Chapter 3 - You Don’t Get to Own My Life
Ara's face went still.
“My apartment?”
Bruno nodded.
“Two men.”
“How do you know?”
“We put someone outside.”
Ara turned toward Lucian.
“You what?”
Lucian didn't flinch.
“I ordered protection.”
“You ordered surveillance.”
“Protection.”
“You don't get to redefine words because people are afraid of you.”
Bruno stepped back.
Lucian said, “Leave us.”
“Boss—”
“Now.”
Bruno left.
Ara shut the door.
“You had men following me?”
“Yes.”
“Without asking?”
“Yes.”
“Stop.”
“No.”
Ara stared at him.
Lucian stared back.
“You saved my life,” he said.
“That doesn't make my life yours.”
“It makes you a target.”
“According to whom?”
“The people who failed to kill me.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know exactly that.”
Lucian pushed himself upright and immediately grimaced.
Ara instinctively moved toward him.
“Lie back.”
“No.”
“You'll tear your sutures.”
“Then convince me.”
Ara put both hands on the bed rail.
“Lucian, I am not one of your employees.”
“I noticed.”
“I don't follow orders.”
“I noticed that too.”
“And you don't get to put guards outside my home.”
“Two men tried to enter your building.”
“That could mean anything.”
“One had your photograph.”
Ara stopped.
The room changed.
Lucian watched her reaction.
“Where is it?”
“Bruno has it.”
“I want to see it.”
Lucian pressed the call button.
Bruno returned carrying a phone.
The security photograph showed two men in the lobby of Ara’s building.
One was holding a printed photograph.
Her hospital ID picture.
Ara stared.
“Where did they get that?”
“We’re finding out,” Bruno said.
Ara looked at Lucian.
“What do they want?”
“Maybe information.”
“About you?”
“Maybe.”
“And if I don't have any?”
“They may not believe you.”
Ara’s jaw tightened.
Lucian said, “You can't go home.”
“Watch me.”
“Doctor.”
“No.”
“You're being stubborn.”
“You're a hospitalized crime boss trying to dictate where I sleep.”
“That sentence sounds worse when you say it.”
“It should.”
Lucian almost smiled.
Then his monitor changed.
Ara immediately switched back into physician mode.
“Stop talking.”
“You started it.”
“Your oxygen saturation is falling.”
Lucian looked down.
Ara called for help.
Within seconds the room filled with staff.
The complication wasn't catastrophic, but fluid had begun collecting where it shouldn't.
Ara handled it.
Lucian watched her through the entire procedure.
Afterward, she pulled off her gloves.
“You're staying another forty-eight hours.”
“Twenty-four.”
“Forty-eight.”
“Thirty-six.”
“This isn't a negotiation.”
“Everything is a negotiation.”
Ara leaned closer.
“Not anatomy.”
Lucian actually laughed.
Then stopped because laughing hurt.
“Don't make me laugh.”
“Then stop being ridiculous.”
---
That evening, Detective Ward returned.
This time she wanted Ara.
“Someone accessed Maro’s electronic chart.”
Ara frowned.
“Who?”
“Your credentials.”
Ara stared at her.
“Impossible.”
“The login came from workstation seven at 2:41 a.m.”
“I was in surgery.”
“We know.”
Ara understood immediately.
“Someone used my account.”
Ward nodded.
“To find what?”
“His condition. Medication. Room assignment.”
Lucian's room assignment.
Ara looked through the ICU glass.
Bruno was standing outside.
Lucian was watching them.
Ward lowered her voice.
“Doctor, whoever shot him may have someone inside this hospital.”
Ara felt cold.
“How many people know?”
“Very few.”
“Keep it that way.”
Ward studied her.
“You're taking this remarkably well.”
“I have forty-one years of experience being angry under pressure.”
Ward almost smiled.
“Stay somewhere else tonight.”
“I already heard that speech.”
“From Maro?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I disliked it more when he said it.”
---
Ara entered Lucian’s room.
He looked up.
“You're angry.”
“Someone stole my login.”
Lucian’s expression hardened.
“When?”
“While I was saving your life.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
Lucian reached for his phone.
Ara took it first.
“No.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Dr. Voss.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What exactly do you think I'm going to do?”
“Something illegal.”
“That doesn't narrow it down.”
She stared at him.
Lucian sighed.
“Fine. What do you propose?”
“We find out who accessed the workstation.”
“How?”
“Hospital cameras.”
Lucian considered it.
“You're suggesting an investigation.”
“I'm suggesting we identify whoever is endangering my patients.”
“Together?”
Ara pointed at his bed.
“You stay there.”
Lucian smiled.
“Doctor?”
“What?”
“Now you're giving orders to the mafia.”
Ara opened the door.
“No.”
May you like
She looked back.
“I'm giving orders to my patient.”
