Page 4 of The Perfect Revenge
“Hi Rufus,” she said.
“Hi Hannah,” he said with a sheepish wave.
“Have you been watching Finn this whole time?”
He shrugged.“I’m part of the team.I mostly work nights.”
“And you think that hearing my voice might help him?”
“I don’t think it will hurt.”
Hannah turned to Jessie.
“Couldn’t it have helped all these weeks when I was in the dark?”She could hear the bitterness in her own voice.
"Like I said, there didn't seem to be any point until he started showing progress," Jessie replied."And like I also said, we were worried that you coming here might tip off the attacker."
“I wouldn’t have taken any unreasonable risks.”
“You say that, but we know that you put tracking devices on Finn’s parents’ vehicles.That doesn’t strike me as a measured course of action.”
Hannah chose not to address that point and focused on another instead.“So to be clear, you’ve been lying to me all these weeks.While I was desperately searching for him, you let me think that he was in a hospice on the brink of death.”
“I didn’t lie,” Jessie objected half-heartedly.“I just wasn’t fully forthcoming.”
“That’s a lame justification.You snuck him out of the hospital, making sure to do it when you knew I was elsewhere.Then, when I asked you for help in finding him, you led me to believe that nothing could be done.”
“You were spiraling, Hannah!”Her sister’s tone was pleading.“Your grades were falling.You spent all your time at the hospital.I wanted you to have some semblance of a normal life.And it worked.Once Finn was moved, you bounced back.”
Hannah had a sudden urge to slap her sister.Fearing she might actually take a swing, Hannah pressed her palm hard against her leg in an effort to control the desire.She was livid.Jessie knew how much she’d been struggling in the wake of Finn’s disappearance: the lack of sleep, the physical sickness—actual nausea—she felt when she thought about what he must be going through.
And yet her sister had still kept this from her.Closing her eyes, she reminded herself that Jessie wasn't her priority right now.Instead, she tried to keep her focus on Finn.
“Can I see him now?”she asked, her tone emotionless by design.
“Yes,” Jessie said.“Rufus will take you in.
CHAPTER TWO
The bodyguard motioned for her to join him.
She followed him down the short hall to a slightly ajar door.He pushed it open the rest of the way.Seated in a chair by the door was a youngish-looking, blonde nurse, who stood up to greet her.
“Hi, I’m Lenore.Come on in.”
Hannah stepped into the room, and for the first time in over forty days, laid eyes on Finn.He was lying in a hospital bed.An I.V.extended from a nearby bag into his arm.A monitor beside the bed beeped softly, keeping track of his vital signs.
He looked much like the Finn she remembered, if a little more gaunt in the face.His gray eyes were closed as if he was napping.His dirty blond hair was trimmed and brushed.His face was shaved.Someone was doing the little things for him.
“Were you here when he woke up?”Hannah asked Nurse Lenore.
"Yes.I was sitting in that chair.I heard noises, looked over, and saw that his eyes were open and he was moving slightly.I spoke to him briefly but he faded out again before I could really communicate much."
“And he hasn’t woken up since then?”
“No, but his vitals have been strong.He’s also been responsive to stimuli in a way that he wasn’t before he woke up.We’re hopeful that he might wake up again any day now.”
“Can I hold his hand?”
