“Of course. I’ll call the lab immediately.” He slips out into the hall.
“What are you thinking?” Keith asks.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like this, and I think we should keep any details about what has happened under wraps.” Cole downs his drink in one swallow.
“I don’t understand, Cole.” Abigail crosses her arms. “How could she possibly have been poisoned? None of our boys would do this.”
“I don’t want to go there either, but someone did do it. She wouldn’t have done it to herself.”
“Why erase it from the database?” Keith asks, confused.
“If they run the lab and it goes into the database, it’s a pretty unusual poisoning. It might stand out, and we don’t need anyone taking an interest. I just hope the lab didn’t enter it online yet.”
“Oh, dear!” Both men look at Abigail. “She likes the lemonade I make. I made her a large batch yesterday morning, and it sat in the fridge all day. So, anyone could have spiked it at any time.”
Cole lets out a long breath and turns to Keith.
“Check the video surveillance footage. Let’s see what we come up with.”
Keith squeezes Savannah’s hand then leaves.
“Abigail, could you bring me some of that lemonade, please? I’d like to take it in for testing,” Dr. Rice asks from behind them. “Cole, I’ll be back tomorrow to check on her. She should recover just fine. We caught it early, and she didn’t ingest enough to—” He pauses, seeing Cole’s expression. “She just needs rest.”
Cole plops down on his chair with a sigh. This whole situation seems surreal. The mere idea that one of his trusted men could betray him makes him sick. Loyalty is essential in this business. He’ll have to fill his father in on all this immediately. He really needs the old man’s advice.
He wonders how to deal with York. What in the hell was he thinking, opening his mouth to Savannah about anything? She doesn’t need to know that her life is never going to be what it was, that she probably will never be able to go back, especially not with what he suspects is going on.
He downs another ounce of brandy, hoping to take the edge off, then leans back and glances at the clock. 3:50 a.m. He finally puts on dry clothes then collapses back into his chair, unwilling to leave Savannah in case she wakes. He is exhausted as well…
“No-no-please.”
Her words make Cole’s eyes pop open, and he lifts his head to see her twitching.
“No more! I’m sorry.”
He jumps to his feet and moves to the bed. “Savannah,” he whispers, “wake up.”
“Nooo.”
He shakes her softly until her eyes finally open.
She looks up, startled. Her chest is heaving, and tears trickle down her cheeks.
“You were dreaming,” he says. “You’re safe.”
She shakes her head slowly as she falls back to sleep. “Don’t leave,” she mutters, moving her hand on top of his.
“I won’t. I promise.” He kicks off his boots, not caring about whether it’s right, and climbs in next to her. He leans his back against the leather headboard and holds her hand as she sleeps. Yup, he is putty in her hands for sure.Shit.
“You smell like him,” she murmurs, still mostly asleep.
“Smell like who?”
“Cole.”
He feels his heart speed up then lets out a chuckle. He knows it’s wrong, taking advantage of her in the state she is in, but who is he kidding?
“Is that a good thing?”