A Surprise Favor – Chapter 24

“Someone nearly assassinated her on the beach outside of my house, and you can’t help me?” Declan’s voice booms down the hospital hallway with a thunderous intensity that’s new to me. I shiver, and Takemo, sitting on the bed next to me, flinches.

“I should really go tell him to keep it down,” he says, but I wave him off.

“Don’t bother. He won’t feel better until he gets answers.”

Takemo side-eyes me, and I smirk.

“What? You think I don’t know him well enough yet? I can read people really well.”

“I think that, maybe, you could use a break. And maybe you trust some people too much.”

I turn away so I don’t get angry. Because he’s right. I trusted my family too much, and look where that got me.

“Sir, I need you to calm down,” the police officer outside says. “We have no evidence this isn’t anything other than a jilted lover come to hurt her for rejecting him.”

“Are you serious?” Declan’s voice is colder than Neve in winter.

I gently shove Takemo. “Okay, now you should go talk to him before he murders that poor man.”

“Right. Be right back.”

He hustles out the door, leaving me alone in my hospital room. I glance at the nanites status on the wallscreen to see how they’re progressing with my injuries. Sometimes, I think it’s strange that teeny tiny organic robots can live inside of us and fix us when we’re damaged. Athens Industries makes a lot of money on these things, and for good reason, too. They work better than any drug on the market.

The doctor tasked these nanites with fixing a lot. They finished with the bump on my head an hour ago. Now they’re working on my throat from the attack today and my wrist from fainting yesterday. My back is next on the list, followed by the few scars left on my back and arms from my latest trip to Rio. I’m paying a premium for them. I might as well get as much use out of them as I can.

Nina enters the room and closes the door behind her. I haven’t seen her since she took out Eduardo on the beach.

“How are you?” she asks, hovering at the door.

I shrug. “I feel like shit.” I let my head fall back on the pillow. “No one really prepares you for that kind of thing.”

“The kind of thing where you almost get killed and then have to fix it on your own because no one believed you?”

“Yeah, that.”

We stare at each other across the room until she breaks eye contact.

“I’m sorry.” She lifts her eyes from the floor. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you didn’t believe me. That you believed all the rumors and lies about me more than me telling you the opposite.” I wait, but she doesn’t speak. “Yeah. It’s easy to side with me when I’m nothing but a misunderstood woman. But I’m suddenly untrustworthy when I cast aspersions on my rotten family.”

“My son is a part of that rotten family.”

Ah, I see what happened here. She got protective of the son she wanted to disown because he sided with Vivian over her.

But I can’t blame her, can I? I gave my family a lot of leeway, even after all the shit they put me through. I shouldn’t have. Nina is no different from me. She still has a heart somewhere in that burly chest of hers.

I sigh. “No. He’s part of the next generation that promises to do better than those before them. Maybe you’ve forgotten what a stand-up woman my cousin is? She believes in me and supports me one-hundred percent.” I lift my chin, challenging her to deny it. “Her word has to be worth something if mine does not.”

It’s her turn to sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m wrong. Your word is worth something. I won’t doubt you again.”

“Good. Because I obviously have a lot going on, and I still need you to talk to Renata and India Dellis.”

“When do you think —”

The door opens, and an orderly comes in, dressed in scrubs. “Ms. Kawabata?” he asks, his back pressed to the door.

“Yeah?” My eyes flick to Nina, silently apologizing for this interruption, just when we were getting to the heart of our conversation.

The man turns, reaches into his pocket, and a knife appears in his hand. My mind spins. Wait. I’m in the hospital. What is he doing? I look at the door where he just was, and the lock is smoking. What the hell?

“Nina,” I hiss, scrabbling at the IV lines in my hand. Can I pull them out?

My heart thumps in my chest, and my body heats as I see the surrounding room. Nowhere to hide. The closet is on the opposite side of the room, and the bathroom door is closed. Nina moves in front of me; the orderly points his knife at us.

“What do you want?” she asks, her voice low and tense.

