Page 122 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)

The nurse pats my leg gently and scurries away. He clears his throat, then dives headfirst into the last few hours.

I appreciate it, though.

The sooner he leaves, the sooner I can find Stone.

“Wren Davis,” he announces.

I nod slowly, knowing my head will scream if I move too quickly.

“Jessie Davis’s daughter.”

I hate the sound of that.

“I think we’ve pieced together what happened, but if at any time I’m wrong, I need you to correct me. Okay?”

I barely manage a nod.

His brow furrows, and he rubs his hand over his five o’clock shadow.

“Before you start,” I rasp. “I need to know if he’s dead.”

His lips flatten, like he’s hesitant to tell me. I keep my mouth shut, but what he doesn’t understand is that IwantJessie Davis dead, even if he is my father.

There is no way I’ll ever feel safe again if he’s still alive and roaming the streets.

“Your father is dead. Yes.”

I sigh, and my heart rate slows—something he notices.

“And you are pardoned due to self-defense.” He pauses. “It was self-defense, correct? I can’t honestly think you willingly went to that trailer with those men.”

A tear slips down my cheek, completely uninvited.

It’s going to be okay.

“He didn’t give me a choice.”

He had Stone.

I stay quiet for the remainder of our conversation. I’m hardly present. I don’t jump for glee when he informs me that my father’s junkie right-hand men were caught and arrested, and I don’t mention how Kerrigan is a borderline pedophile—known from experience.

I just want him gone.

As soon as he leaves the room, making sure to tell me how my act of self-defense was one that will be spoken of for decades, I slide out of bed.

Black dots dance in my vision, but I rip the heart monitor off my finger and grab onto the shiny IV pole, trailing it behind me like a shadow.

Stone.

It’s a one-track thought.

My body hurts.

My pulse races with fear.

Surgery for what?

He’s alive, but how serious is it?