Page 75 of Heart of Stone (Dark Billionaires)

The characteristic smell of hospitals was becoming almost homely at this point. The constant rush of people walking down the main thoroughfare was seemingly never-ending, but all the three of them had to do was keep close behind Brax and the other enormous security guard carving a path through the crush.

After shutting the door on Andy, none of them had made another mention of the man. Kate was fine to let Sarah bring it up as and when she chose. Mattie, on the other hand, had managed to rescue most of his models, which had been loaded in little purpose built cases full of black foam. Several had been lost in Andy’s tantrum, but Mattie had assured her that they’d mostly been old models that he didn’t play with anymore.

Although with the wobbling of his lip, Kate wasn’t quite sure she believed him.

And then they entered Warren’s room, and the air whooshed from her lungs in a single, bleak moment.

Warren was as still as a corpse on the bed, his face white and his lips worryingly blue. A cannula was embedded in his arm, attached to a clear bag of fluid hanging next to the bed. The band of worry and nausea around her torso loosened somewhat at the sight of his steady heart rate.

Something inside her died when she realised it had been less than eighteen hours ago that she’d beenassistinghim, causing the nurse to rush in on a wave of embarrassment.

It felt like a thousand years ago.

A gentle touch at her arm made her jump. How long had she been standing there staring at him for?

Alison, Rhys and Aldous’s mother, stood there with a kindly expression. “Come and sit down, sweetheart. We’ve saved you a chair.”

Kate allowed herself to be steered past the entire Stone family and plonked in the chair beside Warren’s head. Sarah sat opposite her, focused on nothing but her son. “Will he live?” Kate croaked, her voice wavering as it met the open air.

The Stone matriarch bit her lip. Her eyes were stained pink with tears. “Maybe.”

“He was… he was fine last night.”

Rhys spoke up then, but Kate didn’t bother looking at him. “It’s not gastritis, Kate.”

“But he tested positive for that bacteria. Didn’t he?”

“He did, but in light of his seizures they’ve reassessed his diagnosis. The bacteria test was a false alarm. Apparently it’s present in more than 50% of the popula—”

Sarah spoke over him. “Then what’s wrong with him?” she asked, taking Warren’s large, limp hand.

It was Aldous who answered. “The doctors think he’s consumed some kind of toxin.”

“A toxin? Like a drug?” Kate asked, taking Warren’s other hand, mindful of his cannula. His skin had a faint yellow tinge.

Aldous shook his head. “We don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s affecting his liver—significantly so. That’s having a knock-on effect on the fluid in his brain.”

“Neither of which are good things,” Rhys finished, his arms crossed.

“So what are they going to do about it?” Kate glanced around the room, hoping someone would have a simple answer.

“We wait,” Alison said patiently. “They’ve given him a charcoal mixture to prevent his body from absorbing the toxin. The mistaken diagnosis has meant the toxin has been allowed to work for longer than it should have done. They’re doing what they can to save his liver, and in the process stop the fluid from accumulating in his brain.”

Kate needed more. “And… and if they can’t do that?”

The question hung in the air, but no one dared to answer.

13

Kate

Warren’sliverfailedthreeweeks after his hospital admission.

He spent eight-and-a-half hours in surgery for a liver transplant. Which meant that Kate, Sarah, and Alison spent eight-and-a-half hours waiting in his hospital room, making stuttered, dead-end conversation and staring at the clock.

Second by second.

Minute by minute.

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