The man doesn’t answer. Instead, he lunges at Nina with his knife jutting straight out. She jumps sideways to dodge him, and I leap over the end of the bed. He follows after Nina, slashing with the blade as she ducks and dodges, trying to stay out of range. I grab an empty bed pan from the counter next to the sink and throw it at him, hoping to distract him, but his predatory, almost inhuman eyes don’t blink. I watch in horror as their fight becomes a deadly battle for survival, and I’m stuck against the wall.

Fuck.

The door rattles. Someone pounds on it. He disabled the lock somehow. “Help!” I scream.

Nina isn’t armed, but she is quick and nimble from her years in the military. She rolls away from the assailant’s attempts to slash her with his knife, then somersaults over him when he comes around again for another attack. She’s alert and ready, now amplified by a hidden strength inside her that refuses to give up or be taken down. Do not mess with her.

His movements are cool and precise. This is no amateur.

I look around for something, anything, I can use as a weapon.

Nina kicks, hits, and snatches the knife from the assailant’s hand. He crashes into her. I jump from my spot against the wall, unlatch the brakes on the bed, and push it at them both. Nina slides to the side, adjusts, and attacks him again, switching between defense and offense as she blocks his blows with her forearms and kicks him away. They fight back and forth, in front of and behind the bed, Nina clearly in control, until finally she manages to leap over the bed to get him in a hold. His legs kick, and he bucks against her.

I scramble to the side, grab the IV stand, and try to make it to the door, but the assailant breaks free and knocks me back down before I can reach it. The knife clatters to the floor. I groan in pain, but I stand again quickly — this time determined not to let him hurt either of us anymore. I rush at him and land a kick that sends him flying against the wall.

It’s enough for Nina to take control of the situation. She grabs his arm and flips him around, trapping his elbow against her chest before launching a series of punches into his face with one hand. I kick the knife across the room to her, and her eyes light up. Oh shit. He screams in agony as she stabs him repeatedly, sending sprays of blood everywhere.

“Holy fucking shit,” I breathe out, my mouth open in awe. She didn’t even hesitate. She just ended him.

“The door,” Nina says, panting.

Bang, bang, bang! Someone pounds on the door from outside, voices calling for help. I run over to open it, but it’s sealed shut.

“Kick it open!” I yell as I slip to the side.

Three loud kicks and the door bursts open. A team of nurses and doctors come rushing in with Takemo, Declan, and the police. They restrain the still struggling assailant despite being severely weakened by Nina’s onslaught. Blood pools everywhere. It’s on my feet and splattered across my body.

“What happened here?” One of them demands as they take control of the situation.

“He came in here with a knife,” I explain breathlessly, “and tried to attack us.”

My eyes meet Declan’s, vaguely aware of the vulnerable position I’m in. I’m hooked up to IVs, I have nanites working in my body, and I’m in a hospital gown, obviously the very height of fashion.

“What the fuck is going on?” Takemo asks, his eyes coasting over everything in the room. The nurses are working on stopping the assailant’s bleeding, and the police officer is watching dumbfounded.

Declan snaps back to the present. He points at me. “Get dressed and packed now. They know you’re here. We’ve gotta go.”

“Who?” My voice rises and cracks as I look across the room at Nina. She’s scrubbing blood off her hands in the sink.

“No time.” Declan steps over the debris between us. “Pack and change now.”

“She can’t leave,” one of the nurses says. “The nanites are still working. She needs to rest.”

“They’ll deactivate and leave her system in a few hours,” Declan insists, shoving my clothes at me. “She’s leaving.” He cradles my hand in his and rips the tape off the IV. “Sorry,” he says as he gently pulls the needle from my body and puts pressure on the wound.

His hands come to my face and his eyes meet mine. His stare is serious, and my heart skips a beat. “We need to go someplace safe.”

“The only place we can go is my ship.” I lift my wrist to contact Ai and remember that my wristlet is on a charge spot across the room. “I’ll contact my AI and let her know we’re coming.”

“They’ll be there,” he insists. “We may never make it to the ship.”

My stomach drops and my skin cools. “Who’ll be there?”

“Whoever’s been sent to kill you next.”