Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Dani? What’s up?” he asks.
“Dani?” Miller questions with a grunt, getting to his feet, but my attention is on the squawking that’s heard through the line, so loud I can hear her clear as day despite not being on speakerphone.
“Where’s Tank? It’s Sophie, she’s been hurt.”
“What?” Coach Larsden’s eyes instantly flick to mine, but I’m already out of my chair reaching for his phone, snatching the fucker right out of his hands.
“Dani? What’s wrong?” I rush out as Miller hovers by my side.
“I called an ambulance. She’s been beaten,” she starts. “I . . . I . . .”
“What?” I cut in as I take off out of the room.
“A home invasion maybe,” she cries, heavy sobs making it almost impossible to make out what she’s saying. “You need to hurry. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
Fuck.
I end the call and throw myself into my truck, Miller already beside me. Kicking over the engine, I slam my foot on the gas and peel out of the parking lot, not giving a fuck about the oncoming traffic. “Head to the hospital,” Miller says as he sees me about to take the turn for home. “She said she called an ambulance. It’ll be quicker to meet her there.”
Shit. Of course.
I break every fucking traffic law as I try to get to my wife as fast as possible, the thoughts going through my head leaving me crippled and unable to breathe. What the hell did Dani mean she had been beaten? And how much blood had she lost? Was she conscious? Talking? Breathing? What about my son?
Question after question fills my mind and has me pushing my truck to its absolute limits, desperate to get to her.
I pull up outside the emergency ward, half hanging over the curb, and leave my truck in the ambulance bay with the engine still running. They can move it themselves if they need to. Fuck! They can tow it for all I care. I just need to get to my wife.
I run straight in and find Dani bawling her eyes out as Mia screams in her arms. “Where is she?” I roar as Miller takes the baby from Dani, neither of them in a state to be caring for her right now.
Dani gets up instantly and rushes toward me, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. “They’ve taken her straight into emergency surgery,” she cries. “It’s . . . I don’t think it’s looking good.”
“Surgery?” I question in a panic, wondering just how fucking bad she was beat.
Dani lets out a sob. “There was too much blood. It was everywhere, and I . . . I didn’t know how to help her.”
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!
I bypass Dani and head straight for the nurse at the check-in desk. “My wife, Sophie Meyers. She was brought in not long ago. I need to see her.”
The nurse quickly scans her computer before looking up at me. “I’m sorry, sir. Your wife has been taken into surgery for extensive injuries. You’ll need to take a seat in the waiting area. We’ll update you when we have any news.”
“Fuck,” I curse, pacing in front of her desk before whipping back to look at the woman. “Just tell me she’s okay,” I beg. “Please. Is she still breathing?”
“Sir, I’m sorry. I do not have that information. She came through the doors and went straight into surgery. I should not make any assumptions, but I would presume she is in a very serious state,” she says, being straightforward with me.
“And my son?” I ask.
“Son?” she questions as she looks furiously at her screen. “I’m sorry,” she says, shaking her head ever so slightly as panic settles over her features. “Only one patient was brought in. There is no mention of a child.”
“My son. Sophie’s pregnant,” I confirm.
She double-checks her screen. “There’s no mention here of a pregnancy.”
“What?” I shout. “She’s five months pregnant. How could they not know? You’re telling me my wife is in surgery and the doctors don’t know she’s pregnant?” My voice gets louder and louder by the second, and suddenly Dani is standing at my side with a hand on my forearm.
“It’s okay,” she murmurs in a soothing voice. “I told the paramedics. They said it was obvious, and I heard them mention it when they called it in.”
I nod my head and let out a deep breath. I turn my back and take a seat in the waiting area with nothing but my own torturous thoughts streaming through my head.
Dani takes a seat next to me with a bunch of papers, clutching onto them tightly. “The nurse asked if you could fill this out,” she says, not bothering to hand it to me, already knowing what my answer is going to be.
“What happened?” I ask softly.
She lets out a breath as silent tears slide down her face. “I got to your place just after one. The front gate was open and the door was left cracked as if someone had left in a hurry. I found Sophie on the floor. She was in the corner of the living room in a heap of blood.” Dani takes a breath, needing to recompose herself as the images start flashing in my mind. “Her face is badly bruised and cut up. She has a broken arm and there was a lot of blood staining through her jeans. I . . . I couldn’t tell if she’d been cut or hurt on her thighs or . . . or if she was bleeding internally.”