Page 156 of Heartless Legacy

Pamela frowns and asks, “How do you mean?”

“I’m here, but three of my cousins think we should just let aunt Olivia go on as she is. What happens if they show up and cancel her treatment agreement? Or if she simply decides to cancel it herself? What stops her from walking out of here?”

“Ah. I see. Well, we ask for two points of contact for emergencies and to coordinate treatment. If those cousins aren’t on the admittance contract, the most they can do is visit. Even then, they have to be on the approved visitor’s list that the guardian fills out.”

Holden asks, “How long does that last?”

“For the entire duration of their residency. Change is often triggering for our residents, and most families won’t update the list, unless it’s to comply with some kind of legal proceeding. As for your aunt, the contract has a minimum stay requirement of thirty days. While the floors look accessible from the inside, they aren’t. There are some interconnected hallways between the wings, but you need a badge to swipe off the floor.”

She flings open a door to a room with glass windows and plants. “This is our garden oasis discussion room for the outdoor types.” Next, she takes us to the game room, the office room, and a sterile white room, which she tells us is used for those who need the most structure and reduced stimuli.

We tour the cafeteria and Pamela casually waves in the direction of the hospital wing. She proudly informs us that it has a full-time staff, which includes surgeons and anesthesiologists, which allows them to remain a fully self-contained treatmentfacility. It’s all impossibly perfect. Even the patients we walked by leaving the game room looked immaculately kept and were on their best behavior. Which only makes me want to see what’s behind the locked doors even more.

We end our tour back at the reception desk. I flirt with Nurse Hillcrest until she has to check in a few visitors, then we’re given an armful of brochures and an example of the residents’ admittance questionnaire to go over. As soon as we were off the grounds, away from view of the perimeter cameras, I pull out the electronic visitor’s badges I swiped and wave them at Holden.

I squint into the darkness, rub my eyes, and then squint again. I could have sworn I saw something in the trees, but Holden recalls his drone, insisting the perimeter is clear. This place is ultra secure, but there’s a door that the staff -whose lifestyle choices include smoking- use on their breaks. It’s a general access door; Holden had no problem hacking the code for the lock and embedding it on the strip of the visitor’s badge. I hold the badge against the lock, slipping through the door when the light turns green.

It’s well lights out time the facility imposes. The lights are dim in the discussion rooms we toured earlier. Holden and I split up at the reception desk. He’s heading to the lifestyle wing.My destination is the treatment wing. Our target is a file room on each side. Either paper or computer based. The facility runs on a closed network, making them impossible to hack from the outside, just like every other company that does business with The League.

On silent feet, I creep through the halls, floor by floor, pausing long enough to look for cameras before moving to my next check point.

The hallway I’m in slopes downward, extending beyond where the other floors had walls. There’s a sharp right turn and another sloping downward hall, then a left into a basement. I walk by a door labeled maintenance, and another that says supplies, before coming up on the Medical Records Office.

I ease the door open and step inside. The air behind me displaces as the door shuts. I spin around, arms up to block the blow, but I’m attacked from behind. My body slumps to the ground. The last thing I see are familiar violet hued eyes staring down at me.

Chapter 91

Thea

Delta Team is split into seven squads. Squads one and two are assigned to the west coast. Squad three and four cover the east coast, and the rest are stationed in Europe, Asia and Canada. Andrew, the team leader for squad two, is standing in the doorway of the warehouse they’re using as a temporary base of operations.

“Really?” He says as Finn and Holden are carried inside. Now that we’re here, I’m realizing this might have been a bit of an extreme reaction on my part, but they’re loyal league members with a lifelong relationship with Malcolm. I can’t risk news of my extra-curricular activities getting back to him.

They deposit the guys in the waiting area while I go off to find the person in charge of both west coast teams. Terrance is in the office he’s using as a communications room. “Glad you’re here.” He says, “That saves me from having to send someone to get you.”

“What do you mean,sendsomeone? This town is crawling with Phoenix agents. All I need to do is flash a nipple and they’ll come running to cover me up.”

“Do not test that theory. The agents watching out for you are good people. They deserve to keep their jobs.”

“Alexz won’t fire them for that.”

“No, but your boyfriends might pluck out their eyes, which would make them physically unqualified for field work.” He signs off on the document in front of him, then says, “Now would you care to explain why I have Canyon Falls’ favorite sons in my holding area?”

“Me? I was hoping you could explain what they were doing in Connecticut.”

People will want an explanation about my being here too, since there’s an airline ticket and hotel reservation that says I’m on the beaches of Puerto Rico with Sasha. According to the pictures Sasha is posting on my social media account, the fake me is having the time of her life.

Did I screw up somehow? No. The only people who knew about this trip are Delta Team and Wolfe. I side eye Andrew through the door. Maybe his squad was running their mouths and Finn and Holden overheard? I shake my head. No. It’s possible, buthighlyunlikely. Nobody would be talking out in public and risk having to face Alexz over a security breach. I sigh as the most obvious answer comes to me.

“We’re talking about Finley Jefferson Rhodes, the Third, and Holden Sullivan. One guy stalks me, the other loves violence. They probably followed me and justified in their twisted little minds that we were on some kind of date.”

Terrance asks, “Did you at least get what we needed before you pulled the plug?”

“I think so. We were finishing up when he came through the door. I didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave him passed out on the floor.”

“You did the right thing. I’ll call Kendall and see how he wants to handle this.”

Backing away towards the door, I say, “Okay, I’ll leave you to it.”

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