Forsaken (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #3)(71)

Quickly moving past the empty second row, I find Dr. Murphy squatting beside Gia, who lies across the long back seat with blankets piled on top of her, trembling, her eyes closed. “How is she?” I whisper, kneeling beside her.

“The arsenic continues to attack her nervous system. She’s fine for a while, and then in pain.”

“And you think the blood transfusion will solve that?”

“It’s going to help push the toxins out of her body.”

“Won’t it push the medication out of her system, too?”

“Yes, but Tellar grabbed another bag of meds before he left. Don’t ask me how he managed it. I’m just glad he did.”

“Why is she shivering?”

“Nerves, shock, and the IV fluids can do that to some people.” She turns on her heels. “I’m going to get Liam’s part of this done. Shout if she needs me.”

“Thank you, doc, for everything—for taking care of Gia, and for what you’ve done for Amy.”

She squeezes my arm and moves away, while I move closer to Gia, caressing her cold cheek. Her lashes flutter, then lift, and seeing the awareness in those blue eyes is heaven. “Hey,” I say softly, covering her hand with mine.

“Hey.”

“How are you?”

She wets her dry lips. “Cold.”

“I know, sweetheart,” I say, stroking her hair. “Liam’s giving blood for you now. The transfusion will help you feel better, and by the time it’s over we’ll be in the Hamptons, where you’ll be able to rest more comfortably.”

“Do you still hate him?”

“He’s not making that easy. He keeps helping and doing all the right things.”

“Such an *,” she murmurs weakly.

“Exactly,” I say, wondering how she can possibly joke in this condition. “Do you remember anything about what happened?”

“You. Saving me. Jared? He’s missing?”

“Yes. He left me a message and said you were with him in the subway, running from someone.”

Her lashes lower and she shakes her head. “No . . . that doesn’t feel right.”

She stirs something that’s been bugging me for a while now. How did Gia get from a subway back to that coffee shop? I frown, thinking about the SUV. Where was Jared’s laptop? I could have missed it in the chaos, but it had been in the front seat.

“Why are you making that face?” she asks.

I blink and refocus on Gia. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“You,” she repeats. “Just you.” She squeezes her eyes shut and I watch the pain flicker over her delicate features, wishing I could make it end. “Hurts. It hurts.”

“What hurts?”

“Everything.”

I start to move, to get help and she says, “No. Don’t go.”

“Dr. Murphy—”

“Can’t help. Just . . . need to close my eyes.”

I ease back down, stroking her hair, caressing her shoulders until she relaxes into steady breathing. Sleeping, I think, until I lower my head to the seat beside her, and somehow, as weak as she is, she manages to rest her hand on my head. Like she needs to know I’m here. I am here, in every sense of the word, in a way I haven’t been in a very long time.

I’m not sure how long we stay like that before Dr. Murphy breaks us up, claiming my spot beside Gia to start the transfusion. Gia’s alert, watching the blood flowing into her arm, as she murmurs, “Maybe this will make me a brilliant architect.”

Liam’s low rumble of laughter reaches us, mingling with Amy’s, while Dr. Murphy gives a conspiratorial whisper of, “Let’s hope it doesn’t make you as arrogant.”

“I heard that,” Liam calls out.

Amy laughs and joins us, introducing herself to Gia, and I leave the women to chat, going to the front of the van to conference with Tellar. “Any word from Coco?” I ask.

“Apparently the hotel makes killer chocolate chip cookies. Other than that, nothing.”

“Killer cookies. She’s a piece of work, that one. “

“We have enough history for me to assure you that is true.”

“I won’t ask,” I laugh, noting the dimming horizon. “How much longer?”

“A little under an hour.”

I nod and turn to find Liam sitting forward, elbows on his knees, and I join him. “The famous Liam Stone in a simple van, no jacket, sleeves rolled up. Who’d have thunk it?”

“I’m much more of a simple man than you might think.”

“Prodigy. Protégé. Billionaire. You are not a simple man.”

“Humble beginnings,” Liam states, “and a father in jail for drunk driving. Simpler than you think.”

“I read that about you. I have to admit I didn’t expect you to share it quite so easily.”

“We are the sum of everything we’ve been and will be,” he says.

“Life as a math equation. Spoken like a true architect.”

“Spoken like a man who’s watched the woman he loves coming apart at the seams, after years of suppressing her past to survive it.”

“I know she’s hurt. I hurt for her, and now Gia’s become part of the same circle of lies. Thank you for what you did for her today.”