Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
By the time we pulled up outside the Emergency Room, I was crashing. Hard. The adrenaline had left my system, and I shivered uncontrollably. The big man beside me put his truck in park, then reached over and engulfed my hand in his much bigger one. “It’s gonna be all right. You’re safe.”
The kindness in his eyes… The concern. He looked at me like I’d wanted Danny to look at me during our entire years-long relationship. Perhaps he had looked at me that way once. Maybe when the kids had been born. All I knew for sure was, if Knox kept looking at me this way, that look would be my undoing.
Chapter Two
Knox
I was never supposed to reveal my presence to my family. It was something I’d agreed to when things went to shit with my last mission and I’d wanted out. Instead of giving me a new identity or some shit like that, I opted to be dead and let my father collect benefits on me. But with all the things that had happened recently, with our vice president keeping in touch with her family and insisting family was everything, I’d realized how much I’d missed mine. I knew it would be hard and that contacting him was a risk, but I had to see my father. Of all the people in my life, I knew he’d understand. And that was where I intended to leave my reunion. Only with my dad. What I wasn’t prepared for was my brother’s woman.
Sure, I’d seen her from afar as I’d scouted out the apartment where my dad lived. Watched as she took the kids to school. Picked them up. Took them to school functions and sporting activities. My dad usually went with her because Danny was never there. I’d actually thought Crush and Byte had been mistaken and Danny wasn’t living in the same apartment. That was how rarely I’d seen him.
My nephew, Luke, was an avid football player, while Aneshya was more into music and dancing. From what I’d been able to piece together over the past six months, Evelyn was doing her level best to be a good mother. She had a job where she worked from home and, from what Crush had told me, she took care of every single bill the small family had. Danny took care of himself. I hadn’t been that interested in learning about Danny. The two of us had never really gotten along, despite being raised in the same household. We couldn’t be more different. Besides, it was Danny’s spending and lavish lifestyle that had forced me into the special forces to begin with.
He’d managed to take out multiple loans on our parents’ home and property he either couldn’t or wouldn’t pay back. Mom and Dad didn’t have that kind of money and couldn’t even meet the monthly interest payments. I’d tried, but no matter how much money I sent, Danny managed to end up with more than half of it. Which had led to a whole other chain of events which led me to being declared dead. My pension and death benefits were enough to pay off the lien, but I had no idea why Dad was living in the same apartment complex as Danny and Evelyn instead of his home. I knew Dad had moved out shortly after my mother had passed, so I’d made sure the guy he hired to keep up the property did so, and I took over paying him.
Once at the hospital, my dad corralled the kids, making sure they got signed in. Evelyn worried her bottom lip nervously. She didn’t have her purse or wallet, so I was sure she didn’t have her insurance card with her. If she even had any.
We got everyone checked in and into triage. The kids seemed to be doing far better once they’d gotten into the clear air, but I was worried about Evelyn. Her voice was husky and she still coughed a lot, though she didn’t seem to be having as much trouble as before.
“I’m fine,” she insisted after the nurse listened to her chest. “I really don’t need to be seen. Just see the kids and Mr. -- uh” -- she glanced at my dad -- ”that is, Grover and the kids. See to them.”
The nurse gave her a look. “Honey, of the four of you, you need to be seen the worst. Your lungs sound awful, your oxygen is low, and your voice is hoarse.”
“She’ll be seen.” There was no way I was letting her sit this one out.
She looked up at me. “I can’t afford this,” she hissed. “The kids? Yes. Me? I’ll be fine.”
“Yep,” I agreed, nodding my head. “‘Cause you’re gonna let the doc check you out.”
“We’ve got several people coming in from the fire, honey. Of all the ones I’ve seen here in triage so far, you’re by far the one hurt the worst. If it’s the money you’re worried about, don’t. We’ll see you regardless. You’ll still get a bill and stuff, but you can pay it off a few dollars at a time.”