Page 122 of Misguided
She nods, reaching to peel back the sleeve of the robe she wears. Bandages cover her left forearm. “He wrestled the knife I was using off me, and cut me in the process. I panicked, told him to call an ambulance, but he called Rollan instead.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “I bled for a full hour before they finally called for help. The bastards concocted the story first, blackmailed me into sticking to it.”
“How?” Dog asks. “What do they have over you?”
“The truth about who my father is.” Her eyes move between the two of us. “You probably don’t get it, but if they made public my father is a convicted felon, it would ruin my standing in our social circles. I wouldn’t be able to show my face anywhere.”
I might not know firsthand what that’s like, but I get the struggle to be somebody of status.
“So you can see,” she continues, “why I don’t care what you say about him. If he goes to jail, well that’s where he belongs if you ask me. Your brother,” she says to Dog, “is a horrible man.”
He opens his mouth to respond, yet a nurse pops her head through the door and interrupts. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over now.”
“Thank you,” I offer, moving toward Dog. “We’re on our way.”
She leaves the three of us and carries on down the corridor.
Dog draws a deep breath and gives Lorelle a tight nod. “I’m sorry they did that to you.”
She shrugs, a sad smile on her lips. “It’ll work itself out, I’m sure.”
Without knowing what else to say, we take our leave and head out to the elevators. As the number flicks from the first floor to the floor below, I turn to Dog and ask, “What are you going to do?”
He stares at the closed doors with a frown. “I don’t know. I feel like I should say what they did to her, but she seems to want to go along with it.”
I reach out and slip my hand in his, resting my head against his arm. “Whatever you choose, I’m sure it’ll be the right decision.”
And I fully believe that. This man has a heart of gold and only the best intentions for those around him. As tempting as it would be to lie out of spite for how his family has treated him, I don’t think he would do that.
He said he wanted me here as moral support to make sure he did the right thing. But to be honest, I think he was going to do it anyway.
Because that’s just who he is: caring to the core.