.
Thirty
Ethan
My jaw was sore from the one spot where Lance had landed a punch before I took him down. He was a typical douchebag—good at running his mouth and beating up women but couldn’t hold his own in a fight against a real man to save his life. Nate had confirmed where I would be able to find him and gave me the name of the woman he was screwing around with, which made it that much easier to get him where I wanted him.
After a few blows to the head, I had finally knocked some common sense into him. Or, more so, informing him to stay the fuck away from Lucy and to drop the custody case. I also reminded him that he was a fucking loser who wasn’t worthy of Lucy and that he would give her whatever she wanted in the divorce. When I mentioned myfriendTimothy, who happened to be the husband of the secretary he was fucking, he suddenly agreed to whatever I demanded.
I wasn’t necessarily proud of what I had done, but I couldn’t look the other way when my childhood was staring me in the fucking face. Some men didn’t deserve to get whatever they wanted simply because they could buy their way to it, and I was happy to deliver that message to him.
Eva had been at Lucy’s side throughout the night and into the morning, never leaving other than for a quick bathroom break when she felt her bladder might burst. I had offered to bring her coffee and something for breakfast. She declined, not wanting toeat in front of her sister until she had been cleared to have solid foods again.
The doctors and nurses had been bustling through her room since she woke up, running different tests and tracking her vitals. It had been a relief to hear that she appeared to be doing better than they had expected, and the doctor felt confident she would have a quick recovery. They had a few more tests that they were waiting on before they would decide whether to release her or keep her for another night.
“How’s your pain?” Eva asked, gently fluffing the pillow behind Lucy’s head. “Do you want me to get the nurse?”
“I’m fine.” She laughed, her voice hoarse. “Stop fussing over me. I gave birth without pain meds. I can manage this, too.”
“Childbirth is different than recovering from surgery after your husband beat the shit out of you,” Eva muttered quietly. Lucy looked up at her and gave her a sad smile.
“I’m sorry,” Eva said. “I just really hate him and wish that you didn’t have to go through this.”
“I know. Me too.” Lucy sighed. “But I meet with Art on Monday, and then we’re supposed to have the mediation. Maybe things will be peaceful for once.”
I felt Eva’s eyes pierce me from across the room and looked away. I turned my attention to the TV and pretended to be watching the cooking show that was on.
“What’s that about?” Lucy asked, pointing back and forth between Eva and me.
Eva looked at me and shrugged, forcing Lucy’s attention to me.
“Well?” She narrowed her eyes and gave me themomlook.
“You’ll have to get the details from Eva, but let’s just say that Lance and I talked. You won’t be seeing or hearing from him. And if you do, you just let me know.” I smiled smugly and turned back to the TV.