Page 9 of Stand: Part One
“We thought she’d be fine! She’s a tough girl, we all knew that?—”
Wrath like I’d never known surged like a black tidal wave of death in my chest. Rearing back, my fist collided with his jaw, snapping his head to the side before continuing to pummel his face until it was barely recognizable. Blood coated my fist and my shirt, but it covered Alan’s entire face as he attempted to continue breathing through his shattered nose.
Shaking my head at the traitor before me, I sighed in disappointment, having never seen such reckless stupidity before. We would need to complete a serious cleansing of our ranks to weed out this kind of foolishness. I couldn’t trust men like this to do the job I paid them handsomely to do if they were still looking to score outside their duties. Reform would be swift and lethal.
Turning to Scott, I kept my voice low for only him to hear. “Find out who the others are and collect anything you can from them. Keep him and the others alive and fed for three days. I will finish them on the third.”
Scott nodded and immediately moved for the tools laid out on the table as I headed for the back door, the sounds of Alan’s screams echoing as I exited the shack.
I didn’t stop until I found myself at the underground level of the house where the infirmary was located. The trauma unit had calmed down now that Jaden was out of surgery and mostly in the clear. The next few days were critical for her and they would be fucking unbearable for me. Helplessness to Jaden’s unintended suffering was not a circumstance I was accustomed to.
I found Sid reviewing Jaden’s vitals at the foot of her hospital bed. The wires and tubes connected to her body that were keeping her alive made my chest tighten.
“How is she?” I asked, my eyes sweeping over her sleeping form.
Sid turned to look at me, his eyes darting low to my bloodied hands, then back up to my eyes before pausing. A single glare from me got him talking.
“She’s a tough girl,” he said with a nod, clearing his throat several times. “She did very well in surgery. We were able to correct the fractures, so they will heal appropriately. But unfortunately, we were not able to save her ovary or fallopian tube.”
Sighing in disappointment, I cursed under my breath.
Sid raised a brow. “She only needs one, you know,” he added carefully.
“You mean she’s down to only one,” I countered. If I wanted Jaden to have my children, I couldn’t risk her losing her other ovary. “When her recovery is over, I want her birth control implant replaced with a fake one. If she’s not pregnant within the first two months, we’ll start the fertility shots.”
Sid frowned. “Why not just tell her the truth? Why hide your intentions?”
I growled in irritation. I didn’t like my orders being questioned, but when it came to Sid, I tried to make exceptions every now and then.
“Because once she knows, she’ll fight me at every turn. I already have two wars on my hands, I don’t need to add a third one in my own home.”
It was always easier to ask for forgiveness than it was for permission, though I didn’t give a shit about either. It would be easier for Jaden to accept what was already done than constantly fighting against it and failing anyway. This was the lesser struggle for both of us.
Sid coughed quietly into his sleeve. “And what exactly do you expect me to tell her when she suddenly bleeds again?”
I turned to glare at him, unconcerned with the trivial dilemma. “I don’t know, Sid, you’re the doctor. Figure it out.”
He sighed as he put his hands in the pockets of his white coat. I didn’t know why he bothered to wear it down here, but I didn’t really care that he did. Maybe he liked the idea of still looking like a licensed medical professional.
“This will be at least six months out before we can attempt any of this.”
“No shit,” I growled. With the severity of Jaden’s injuries, I wouldn’t be fucking her for the next several months, which put my plan on getting her pregnant on hiatus. What perfect fucking timing for her.
“She got very lucky, you know,” Sid commented. “Had the bullet not ricochet off that concrete wall, her injuries would be much worse. She might have lost a lot more than her ovary given the close range.”
I could feel my jaw clenching at the truth of his words. It had been close. Too close. She could have fucking bled out had the medical team not arrived when they did.
“Lucky that she happened to encounter the one guard with live ammunition?” I countered before turning my gaze back to Sid. “Yeah, what are the odds of that?”
I shook my head. If there was trouble to be found, Jaden would sure as shit always be the one to find it. She was a fucking magnet for chaos.
“The bone fractures will heal and the damaged tissues will repair themselves over time. She will be okay, Darren. But you both are going to have to be very patient.”
There were no words Sid could say that would relieve the weight in my chest, a heaviness that cemented its way through my system.
“You can go now, Sid,” I said, dismissing him altogether.
He glanced down before turning toward the door. “Don’t forget to wash your hands before touching her.”
