Page 43 of Cruel Hearts

He’s the best of the best. Connections everywhere. If he can’t find Stella, she’s dead.

A tightness fills my chest.

Did I think deep down there had been a chance for us? Am I sad her children will grow up without their mother the way I’ve lived without mine these past five years?

I remember the flat plains of her belly, how tight she was when I pushed into her, but that doesn’t explain the photos of her baby bump.

The proof.

Then a thought hits me. Maybe she had a miscarriage. Had Stella miscarried a child? How hard would that have been for her?

I wish we would have had a more meaningful conversation at her apartment, but I’d been too angry, too sick, to sit down and calmly ask my questions and not right enough in my mind to listen to her answers. That had been a huge mistake, and now I’m paying the price. I’m never going to see her again.

I’ll never know why she betrayed me.

My cell phone rings, and Quiet Meadows’ number glows on the screen.

They don’t call me...Zarah’s always stable and she’s never been in any kind of trouble. After she was admitted, Ash insisted on overseeing her care. He spends a lot of time with her, telling her about his day, holding her hand, and I think that keeps her steady. His love is a miracle, and I thank God every day he’s so committed to her.

“Maddox,” I answer.

“Mr. Maddox, this is Iona Belsely, the director at Quiet Meadows. I regret to inform you we had an incident this morning. Our facility was the target of a bomb threat.”

I lean forward, concerned. “Is my sister all right?”

“All of our residents are fine,” she says sharply. No doubt she thinks I’m selfish for not asking about the other patients. “We were reviewing the security footage, and we noticed an occurrence in Miss Maddox’s room during the confusion. I would appreciate it if you could view the video and tell me what you think.”

“I’ll be right there.”

I never thought Zarah would recover, and my heart thrums, beating a nervous staccato against my ribs. She seemed too lost to ever find her way back to reality, and I don’t want to get my hopes up, but maybe Ash’s never-ending love finally paid off.

I’m unable to tamp it back, and excitement races in my blood. Maybe my sister’s broken mind is healing. Anxious to see her, I drive myself to Quiet Meadows.

Iona Belsely meets me in the lobby.

The sanatorium doesn’t appear to have been the target of a bomb threat that took place only hours ago. Everything is as it should be, from the receptionists answering the phones to the security guards standing at their posts. Of course, the facility couldn’t be out of commission for long due to the large number patients needing care, and no doubt every available law enforcement officer and every available dog had been here clearing every inch of space.

Iona doesn’t lead me to Zarah’s room as I expected. Instead, I sit impatiently in a back room of the sanatorium’s security department anxiously tapping my foot as one of the security officers cues the surveillance footage. I don’t want to be here. I want to see Zarah.

“I have to admit, this is an anomaly,” Iona says, hovering behind my shoulder. “Quiet Meadows has never been the target of a bomb threat, or any other kind of violence. King’s Crossing is just not the type of city where things of this nature happen. Vance Huxley,” she says, referencing the city’s mayor, “does such a fine job of keeping the city crime-free.” She sighs. “After viewing the clip for the first time, I didn’t put the pieces together, but I’d like your opinion now, Mr. Maddox.”

The playback begins, and a black and white shot of the interior of Zarah’s room flashes on the screen.

My sister sits in her wheelchair, too out of it, usually, to stand for any real significant amount of time. Her aides walk with her every day, sometimes outside, weather permitting, but when she’s in her room, she sits and stares into space, presumably living in happier times.

Tapping my fingers impatiently against my knee, I watch her grip a blanket laying across her thighs. “Is something going to happen?”

“Wait,” Iona says, but she needn’t have bothered.

A moment later, a woman wearing a white lab coat holding a clipboard enters Zarah’s room.

The camera’s angle hides the doctor’s face. It’s only when the woman pulls up a chair and sits in front of Zarah that I can see it’s Stella.

She’s not dead.

The timestamp in the corner of the screen ensures this was filmed this morning. My investigator has been looking for her since yesterday. How could he not know Stella had been here visiting my sister? She’s injured, and she moves stiffly, slowly. I devour her figure. The kind way she holds Zarah’s hands. The way she keeps kissing her cheek.

Iona paces behind me. “This woman is trespassing on Quiet Meadows’ property. She is not a doctor on our staff, nor is she on Miss Maddox’s visitor’s list. Watch carefully, Mr. Maddox.”

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