Page 70 of I Promise You
“Thank you,” she murmurs, biting away her smile.
“And, of course, you’re going to be my maid of honor. No excuses!” She waves her index finger back and forth.
“Really?”
“Yup. Oh, by the way… I don’t mean to change the subject, but before we get called back to work and I forget, Violet wasn’t the only prisoner of war case. We had another after you left.”
“Oh no! Wait, how did I not hear about that?”
“Why would you hear about that?Sometimes, shit gets buried deep so the media doesn’t get their hands on it. I wish it were like that allthe time.People deserve privacy. For example, with Violet. I’m sure her story being all over the news was difficult for her to deal with.”
“You’re right.”
“This time, it was another Navy SEAL. He was captured and tortured, but he ended up escaping. He saved himself.”
“Wow. Is he okay?” I’ve never heard of that before.
“I treated him for a few days before returning home. What they did to him was so evil…” She pauses, shaking her head as she recounts the memories. “Half of his face is a mystery. I didn’t get to see it. Only Doctor Diaz did and he didn’t say what he saw. One eye is almost entirely blind. He didn’t talk at all. ‘Yes’ and ‘no’ were the only amount of communication he used. He didn’t like to communicate, so that made treating him vexatious. He was a bitoffthe entire time we treated him. I thought it was because of all the trauma he went through…but apparently not. One of his friends said he has always been like that even before he was a prisoner of war.”
“Oh, poor guy. I’m surprised Danny’s team wasn’t called in for his extraction.”
“To my knowledge, his team was requested, but this happened when…” She trails off, looking to see if she crossed a line, but I nod for her to go on.
“When all that happened with Shane, Danny turned it down. And so his team refused to go in without him, so they called in guys from the Army. Some guys from Delta, but they were already too late since the guy had escaped.” She shrugs. “They were able to find him and bring him back to base, though.”
“What’s his name?”
“Daegan.”
I open my mouth to ask what his operator name is, but we’re interrupted ruthlessly.
“Here’s Ms. Alvarez.” I turn around to meet Dr. Reese. His silver hair is brushed back. Every single strand is completely hardened with product, shiny even. Not one single strand is out of place.
But he’s not alone. A handsome, tall man grins back at me mischievously. There’s nothing warm about the way he looks at me. He has familiar facial features.
He looks like—
“Lori, I have a patient in Room 3 that needs to be prepped for surgery now.”
Lori purses her lips together, violently annoyed, and forces a smile. Her green eyes shine with frustration.
“Of course. I’ll be on my way.” She grabs her cup of coffee and walks away.
“I’ll leave you two alone.” Dr. Reese glances back at the mysterious man. “Looking forward to our Saturday golf with the other group of veterans.”
The man smiles in agreement, shaking his hand.
“Always a joy, Reese.”
The doctor pats his shoulder in a brotherly gesture and walks away, leaving me alone.
What the hell is going on?
Is he in Human Resources?
“I’m sorry, but do I know you?” I squint at him, trying to figure him out. Did I miss something when I came back to work? A meeting with new hires? I’m usually really good at remembering faces, and this man has a face I wouldn’t easily forget.
“Ah, so this is my son’s girlfriend. The one who has made a severe impact on his life.” His tone is welcoming, yet something behind his grin says otherwise.
