Page 68 of Degrees of Innocence
The pain in my head is excruciating and it’s becoming impossible to focus. I vaguely hear the shattering of glass coming through the living room window, followed by short shots of gunfire and searing pain before I am once again enveloped in a world of darkness.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
There is shouting allaround me, but all I can focus on is the excruciating pain. “He’s down. Secure that lighter and get Kate the hell out of here, before the entire place lights up!” There is more pain when someone pulls at my restraints and I cry out as I am lifted into the air. The last things I hear are the sirens in the distance before I lose consciousness again.
As the stark white room comes into focus, I see the dark green eyes that I have been dreaming about. “Chase.”
His hand strokes my cheek. “Finally… Baby, I have been so worried about you.” His eyes are filled with concern and anxiety.
I look around the white room. Monitors are beeping above me and an IV pole is next to me. “Chase… is Matt, okay?”
“He's all right, Katarina. He was discharged earlier in the day.”
“Mark?”
“After he heals he will be behind bars wearing orange for a very long time, Katarina.”
I look around taking in the hospital room. “What happened, Chase and how did you find me?”
“You were shot in the shoulder and the bullet needed to be removed. You also sustained another nasty hit to the head. You’ve been recovering, Baby.”
“I’m so thirsty.”
“Take slow sips,” he says, easing me forward and putting the cup of water to my mouth. “I’m going to let the nurse know that you are awake.”
I can’t help but smile as he returns with a bristling nurse. The poor woman has probably been pulled away from another task by Mr. Bossy himself. “Miss Meilers, glad to see you’re awake,” she says kindly and begins asking me a series of questions to gauge my pain level.
A few moments later a tall man with graying hair and glasses who appears to be in his mid-forties shakes Chase’s hand and introduces himself to me as Dr. Rouse.
“Miss Meilers, you were very lucky. The wound you sustained to your shoulder did not injure any major arteries. You were most fortunate it did not hit the scapula or any other bones, which could have shattered. The smaller muscles and blood vessels were quickly repaired and you’ll be up and around in no time at all. You sustained a traumatic blow to the back of your head and, unfortunately, another concussion. We’ve been watching you carefully given this is the second one in as many weeks. The initial tests look good, but we are going to want you to limit physical activity for a little while and have you remain in the hospital until tomorrow, just to make sure none of the vessels leak. I’ll leave orders for pain control and stop by to see you in the morning. The discharge planner will get you scheduled for a follow-up with me in three days and we’ll evaluate therapy needs at that time. Do you have any questions for me?” he asks.
“None that I can think of right now. Thank you for taking care of me,” I say as the nurse returns with a pill and pours a fresh glass of water for me from the pitcher on the table.
“You are more than welcome. Gunshots to that area can either cause minimal damage or leave someone paralyzed for life depending on the location of the bullet. You were very fortunate, Miss Meilers.”
“Mr. Prestian, if you want to stay with her tonight I would suggest having them move in one of the rolling beds. They are much more comfortable than the chair you were in last night,” he says before leaving.
“You were here all night?” I ask as the doctor and nurse leave.
“Where else would I be, Katarina?”
“How did you even know I was here?”
He raises his eyebrows and narrows his eyes at me. “Katarina, do you seriously think I would allow you to wander around the city without security after what happened in Aruba? When you didn’t answer my calls or texts, I figured you needed some time alone. I tried initiating the tracking system so the security team could follow from a distance, but then you already know that don’t you? They were following from the minute you left the building. They pulled in another team to follow the signals and much to their surprise they were tracking a young skateboarder who picked up the phone on a city bench,” he says.
“I tried reaching Jenny a few times earlier in the day to find out if you had contacted her, but she must have been in meetings when I phoned. Jenny finally called me to let me know what was happening, when she couldn’t reach you on your cell. She was worried that you had decided to go alone and scared Matt may try to hurt you as well as himself.
“He didn’t try to hurt me, Chase. Mark must have called Jenny,” I begin to explain.
“Baby, I know that. Jay received a call from the team in Aruba about the same time. They found the man who attempted to drug you and he provided a description of the person who hired him. It fit Mark, perfectly, right down to the mole on the top of his ear. Jay’s team followed you from the hotel and ran the plates of the vehicles outside Matt’s apartment building and one belonged to Mark. They created a diversion and moved in fast. If they had not, you and Matt would not be here today, Baby,” he says, gently brushing my hair off my face.
“I asked Jay to gather intel on Mark when we first started to encounter problems with him, but it just appeared he was trying to venture into a business of his own. My team never made the connection between him and his former lover and you. My guess is you not only stole the heart of his lover but were also thwarting his plans of gaining my support in launching his facilities template design business. Millions of dollars’ worth of motivation to get you out of his way when he thought he could sell Prestian Corp his designs, and after the meeting today, he knew there was no chance of that. He must have still been at Prestian Corporation when you left and thought that you had evaded security.
“It all feels like a nightmare and it doesn’t make any sense at all, Chase. Mark said Matt was a coward and I wasn’t satisfied with just getting Matt, but I had to get in the way of his business, too. He was ranting and raving about wanting to kill me in front of Matt. What does Mark have to do with Matt? He made it sound like they were a couple?”
“Katarina, apparently Mark and Matt were in a pretty long- term relationship.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know they were together or that it was Mark, even in Aruba. I thought it was because of what you do for a living,” I admit.
