Closer to the Edge
Page 49
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And I guess everything I thought I had with Olivia is, too.
My mother calls my name over and over as I walk towards the door. My fury grows with each step I take and I pause in the doorway long enough to yell as loud as I can before throwing my fist through the wooden door. I ignore the pain in my knuckles and the blood dripping down my fingers, the paper in my other hand fluttering to the ground as I leave my father’s office.
The paper stating that, at seven weeks and four days, Olivia terminated a perfectly healthy pregnancy.
“GARRETT, I COULD kiss you square on the mouth right now,” I tell him as I flip through the papers he just handed me.
“In a past life, I would have taken you up on that offer,” he laughs.
Parker wraps her arms around his waist and squeezes him tight. “I’m the only woman you’re kissing forever and ever.”
Garrett slides his arm over her shoulder and smiles down at her. “Damn straight, my little bad ass.”
I stare at them with a smile as Garrett explains. “You should really be kissing Parker for what you’re holding in your hand. She’s the one who broke into the hospital, hacked the records and got all of that information. I just played lookout and made sure she didn’t get arrested. Or kill anyone who got in her way.”
Parker rolls her eyes at him before moving away and sitting down next to me on the couch. “I know you were adamant about not wanting this information, but you should know by now that I never do a damn thing anyone tells me and I’m not about to apologize for that.”
A few months ago, I probably would have been upset with her for going behind my back and doing something I specifically told her not to, but she saved my life by doing this without even knowing it.
“I wouldn’t accept your apology even if you gave me one,” I tell her. “It’s time for all of this to come out in the open. Lord only knows what Vivien is telling Cole right now. I know he won’t believe anything she tries to tell him, but it will still be nice to have this in my hand so he can see the truth with his own eyes,” I tell her, waving the papers back and forth.
Garrett sits down on the other side of me and takes the papers from my hands, flipping through them until he finds one he’s looking for.
“This right here is pretty much the only one you need, but Parker printed out everything from the moment Cole left until she fired you, just in case you need it.”
I look over his shoulder at the page he’s holding up. The day everything changed and the nightmares truly began.
“This eight digit code on the left is Vivien’s hospital I.D. number. You’ll see at the top that her name is right next to the code just so there isn’t any confusion about this being HER report with HER activity,” Garrett explains.
“On June twenty-fourth, she entered the hospital pharmacy at 9:15 am.”
He pulls a second page from the pile and holds it between us.
“This is the report from the Pyxis MedStation in the pharmacy that lists every single dose taken out of the machine with a date, time stamp and the hospital I.D. number for the person who requested it. Normally, you also have to put in the prescribing doctor’s code for the medicine to be released and recorded, but Vivien would know how to get around that.”
I take the paper from his hands and he points to a line in the middle of the page.
“At 9:18 am, Vivien used her I.D. to take out twenty units of Pitocin.”
Twenty units. Ten more than the typical amount used to induce labor. I feel sick to my stomach and Parker wraps her arm around my shoulder.
“We still don’t know how she got the initial dose in you, but there’s another report in here that shows her I.D. being used to gain access to the maternity floor several hours later,” Garrett explains.
Six hours, to be exact. Six hours spent petrified that I was truly about to lose the very last piece of Cole before the doctors managed to slow everything down. I was in and out of consciousness, exhausted by hours of crying and pain, but I know I saw her in my room. Even half asleep and full of medication to calm me down, I will never forget the vision of her in the doorway of my room. Fifteen minutes later I was wide awake, my body wracked with contractions even stronger than before as I clutched my stomach and prayed for everything to be okay.
“I know how she gave it to me,” I tell them quietly.
Parker and Garrett share a look and I close my eyes, remembering that day so clearly. I was such a fool, such a stupid, trusting fool.
I should have known better.
Once again, I’m being summoned to Vivien Vargas’ office. I knew it would only be a matter of time before news traveled that I disobeyed her orders. Luck was on my side when she left town for several months and I thought maybe I would be able to skate by, continue doing my job and she would forget all about the threat she made.
As I made my way down the long hallway to Vivien’s office, I rested my hand protectively over my stomach. There’s nothing she can do it about it now. If she wanted to fire me, let her. I have something much more important to deal with now.
I paused in the hallway as the door to Vivien’s office opened and Charles and Caroline stepped out. They spotted me immediately and we all stood in the hallway, staring at one another awkwardly. I had only met Charles once, so I really didn’t care what he was thinking right now, but Caroline was another issue altogether. At one time I thought we could be friends, maybe even allies. She’d tried calling me a few times since Cole left, but my heart couldn’t take talking to her. She reminded me too much of Cole with her quick wit and her desire to take care of the people she loved. Hearing her voice reminded me of the times the three of us spent together when he was still here, still loving me and still a part of my life. I can see by the look on her face that she’s hurt seeing me standing here now, looking so different, and I feel bad for not telling her the truth.
