Page 38 of Devoured
His professional composure, which was usually steady and reassuring, completely shattered. He dropped to his knees beside the bed, took her limp hand in both of his, and pressed it to his face. I watched his shoulders shake with silent sobs—this strong man reduced to nothing by the sight of Marion’s destruction.
“Isaac.”
Sela appeared in the doorway, her face carefully neutral despite the scene before her.
“You need to step back.”She commanded.
Isaac’s head snapped up, and the look in his eyes was dangerous. Wild. Nothing like the gentle nurse I’d come to know.
“Don’t. Don’t you dare tell me to step back from her.”He warned Sela.
“She needs medical attention. Real medical attention.”Sela moved into the room with her usual efficiency, but I could see the concern in her eyes. “Let me work.”
Isaac stood slowly, his body coiled with barely controlled violence. When he turned to face her fully, I saw murder in his eyes.
“Where were you last night? When they were doing this to her—where the fuck were you?”
“Saving her life, probably.”Sela moved past him to check Marion’s vitals, her movements quick and professional. “She was worse when they brought her to me. Much worse. You should be thanking me instead of looking like you want to tear my throat out.”
“I’ll kill him,”Isaac said quietly, and the calm in his voice was more terrifying than if he’d screamed. “I’ll fucking kill Varnar. I’ll make him suffer like she suffered. I’ll—”
“No, you won’t.”She cut him off.
Sela didn’t look up from Marion. Her fingers checked pulse points and examined Marion’s wounds with care. When she spoke again, her voice dropped to a whisper, forcing Isaac to lean in to hear her.
“You think Varnar is some simple sadist? Just another sick doctor who gets off on hurting women?”
She glanced toward the door, then back at Isaac, her whisper urgent. “He’s connected. Protected. I’ve seen staff try to report him—good people, brave people. They get transferred. Fired. Sometimes worse. One nurse tried to go to the police...”She shook her head. “Car accident. Very convenient.”
Her hands kept moving, professional and steady, but her voice dropped lower. “He has people everywhere. The board. The police. Maybe higher. You can’t fight someone like that with your fists, Isaac.”
She finally met his eyes. “You want to help her? Then be smart. Stay alive. Keep slipping them extra pain meds. Keep documenting injuries where he can’t find them. Keep being the one person here who actually gives a damn.”
Her voice fell to almost nothing. “Because if you get yourself killed or fired trying to be a hero, who’s left? Who protects the next Marion? We need you here—not dead, not blacklisted.”
Isaac’s whole body shook with the effort of holding back. He pressed his forehead against Marion’s hand, whispering things too quiet for me to hear—promises, apologies, declarations of love that should have been said when she was conscious to hear them.
That’s when Tobias appeared in the doorway, already wearing that ugly grin that made him hate so much. He took in the scene—Isaac on his knees beside Marion’s bed, me crying in the corner, Sela working with grim efficiency—and his grin widened.
“Well, well. Nurse boy found his girlfriend,”he mocked. “Touching. Really. Like something out of a romance novel. Man, you should’ve seen how they broke her. It was so good!”
Isaac removed his glasses, placing them next to Marion’s pillow and then moved so fast I didn’t see it coming. His fist cracked against Tobias’s jaw. Tobias went down hard, blood spraying from his mouth in a bright arc.
“Isaac!”Sela snapped, but it was too late.
Isaac was already on top of Tobias, hitting him again and again, each punch punctuated with a word: “You—watched—you—fucking—watched—while—they—”
Tobias fought back with dirty tactics—fingers clawing for Isaac’s eyes, a knee aimed at his groin. They rolled across the floor, crashing into medical equipment, scattering supplies. Isaac had rage on his side, but Tobias was bigger, meaner, more used to violence.
“ENOUGH!”Sela snatched a syringe from the tray, holding it like a weapon. “Both of you, stop—or I sedate everyone in this room!”
They froze mid-grapple, bloodied and panting. Tobias’s lip was split, blood running down his chin. He had bruises on his face, while Isaac’s eye was already swelling shut.
“Get out,”Sela ordered, her voice carrying the kind of authority only earned through years of dealing with chaos. “All of you. Out of my medical wing. Now.”
“I’m not leaving her,”Isaac said, trying to untangle himself while still guarding.
“Yes, you are. Because if security finds you here after assaulting staff, you’ll be fired. Never work in healthcare again.”Her voice was ice—but beneath it, something else: understanding, maybe even respect. “Please listen to me and leave.”
