Page 6 of Michael
My brother stops abruptly and directs a puzzled stare at me. “Oh? Why is that?”
I shrug, fighting back a scowl. “I would have preferred arealemergency. That’s all.”
Uriel’s expression becomes flat. He shakes his head in disapproval. “That’s because you’reobsessedwith work,” he decides, watching me dead in the eye.
I won’t deny it. “Fine. Maybe I am obsessed.” I pause. “You’ll be happy to know I’m heading home,” I add, pushing the call button for the elevator.
My brother flashes me a satisfied grin as he stands next to me. “Good! Take a few days off and start dating while you’re at it,” he suggests with a wink.
I freeze, and my gaze angles towards him, spearing him with a glare. “Don’t push it, bro.”
“Dr. Michael, is that you?” a honeyed voice speaks behind us.
I whirl on the ball of my feet and see a woman being wheeled into the ER. Brown hair, green eyes, faint freckles on her cheeks… I know that face. “Samantha?” I say, narrowing my eyes. A genuine smile tugs at the corner of my lips.
Samantha Gardner. I secretly watched over her years ago when she was a child in foster care. Now she’s a receptionist here at the clinic.
“Hey there, Sammy.” I crouch next to the wheelchair and ease my hand over hers. “Is it time already?” My stare drifts to her highly pregnant belly and from there to the nurse wheeling her in. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
Samantha’s face flushes as tears swell up in her eyes. “I don’t know where he is!” she manages as she starts weeping.
“We’ve been trying to reach Jack for the past fifteen minutes,” the nurse explains. “Goes straight to voice mail.”
Everyone knows about Jack—especiallythose of my kin. “Try again,” I tell him in a gentle tone.
Heavy, hurried footfalls echo down the hallway, getting increasingly louder. A gruff voice booms from the end of the corridor. “I’m sorry Mike, we can’t wait any longer.”
I look up at a doctor in royal blue scrubs with a neon green Littman stethoscope tangled around his neck. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, and too outspoken for his own good. It’s my brother Raphael. The pediatrician in the family.
“This C-section needs to happen right now,” Rafa snaps, planting his hands on his hips. “I need this baby out.”
Samantha’s tearful eyes lock on my brother. Her chin faintly quivers as she clenches her hands into tight fists and shouts, “But I needhim!” before collapsing on the chair in a puddle of despair.
A wave of compassion rises from the depths of my being, so powerful that I can hardly contain it. My heart swells with the desire to help her... Italsothirsts for justice.
“Hey... It’s all right,” I tell her in a soothing tone. “Don’t worry, Sammy. I’ll find Jack.”
“Oh, you will?” she says, full of anticipation. “Thank you!” Her expression glows with relief.
I start as the elevator emits a loud ding. The metal doors suddenly creak open, and a burst of stale air rushes out.
“Come on,” Rafa says to the nurse. “Let’s take her to the prep room.”
The nurse follows Rafa into the elevator, and the doors shut with a soft pneumatic hiss.
And now, it’s me and my brother Uriel again.
Slowly, I straighten, watching those doors as I devise my plan. “Uri, I’m gonna need your bike,” I tell him, opening my hand.
“And just how are you going to find Jack?” Uri says, the pragmatic soul. Despite his skeptical ways, he drops the Harley’s keys in my palm. “You don’t even know where he is.” He flinches, taken by a sudden realization. “Wait. Are you gonna track him?”
“No need,” I tell him offhandedly. “Gone on a Wednesday night?” I pace to the stairway and push the door open with my forearm. Then I turn to my brother to add, “Oh, Iknowwhere he is.”
CHAPTER4
Amanda
Oh,thank the goddess! At last, I make it through the door—the place is classy enough that it has a bouncer, and it took a lot of persuading for the man to let me in. Basically, I just begged.
