Page 120 of Morally Corrupt

"It's fine, B. Wait here," I try to tell her gingerly, afraid she might cause a scene. She scowls at me but reluctantly nods.

We go to a different floor, and they take x-rays of my ribs and my right hand. After I'm done, the nurse accompanies me back to my bed.

"That was fast," Bianca notes when I lie down again.

"They don't usually take long," I say almost absentmindedly.

"I wouldn't know." Bianca shrugs.

"You've never had broken bones?"

Given her profession, it would be almost abnormal to not encounter that sort of injury.

"Oh, I've had plenty." She waves her hand as if it's nothing, and my head snaps in her direction. "But I've never gone to a hospital for them." I mean, I can empathize with that.

When I was fighting, we couldn't go to the hospital because they would alert the police. But we still had a makeshift clinic special for the fighters. After all, if you lasted longer, you could make more money for them.

I'm curious how she got them treated, though. Maybe Vlad had doctors working for him?

"Then how did you deal with them?"

"Usually, they happened while on a mission, and Vlad or I would make do with whatever materials we had. I think I've been lucky so far, though. I've only popped my shoulder a few times, broken my left wrist a time or two… but it wasn't something too bad."

"You mean you never had them looked at by a professional?"

"Well…" She thinks about it for a minute. "A surgeon once told me I shouldn't worry about it?"

"A surgeon?" I stare at her in disbelief.

"Yeah." She tugs her shirt, so her shoulder is exposed, pointing at a white puckered scar. "Got shot once. It was pretty messy because the guy couldn't find the bullet. He told me that compared to that, a dislocation isn'tthatbad."

I'm… shocked.

She tells this in an emotionless voice, as if she's just reciting some random facts. I'm even more shocked to realize that the many scars that she'd blamed on childhood accidents werenotactual childhood accidents.

Remembering many of the marks on her body, I now realize how gullible I'd been. Or maybe, better said, blind.

I, better than anyone, should recognize a knife or bullet wound, given my experience both in the force and during my time under Andrew. But of course, my sweet, sheltered wife couldn't have possibly gotten shot or stabbed.

"What about your other scars?" I find myself asking. "The ones you said were childhood accidents."

"Oh… let me think. I don't havethatmany. I'm good at my job." She looks at me offended, as if I'm questioning her abilities. "Let's see. The one on my thigh is from a bullet. There's the big one on my back from a knife… oh, and there are also the smaller white ones on my chest and belly. Those are from someveryshallow knife wounds. They scarred quite prettily, actually."

She's about to take off her top to show me, but I stop her when I spot the doctor coming our way. She pouts for a second but doesn't continue.

"Doctor." I nod at him, and his expression doesn't look too good.

"Mr. Hastings. I fear I don't have good news. I've looked at your scans. You do display some cracking in your ribs and wrist. But what I'm most concerned is the bone that hasn't healed." He turns his tablet towards me and pulls up my chest x-rays. He points to some circled areas in blue.

"These are your new injuries. But these…" He now points towards some areas in red. "These are old injuries that never healed properly. Have you had any breathing problems? Pain in your chest when you try to inhale and expand your lungs?" I shake my head.

"Good… that's good." He almost sounds relieved. "Given your extensive previous trauma, it's imperative that you avoid anything that might cause further injury." He explains that badly healed ribs could affect my lungs and, worst-case scenario, restrict my breathing.

"He will do just that!" Bianca is quick to assuage the doctor, her hand on my back.

"Now, on to your wrist scans. These are better. I can still see a lot of remodeled bone, but it's been set properly, so it shouldn't trouble you. There's only a hairline fracture on the distal side of your radius and should heal on its own. That's why I'm going to recommend you wear a hand brace instead of a cast. Don't put too much stress on it, though, because itwillworsen."

I nod as the doctor describes everything I need to do. He ends up only prescribing me some pain medicine and advising me to be careful while my ribs are healing.

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