Page 177 of Heartbeats & Highways

“There was another person who . . .”

Savage waited for me to finish.

“Examined me?—”

“Name,” he gritted out.

“Dr. Winchester. I don’t know his first name.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“And what about Calvin, the Grand Patriarch’s second-in-command? He’s the one who kidnapped me.”

He clenched his jaw. “I’ll find him, too.”

“Savage? I’m worried. You took me to a hospital. What if—what if they report what happened to the police? There will be an investigation, and they’ll find out what I?—”

“Hey. Stop. There won’t be an investigation. Prez has already spoken to the police chief in town. We dealt with it, and you don’t have to worry about that place ever again. Okay?”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Shower,” he said gently.

Nodding, I turned away from him.

He left me alone again. I stripped out of my clothes and stepped into the steam. It wasn’t hot enough, so I cranked the heat.

I watched the water turn pink as the stain on my fingers dissipated and swirled down the drain. I looked at my belly. “Babies,” I whispered, my hand covering my stomach.

I was suddenly lightheaded, and I pressed my palm to the wall to steady myself, but my vision winked in and out. I slid down into the tub, curled my legs up, and rested my head on my knees.

The bathroom door opened, and Savage called out, “Evie? Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied. I didn’t even attempt to stand.

His heavy leather boots hit the floor and then I heard the jangle of his belt buckle. Savage pulled back the shower curtain. “Fuck, Evie. What happened?”

He climbed into the tub, closed the shower curtain, and then sat down behind me. He folded his body around mine.

“Nothing,” I murmured. “I just kind of got lightheaded for a minute.”

He held me, not saying anything, not expecting me to speak.

But as the water rained down on us, the words poured from my lips. I recounted everything—from the moment I was kidnapped in the parking lot to the horror of waking up on The Farm.

“He was going to turn me into his broodmare,” I said softly. “I told his wife, and she tried to choke me to death. She thought she could keep her place by killing me. Killing my babies. I beat her with the sash weight from the window.”

I trembled.

“Fucking psychos.” His arms tightened around me. “They’re dead; you never have to worry about them again.”

“What happens now?”

“We’re going to find Dr. Winchester and Calvin, and then we end them for hurting you.”

His words were meager reassurance. Until they were found . . . they were out there still.

I brushed my wet hair away from my eyes.

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