Chapter 203
Chapter 203:
Gregg looked around the room. “The nurse cleared everyone out. It must still be here p>
“Find it!” Charla ordered. “She said she recorded the Ferris wheel. If Hilliard hears that recording — if he hears me admitting I wanted to kill her — it’s over. The wedding, the money, everything p>
Gregg dropped to his hands and knees without another word. He crawled around the bed, his expensive suit pants dragging along the hospital floor. He checked under the nightstand. Under the chair.
“It’s not here,” he said, his voice climbing with panic.
“Check under the bed! Deep under p>
Gregg flattened himself on his stomach and peered into the shadows beneath the bed. Dust. A dropped pen.
No phone.
He stood up slowly, brushing himself off, his face pale. “It’s gone, Charla p>
𝗔𝗱𝘥𝗶c𝘵і𝘃𝘦 𝘀𝘁𝘰𝘳𝗶𝖾ѕ o𝗻.сo𝗆
“Gone?” Her voice pitched into a screech. “How can it be gone? No one has been in here but us and the nurse p>
“Maybe the nurse took it. Or a cleaner p>
“If a cleaner took it—” Charla seized a fistful of her own hair. “If someone unlocks that phone — Daddy, you have to find it. Bribe the hospital staff. Check lost and found. Buy everyone off. We cannot let that phone reach Hilliard p>
“I’m on it,” Gregg said, already pulling out his own phone. “I’ll call security. We’ll say it was stolen — say it had sensitive company data on it p>
Down in the ER, chaos reigned.
Hilliard laid Cailin onto a gurney as a team of nurses swarmed around them.
“Dislocated left shoulder,” Hilliard said sharply. “Possible concussion. She hit her head p>
A doctor stepped in and shone a light in Cailin’s eyes. “Ma’am, can you hear me p>
“Yes,” Cailin gasped. “Just — put it back in p>
“We need to X-ray first to rule out fractures,” the doctor said.
“No time.” Cailin seized his scrub top with her good hand. “Just do it. Please p>
The doctor glanced at Hilliard. Hilliard gave a single nod.
“All right. On three,” the doctor said, gripping her arm firmly. “One… two p>
He pulled and rotated on two.
CRACK.
“AHHH!” Cailin arched off the gurney, her vision going white.
Then, relief — sudden and overwhelming. The bone slid back into the socket with a dull, deep thud. The sharp, tearing pain collapsed into a heavy, throbbing ache.
She fell back against the pillow, panting, tears streaming freely down her face.
Hilliard was there instantly. He took her hand, his thumb moving slowly across her knuckles.
“It’s over,” he whispered. “It’s back in p>
Cailin opened her eyes and looked at him. He looked wrecked — hair disheveled, eyes wild with something that looked dangerously close to genuine fear. For just a moment, he looked like the man she had married.
“Why,” she rasped, “are you pretending to care p>
“I’m not pretending,” Hilliard said. He took a damp cloth from a passing nurse and gently pressed it to her split lip.
“You watched her do it,” Cailin whispered. “You saw the stand fall p>
His hand stilled. “I saw it fall. I didn’t see her pull it p>