Wild Nights With My Brother’s Ex-Best Friend novel Chapter 188

“It’s just that the police were here not too long ago.”

I pause. “What? Here?”

“They went upstairs and spoke to Mrs. Hayes.”

I run a hand down my face. “How long ago was that?”

“Around noon.”

“Did they take her with them?”

“No, but she left shortly after they did. I saw her head into the underground garage.”

I should’ve thought of asking him about this, but at first, l assumed she was home, and then, I thought she was with Mason. I don’t know where my damn head is lately.

“Alright. Thanks for telling me.”

I head to the garage and feel even more unsettled when I see that her car is parked where it usually is. My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach and I pinch the bridge of. my nose.

What’s going on? Where’s Nikki?

Do I have to call the police?

I’ll try a few more places with Mason, then Ill call. In any way, I won’t wait for them to solve this for me because! know how long they take, and maybe something terrible has happened. I’m hoping for the best, that maybe she’sbeen summoned by a lawyer or something, but I’m scared, too.

I get in the car and speed to the hospital, but only because I told Mason I’d meet him there. When I find myself in the parking lot, it occurs to me to just head inside and sign whatever lave to sign, and then I’ll be free.

I don’t need a case of negligence on my back on top of everything else.

I rush to the ICU and ask to meet the doctor in charge. It’s Dr. Sullivan, the woman I spoke to the last time. She gives me a look charged with judgment even though she’s trying really hard to hide it.

* “Just tell me what ! have to sign,” I say quickly. “I have a lot to do.”

“I think it will be best to walk you through the treatment plan for-”

“I don’t have time for that,” I interrupt. “I don’t understand anything about what you’re doing. It’s better if you just do what needs to be done.”

“Alright. I understand.”

She takes me to her office and tries explaining a few procedures to me. I’m not listening to her at all. I’m scribbling my signature on everything. My phone rings.

It’s Mason. This has to mean he’s outside, and I really have to go.practically rush out of her office, but stop when she calls. my name loudly. “Mr. Hayes.”

I throw her a look over my shoulder.

“Wouldn’t you like to see the baby?”

“No,”I say quickly. “I don’t have-”

“It wouldn’t take too long,” she insists. “It’s right this way.”

For some reason, I don’t really want to see this baby. I haven’t thought about it at all during this whole thing, and I don’t want to start now. But for some reason, 1 put one foot in front of the other, and I find myself in a room full of incubators. I’m handed a mask and a hospital gown to put over my clothes, and then we’re heading inside.

“Here,” she says, gesturing at an incubator. “Here’s your son.”

stare at the impossibly tiny baby inside, and my heart just skips a beat. All the tubes coming out of him. The small diaper. The little face.

I can’t explain what happens to me. I just can’t.

“He’s a fighter,” the doctor says behind me. “He really is.

We’re going to do the best we can for him. We’ll give him the best chances at life.”

My throat feels tighter, and before I know it, I put my hand on the glass and keep staring at him. Guilt drowns me. I didn’t care before. For all I cared, this baby could’ve died.

I just feel so terrible.

NICOLE

The hatred I feet toward Leonardo just keeps growing and growing inside of my chest. I genuinely feel like I’ll explode. I can’t stand the triumphant look on his face.

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