Page 47 of A Wife's Duty

“How do I look?” Lucia asked.

“You look good,” Boone said. “Come on, let’s go and get some breakfast.”

He held his hand out, which she took. They left the nightclub before any of his staff had even arrived. Outside, she saw the same two guards as last night. Boone looked at them, gave them a nod, and it was their time to leave. They just got into their car and left.

“Wow,” Lucia said. “They stayed all night?”

“It’s their job.”

She climbed into the passenger side of Boone’s car, and blew out a breath.

“How does Howard and Nancy’s sound?” Boone asked.

“Great, it sounds great.” The world was no longer spinning, and eating breakfast sounded ideal to her.

The traffic in the city was not too bad. It was still before eight, but as they approached the café, it was starting to get worse. Lucia frowned as she saw Ronald outside the café. Something was going on. One glance at Boone, and she knew something had happened.

He got out of the car and didn’t even look at her. Climbing out, she quickly moved to Boone’s side. Ronald didn’t look at her, strangely.

“What happened?”

“Last night, Howard got a call at home, saying he was needed. Nancy told him to go and she’d close up. Something about the kids being sick, or something. He left, three men walked in, trashed the place, beat Nancy up pretty bad.”

Lucia couldn’t believe it.

“Where is she?” Boone asked.

“In the hospital. Boone, you’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t give a fuck if I like it or not. Make the necessary arrangements to have this place cleaned up. I want the security footage, the works.”

“Will do,” Ronald said.

Within seconds they were back in the car and on the road. She saw the anger in every cell of Boone. She stayed silent. She had never seen him like this before.

Nancy had gotten hurt last night.

They arrived at the hospital, Boone parked the car, and Lucia followed him inside. No one stepped in his way, just keeping up with him. He reached out and took her hand, and they stepped onto the elevator, going toward one of the wards. Everything was a little fuzzy.

They moved quickly, and then she saw Howard coming out of one of the wards. The moment he saw Boone, the two had a quick embrace.

“How is she?” Boone asked.

“Stable. She was ... she has a couple of broken ribs, a broken leg, and a broken hand. She is bruised. The doctor said they will heal but it is going to take time.”

“Do you have any idea who did this?” Boone asked.

“Not a clue.” Howard pressed his hands to his face. “That should have been me, but the babysitter said the boys were calling for me.”

“And the babysitter called you?” Boone asked.

“Yeah. The cops think it was a burglary that had gone wrong, but they trashed the place and didn’t take any money.”

“I want your babysitter’s name,” Boone said.

“Why?”

“I just want to make sure the cops are following all the necessary leads.”

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