Page 61 of At His Beck & Call

Dialing the number, I walk through the hallway to the outer unit, lingering in the area near the stairwell where it’s a little quieter.

My conversation with the agency is short and to the point, and I lay down the law as best I can without making it sound like it’s Natalia’s fault. The way the doctor spoke about my mother frightened me.

Could she be having memory problems and I just don’t realize it?

There’s every chance that Natalia, a professional caregiver, wouldn’t ever move her pills like that. What if this is my mother’s doing, and I’m blaming the wrong person? What if she’s not doing well, and these are signs that her mind isn’t what it once was?

I can’t bear the thought of that, and once I hang up, I make my way along the hallway to the elevators, hoping to get some fresh air before returning.

Then I look up as I turn the corner and stop dead in my tracks.

Lissa is by the elevators. She looks beautiful in a much more comfortable outfit than she usually wears at the office, a navy sweater that complements her pale skin.

There’s a man standing opposite her. He’s leaning over her, his hand gesticulating at her angrily as she cowers back against the wall. It’s a stance I’ve seen my mother take many times, one that brings back so many bad memories.

Then Lissa’s large blue eyes move to me as they widen in horror, her mouth falling open even as the man leans in closer, his body language menacing and angry.

She flinches, and that’s all I need before I’m moving toward them, about to rip the guy’s throat out.

Chapter 21

Lissa

“You’re a lyingbitch,”James hisses at me, so close I can feel his breath on my cheek. “I just spoke to the fucking nurses. I know what Henry’s been admitted for. I’m hisfather. I should take him away from you forever for keeping this from me.”

I back away from him until the corner of the wall is digging painfully into my shoulder blades. His eyes are wild and terrifying.

With shaking hands, I reach into my bag and pull out my phone, trying to summon every ounce of my strength, pretending this isn’t my ex-husband but just some stranger I need to get rid of.

“I have a protective order, James. You can’t be within 500 feet of me unless it’s officially agreed?—”

“Shut the fuck up, Lissa. As if that applies when our son has cancer!”

“I know I should have told you—” I attempt.

I suck in a sharp breath as he pokes his finger into my chest. It’s not hard, but it’s hard enough to remind me what he’s capable of.

“I had to find out about this from some nobody behind the reception desk. You think you can keep me out of this with your fuckingorder?He’s my son, don’t you dare try to weaponize him against me.”

“I have sole custody,” I manage to get out, but it’s a whisper.

Why am I so useless?

Then a shadow appears in the hallway beside us. For a moment, I think it’s the doctor coming to tell me Henry needs me, but it’s far too big.

I look to my right, and the world stops as I see Oliver Heath standing there. His long legs eat up the distance between us as he advances. It’s as if I’ve conjured him from thought alone.

Why the hell is he here, of all places?

James is so close I can feel the heat of his body. We’ve been in this position so many times, with me cowering away from him, trying to escape. But now, as I stare at Oliver in disbelief, a wave of something new spreads through me. It’s a balm, a cooling antidote to my fear.

Oliver would never hurt me. What’s more, he would never let anyone else hurt me either.

The tension bleeds from my shoulders, and I rise up the wall back to my full height, looking James squarely in the eye.

He seems to sense the shift in me instantly, his brow knitting in confusion. James has always been good at reading people when his manipulations aren’t working, and he stops, glancing behind us, his eyes widening at Oliver’s huge form.

The last time I saw James, I thought he and Oliver had similar builds. But now that I see them side by side, I realize that assessment was woefully inaccurate. Oliver is five times the specimen that James is; in fact, James looks positively puny beside him.