Page 227 of Dare To Live

I frown and stop. “Why didn’t she tell me?” Would she have told me if Evan hadn’t shown up? Would she have gone back to L.A. and kept it from me?

“From her surprised reaction when I mentioned it to her earlier, she didn’t know. She found out just before you came to her room.”

The churning in my gut eases, and I follow the nurse down the hallway to my room.

“Eli?” The incredulous shout is the only warning I get before I’m almost bowled over by Miles.

Pain shoots down my arm and across my chest when he drags me into a hug.

“Fuck.” I grit my teeth and throw my head back.

“Sir. Sir, please let go.”

The pain eases but doesn’t disappear completely as the nurse pulls him off me. I brace a hand against the wall, and suck in breath after breath as I battle through the waves of nausea.

“I thought you were dead!” He dashes at his eyes.

“Are you crying?” I squint at him, still breathing heavily, and he slowly comes back into focus.

“I saw them take you out of the house. You were covered in blood. I thought you were dead!” The sentence ends on a shout.

“Clearly, I’m not dead.” I scowl at him. “Didn’t Bret tell you?”

“I haven’t seen him since they brought Arabella in. I stayed in her room. I didn’t want her to wake up alone.”

My irritation softens, and I nod.

“What happened?” His eyes shift to the bandage wrapping my shoulder, and they widen. “You were shot?”

“Mr. Travers! I really must insist on you getting back into bed now,” the nurse interrupts, her voice firm.

My irritation returns, full force. “I’m fine.”

“You’re fine because you’re on pain meds. They’re going to wear off at some point and the pain you’re feeling now will be nothing to how it will feel then. Get into bed, please.” Her hand wraps around my good arm and she all but drags me into the room.

Miles trails along behind her.

“Can you do me a favor and find Bret? He’ll be lurking around somewhere. Claims he wanted to make sure we’re all okay. Personally, I think he feels fucking guilty for nearly getting us killed. Then find someone who can arrange for Ari to either move closer to me, or me closer to her. Ideally sharing a room.” I nod. “Yeah. Do that. Find someone who can put us in a room together. Throw money at them, if necessary.”

Miles slowly straightens as I fire instructions at him, and I hide a smile. Giving him something to do will take his mind off everything else.

I drop onto the mattress and let the nurse drag my jeans off. I can’t say I’m not relieved at her insistence on doing it because I’m pretty sure I’ll topple over if I try. Swinging my legs up, I settle back against the pillows, while she drags the covers over me. I tip my head back and close my eyes.

“Oh, and Miles?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Ivan thank you.”

“What are you thanking him for?”

The tone in his voice makes me open my eyes to peer at him. “Because if he hadn’t insisted on us coming to Churchill Bradley, Evan might still be out there, and we wouldn’t know about it. He could have kidnapped or killed Ari.”

“He was after you.”

“And eventually he would have realized that taking Ari would have given me to him. He was still stuck in the idea that I hated her. That’s why he didn’t take her sooner. But he’d have figured it out at some point.”

A wave of pain washes over me.

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