My mother calls my name over and over as I walk towards the door. My fury grows with each step I take and I pause in the doorway long enough to yell as loud as I can before throwing my fist through the wooden door. I ignore the pain in my knuckles and the blood dripping down my fingers, the paper in my other hand fluttering to the ground as I leave my father’s office.
The paper stating that, at seven weeks and four days, Olivia terminated a perfectly healthy pregnancy.
“GARRETT, I COULD kiss you square on the mouth right now,” I tell him as I flip through the papers he just handed me.
“In a past life, I would have taken you up on that offer,” he laughs.
Parker wraps her arms around his waist and squeezes him tight. “I’m the only woman you’re kissing forever and ever.”
Garrett slides his arm over her shoulder and smiles down at her. “Damn straight, my little bad ass.”
I stare at them with a smile as Garrett explains. “You should really be kissing Parker for what you’re holding in your hand. She’s the one who broke into the hospital, hacked the records and got all of that information. I just played lookout and made sure she didn’t get arrested. Or kill anyone who got in her way.”
Parker rolls her eyes at him before moving away and sitting down next to me on the couch. “I know you were adamant about not wanting this information, but you should know by now that I never do a damn thing anyone tells me and I’m not about to apologize for that.”
A few months ago, I probably would have been upset with her for going behind my back and doing something I specifically told her not to, but she saved my life by doing this without even knowing it.
“I wouldn’t accept your apology even if you gave me one,” I tell her. “It’s time for all of this to come out in the open. Lord only knows what Vivien is telling Cole right now. I know he won’t believe anything she tries to tell him, but it will still be nice to have this in my hand so he can see the truth with his own eyes,” I tell her, waving the papers back and forth.
Garrett sits down on the other side of me and takes the papers from my hands, flipping through them until he finds one he’s looking for.
“This right here is pretty much the only one you need, but Parker printed out everything from the moment Cole left until she fired you, just in case you need it.”
I look over his shoulder at the page he’s holding up. The day everything changed and the nightmares truly began.
“This eight digit code on the left is Vivien’s hospital I.D. number. You’ll see at the top that her name is right next to the code just so there isn’t any confusion about this being HER report with HER activity,” Garrett explains.
“On June twenty-fourth, she entered the hospital pharmacy at 9:15 am.”
He pulls a second page from the pile and holds it between us.
“This is the report from the Pyxis MedStation in the pharmacy that lists every single dose taken out of the machine with a date, time stamp and the hospital I.D. number for the person who requested it. Normally, you also have to put in the prescribing doctor’s code for the medicine to be released and recorded, but Vivien would know how to get around that.”
I take the paper from his hands and he points to a line in the middle of the page.
“At 9:18 am, Vivien used her I.D. to take out twenty units of Pitocin.”
Twenty units. Ten more than the typical amount used to induce labor. I feel sick to my stomach and Parker wraps her arm around my shoulder.
“We still don’t know how she got the initial dose in you, but there’s another report in here that shows her I.D. being used to gain access to the maternity floor several hours later,” Garrett explains.
Six hours, to be exact. Six hours spent petrified that I was truly about to lose the very last piece of Cole before the doctors managed to slow everything down. I was in and out of consciousness, exhausted by hours of crying and pain, but I know I saw her in my room. Even half asleep and full of medication to calm me down, I will never forget the vision of her in the doorway of my room. Fifteen minutes later I was wide awake, my body wracked with contractions even stronger than before as I clutched my stomach and prayed for everything to be okay.
“I know how she gave it to me,” I tell them quietly.
Parker and Garrett share a look and I close my eyes, remembering that day so clearly. I was such a fool, such a stupid, trusting fool.
I should have known better.
Once again, I’m being summoned to Vivien Vargas’ office. I knew it would only be a matter of time before news traveled that I disobeyed her orders. Luck was on my side when she left town for several months and I thought maybe I would be able to skate by, continue doing my job and she would forget all about the threat she made.
As I made my way down the long hallway to Vivien’s office, I rested my hand protectively over my stomach. There’s nothing she can do it about it now. If she wanted to fire me, let her. I have something much more important to deal with now.
I paused in the hallway as the door to Vivien’s office opened and Charles and Caroline stepped out. They spotted me immediately and we all stood in the hallway, staring at one another awkwardly. I had only met Charles once, so I really didn’t care what he was thinking right now, but Caroline was another issue altogether. At one time I thought we could be friends, maybe even allies. She’d tried calling me a few times since Cole left, but my heart couldn’t take talking to her. She reminded me too much of Cole with her quick wit and her desire to take care of the people she loved. Hearing her voice reminded me of the times the three of us spent together when he was still here, still loving me and still a part of my life. I can see by the look on her face that she’s hurt seeing me standing here now, looking so different, and I feel bad for not telling her the truth.
