Page 79 of One Spicy Summer

“What the fuck happened?!” Rafe demands.

“I don’t know," I mutter. "They wouldn’t tell me.”

I march to the nurse’s station. “Presley Collins," I bark. "She was just brought in. I need to know what’s going on.”

The nurse looks up at me, then at Rafe and Agatha.“Are you family?”

“Yes.”

She flips through paperwork, her expression hardening. “Grace!” she barks. Another nurse jogs over. “Was a Presley Collins brought in?”

“I don't know the name," Grace says. "But a woman came in... gunshot wounds, severe beating.”

My world tilts sideways.

Presley.

Beaten.

Shot.

And I wasn’t there.

“I wasn’t fucking there,” I whisper, barely aware of Rafe and Agatha peppering Grace with questions.

Grace sighs. “You’ll have to wait for the doctor. I can take you to a waiting room.”

We follow numbly.

Grace stops us at a hallway. “Sir,” she says to Rafe, “come with me. You’re family. I’ll need your ID.”

He nods and goes.

Agatha and I are left standing there, broken. “Rygaard...” she whispers. “Do you really think it’s her?”

I slowly nod. “Yeah. It’s her.”

I slump into a chair, head in my hands, praying harder than I ever have in my life.God, if you're listening, save her. Take me instead. Just don’t take her.

Minutes blur together.

Finally, Agatha sits next to me, slipping her hand into mine.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” she says, voice raw. “But Presley’ll never tell you herself.”

I lift my head.

“She found out she was pregnant. After you left.”

My heart shatters all over again.

“What...?” I rasp.

“She carried him full term. He was stillborn.” I choke on a sob. “She named him Reese.”

Agatha pulls a locket from around her neck and drops it into my hand.

I open it with shaking fingers. Inside, a tiny sleeping face stares back at me, golden skin, black hair, tiny hands pressed in prayer.

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