Page 31 of Come Alive
Did I even speak out loud? Or am I in shock?
It wasn’t fair, but part of mewantedto be alone. To take this time and fall completely apart.
A young nurse opening the door cut through my anxiety, but she didn’t look right and my hackles rose as I surveyed her. Her bleached blonde hair was in disarray, and her long-sleeved scrubs were incredibly clean, pristine, as if she had just put them on. “There’s two men out here asking about you. They won’t come back here until you give the okay, but one gave me this phone for you.” Her voice was quiet, her tone nearly emotionless as she walked slowly into the room.
Her words appeased most of my anxiety but not all of it.
She shoved the device into my hands, distracting me from my confusion and paranoia.
A flip phone. I hadn’t seen one of these inyears.
“Thank you…” I trailed off, trying to catch her eyes, to determine why this interaction was leaving me on edge.
Her aura was screaming at me that something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t pinpoint why.
“I’m Eve, I’ll be back to check on you,” she advised hoarsely before turning and practically sprinting from the room.
I sat for just a few minutes with the device, but the longer I did, the more I realized who I really needed to speak to. If only to confirm she was okay.
Dialing Izzy’s number from memory, I held my breath as it rang.
Chapter 16
Mateo
Mateo paced the vacant waiting room for the thousandth time. He couldn’t sit still, couldn’t calm his breathing, couldn’t help but blame Kazi and James for putting Yara under unnecessary stress. It wasn’t good for her, or the child she was growing.
He wanted more than anything to dispose of both men, thenuisancesof Yara’s life, but he knew better than to touch them.
He was fully aware that Yara wouldn’t forgive him if he did. And it was only that knowledge that kept him from shooting down every single nurse and doctor in this hospital that had dared keep him separated from her. Security had already forcefully removed him from outside her door once, and it was only Emilio’s call that had allowed him to stay inside the hospital at all.
And then there wasSteve.The man behind the curtain. James’s boss. He only knew one man with that name, and he hoped against everything they weren’t the same person. But he was beginning to suspect that they were. He just couldn’t understandwhy.Or what his connection would be to Yara.
Nothing made any sense.
Fuck!
If I don’t hear news soon, I don’t care what Yara says, I’m going to b—
“Kazi Baek?” The voice broke through the silence of the waiting area.
Kazi jumped to his feet as if shocked. Mateo would have laughed at the sight under any other circumstances.
“Where is she? Is she okay?” Mateo barked, marching up to the doctor and staring down his nose at him.
The doctor gulped audibly. “Kazi?” he asked.
Mateo lifted his hands up towards the doctor’s throat, but restrained himself. He jerked his head towards Kazi. “That’s him. Now tell us the news.”
“How is Yara?”
The doctor flicked his eyes between the two men, reaching a hand up to rub nervously on the back of his neck. “I’m Dr. Lean. I was advised to let you two back there, and Yara has agreed. She and the twins are fine. She will need to stay a few more days to undergo tests and to rest, but she is stable.”
The doctor quickly turned, heading back towards where Yara’s room was, gesturing for them to follow.
Twins. Twins. Twins.
The word shouted through Mateo’s brain, breaking apart everything he thought he knew.
