Chapter 127: Tell Me the Bastard’s Name

MALACHI

"Why did the stethoscope break up with the thermometer?" I adjusted the stethoscope around my neck and pulled the surgical cap lower over my curls.

The face mask covered the rest of my face, and I looked like every other tired resident wandering the halls of Meyers Hospital.

"Why?" my twin’s voice perked through the earpiece.

"Ro, don’t encourage him," G grunted.

"Because it couldn’t take the heat," I said, grinning as I finished scooping the contents of the vault into my black box.

Meyers was such a prick, hiding a whole vault in the basement of his hospital. Behind me, the two guards he had stationed there lay unconscious, knocked out by the gas I had released earlier. The air smelled of bleach and burnt wiring.

"What’s the status report?" G asked as I snapped the box closed.

"Currently diagnosing a patient with acute Knight-osis," I said. The microphone in my button caught every word.

Roman’s laugh echoed through the earpiece and my grin widened. "What the hell is Knight-osis?"

"A rare condition." I hopped over the guards and slipped back into the hallway. "It’s very contagious and usually transmitted through close contact with exceptionally handsome men."

"Modest as always," Gideon muttered.

I made my way to the administrative wing, my stolen ID badge, courtesy of a nurse who thought I was the new cardiologist, getting me through every checkpoint. The security room sat at the end of the hall, humming with monitors and watched by a single bored guard.

"Dr. Knight," I announced, flashing the badge.

"Cardiology. I need to check the footage from last Tuesday. My patient claims he was mugged in the parking lot, and I need to verify his story for the insurance claim."

The guard grunted and waved me toward the console. "Knock yourself out."

I settled into the chair and my fingers flew over the keyboard. The hospital’s security was a joke. Meyers protected his millions with outdated software, no encryption and a password that was literally admin123.

Fucking hilarious.

I copied the files Gideon needed, Meyers’s patient logs, onto a small USB drive. While they transferred, I pulled up the live feed just for fun. And there, on camera three, was a woman in a familiar top, her brown hair swishing inches above her shoulders.

She was walking through the lobby like a ghost, her eyes red rimmed, a phone to her ear. My heart clenched.

"G," I murmured, my voice losing its playful edge. "I found her."

"Found who?" Roman was instantly alert.

"Ivy. She’s here at the hospital. And she looks..."

I trailed off, watching her stumble and catch herself on a wall. "She doesn’t look good."

"Isn’t Meyers’s hospital for VIPs? Why would she be there?"

"I don’t know, but I’m about to find out." I yanked the USB from the port and was out of the room before the guard could blink. An alarm blared through the building, and Meyers had clearly found the vault.

I caught up to her just as she reached the main entrance, muttering to herself and wiping her tears with shaking hands. She didn’t even see me.

"IVY?"

When her amber eyes met mine, they welled with fresh tears. "Kai?"

I grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the afternoon sun, my other arm clutching the black box. I tugged her into a quiet corner.

"What’s wrong?" I cupped her face and brushed away the tears that spilled down her cheeks.

"What are you doing here? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, but the tears kept coming. "I’m fine. I’m fine. I just found out something and..."

"Hey, hey." I pulled her into my arms and wrapped her up tight. She fit perfectly against me, her head tucked under my chin. "Breathe, little Ivy. I’ve got you."

She sobbed into my chest, her small body shaking. I stroked her hair and murmured against her ear. This was the second time I had seen her devastated like this, and I hated it.

"Why is she crying?" Roman’s voice roared in my ear. I winced, switched the earpiece to mute, and glanced up to see Meyers’s men spreading around the building like flies.

"Okay," I murmured when her sobs eased to hiccups. "We’re leaving."

I led her to my bike in the corner of the parking lot, handed her my helmet and helped her onto the back. She wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her cheek to my back, and I felt her exhale a long, shuddering breath.

"Where are we going?" she mumbled.

"Somewhere quiet."

The park was mostly empty, just a few joggers and a couple walking a dog. Sunlight filtered through the trees and threw lacy shadows on the grass. I parked, led her to a bench by a small pond and jogged to an ice cream truck.

When I got back she was staring at the water with a haunted look. "Here." I handed her one of the many cups in the bag, with a plastic spoon.

"Eat."

She took it, a ghost of a smile flickering across her lips. "Why did you get so much ice cream?"

"I didn’t know what flavor you liked," I grunted, settling beside her.

"Strawberry," she mumbled, and I rifled through the bag until I found it. I watched her eat and sniff and I eyed the faint bruise on her forehead. Was it that man from the teddy cam who gave her that?

Oh fuck, I had forgotten about my brothers. I stepped a few meters away and unmuted the earpiece, planning to tell them to back off.

"Kai?" Roman’s voice was loud and demanding. "Where the hell are you? Is she okay?"

I tapped my mic. "We’re at the park. She’s fine. Calm down."

"Calm down? You disappeared with her!"

"Ro," Gideon cut in. "Let him talk to her. We’ll listen." I hesitated, knowing I should have switched it off, but she’d already started talking, and I couldn’t stop it without making her ask why.

"So," I said, settling beside her on the bench.

"Talk to me."

She took a bite of ice cream, then another. "Do you know I thought I was barren?"

Every bone in my body went rigid. "What?"

"I can’t have children." She laughed bitterly. "Or at least, that’s what I believed for three years. Three years, Kai. I thought my body was broken. I thought it was my fault."

"I found out today," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I have an IUD. It’s been inside me for three years. My husband... he put it there. He and my doctor. They made me believe I was barren on purpose. Crazy, right? I would never have thought of that in a million years."

The ice cream was forgotten and melting in her hands. She turned to me, her amber eyes blazing with anger and devastation. "He was the devil himself, Kai. And I trusted him. I trusted him so much."

I leaned in, brushed her hair away and kissed the tears that slid down her cheeks. "What’s his name? Tell me the bastard’s name, little Ivy."