“Ms. Adrienne Graciene?” the officer asked.
“Yes.” Her voice sounded weak to her own ears. “Yes, I am.” Her voice strengthened.
“Are you hurt?”
“My ankle.”
The officer nodded then picked her up before jogging from the room with two others following behind and two in front.
Grace looked over her shoulder as they left the room she had been held hostage in. Ice kept his attention trained on her.
She had been to therapy for years after Winston and knew it was normal to feel this way after a hostage situation. She knew it would lessen over time as she regained her normal life. It still didn’t make it any easier when she lost sight of Ice as the officer ran through the steel doors that were open.
“Hostage recovered. Repeat, hostage recovered.” Grace heard his words. He was wrong, though. Part of her had been left behind.
Chapter 12
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Her mother sat down on the side of her bed, fiddling with the pillows under her foot.
“I’m fine, Maman.” Her mother hadn’t left her side since she had been carried out of the prison two days ago. “I’m getting up today.” She had let herself be convinced to stay in bed and let her footrest. She had used the opportunity to escape her family’s questions by sleeping much of the time. Staying in bed another day wasn’t an option anymore, though, as she was becoming stir-crazy.
“Darling…”
“I’m getting up.” She sat up and gingerly slid her feet off the bed.
Her mother stood up, handing her the crutches they had given her at the hospital where they had told her she had a severe sprain.
“Go slow,” her mother cautioned.
She got to her feet, placing the crutches under her arms. “Maman, I’m fine.” She brushed her hair back from her face.
“I know, mon bébé.”
Grace winced, reminded of the times Ice had called her baby. She let her hair fall forward again to hide her expression as she made her way across the bedroom and out into her living room.
Her father and Dax were watching a football game. She sat down between them, taking the bowl of chips away from her brother.
“I thought you had to leave last night,” she asked Dax.
Her father and brother shared an inscrutable look.
“What?” she inquired, looking back and forth between them.
“One of the prisoners hurt in the riot escaped from the hospital last night.”
Her family all watched her reaction closely.
“Which one?”
“J.C. Collins. They said the other inmates called him Yo-Yo.” Her father took her hand.
“I don’t remember which one he was,” she said truthfully. For a moment, she thought it might have been Ice.
“The police stopped by with a picture.” Dax got up from the couch and went to the small table by her door, picking up a picture. He handed it to her slowly, his face filled with concern.
Grace took the picture from him, frowning down at it when she recognized the face staring back at her. “He’s the one who was in solitary almost the whole time. Ice and Fade helped get him out. I saw Buzzard stab him.”
“Oh, my God.” Her mother grabbed her hand.
“He did it in defense, Maman. He was attacking Buzzard,” she defended the man who had taken her class.
“How do they get those names?” she questioned her husband.
“I have no idea.”
“So, he would have no reason to seek you out?” Dax broke in.
“No. Why would he?”
“That’s what I’m asking you. No confrontations with him? Nothing?”
“Nothing, Dax. He would have no reason to come here. I never said one word to him. You’re worried for no reason. He would be stupid with all the reporters sitting on the doorstep and the security you hired to keep them back.”
“If they were bright, their asses wouldn’t be sitting in prison.”
“I learned the hard way. Those men have knowledge we’ll never have, Dax. Most of them made bad decisions.” She raised her hand before Dax could speak. “And the others have no respect for the law. But you can’t tarnish them all with the same brush.”
“Yes, I can.” He sat down next to her again, stealing the chip bowl back. “Since you’re so sure you’re safe, and you have an alarm system to rival Fort Knox, I’ll leave tomorrow morning. I want to spend another night with my favorite sister.”
“I’m your only sister,” she repeated the joke they’d always had, laying her head on Dax’s shoulder.
“Yes, you are.” She thought he sounded choked up.
Leaning up, she looked into his face, which was blank as he watched the football game. “I’m fine, Dax. In a couple of months, you’ll be mad at me because I won’t go out with some new friend of yours.”
“By the way, I’ve managed to tie down Leonardo for my next movie.”
“Him, I would consider.”
* * *
“You’re wanted downstairs. Your lawyer is here to see you.”