I glanced at Erica, but she didn’t seem worried. She stared at one of those Real Housewives shows—an older woman with major plastic surgery threw a drink in the face of another slightly younger woman with equally as much plastic surgery, who started crying. I turned to the door and opened it a crack.
Two men stood in the hall. One was bald and built like a tank, the other was tall, lanky and awkward. They wore dark clothes, and the bald one had a vicious smile.
“Dr. Majors?” he asked, tilting his head.
It was the guy from Erica’s room. I recognized him right away, and I felt my pulse spike. “That’s me. What can I do for you?”
I kept the door closed so that they couldn’t see inside, but the bald man stepped forward. “My name’s Alfonse, this is my associate Justin, and I was hoping we could talk.”
I went to close the door. “I have office hours at the hospital, you can—”
The bald man pressed his hand against it. He was strong, and I decided not to get into a shoving match. I thought I could win, but not against both of them.
“We know you’re helping her.”
The words sent a jolt through me, but I didn’t know why. I wanted them to know, that was part of the plan, but being faced with the reality of it suddenly knocked me off guard.
I took a breath and opened the door slightly again. “How did you find me?”
“You weren’t so hard to track down. Famous, hotshot young doctor. Lots of people like to talk about you.” He smiled and it seemed like he had too many teeth.
Inside, the Real Housewives were screaming at each other.
Alfonse arched an eyebrow. “You got some trashy TV on in there?” he asked.
“It’s my guilty pleasure, and this is my day off.”
“We want to see her.” His eyes narrowed. “My boss wants to see her.”
I stared at him and didn’t move. “Tell your boss that he can come talk to me.”
Alfonse laughed. It was more like a bark—the bark of an angry, half-trained dog. “Shit don’t work that way.”
“Tell him anyway. The girl’s mine now.”
“She’s your what?”
“She’s my wife.” I held up my hand to show them the wedding band.
Alfonse didn’t react. I heard Erica get up from the couch behind me, heard her footsteps coming closer. I tried not to show it on my face, but Alfonse tilted his head like he was listening for something and stepped closer. I could feel his breath and see the veins in his eyes.
“If you’re fucking with me, you will regret it.”
“I’m a famous, hotshot doctor, remember?” I smiled at him. “I don’t think you’re stupid enough to try anything.”
We stood like that, staring each other down, and I knew this was the moment where I’d find out if my gamble was correct.
He let out a snort like an angry bull and took a step back. “We want to see the girl.”
“I told you, Erica’s my wife now. If your boss wants to talk to her, he needs to come through me first.”
“Why the fuck do you care about that gutter trash?” He made a face like he was genuinely confused. “Seriously, a nice, rich doctor like you? Why the fuck would you care what happens to some loser bitch like that?”
“Tell your boss I’ll pay him, but he won’t touch her.”
He shook his head slowly. “That’s not gonna fly. He wants the girl.”
“And he can’t have her, so it seems like we’ve reached a crossroads.”
The tall man, Justin, let out a snort and stepped forward, but Alfonse put a hand on his chest, never taking his eyes off me. I glanced over and Justin’s face was contorted into rage, so angry, so wild, that I almost slammed the door in their faces.
I controlled myself though and didn’t move.
“I’ll tell my boss what you said.” Alfonse sounded annoyed, but he didn’t make a move to try to force his way inside. “But I highly suggest you rethink your position.”
“Duly noted. Now I have some Real Housewives to watch, if you’d excuse me.”
The two men lingered on the doorstep for another moment, staring me down, until Alfonse turned, shaking his head, and walked off. Justin showed me his teeth, more of a snarl than a smile, and followed Alfonse.
I stepped back, shut the door, and locked the bolt and the chain.
Erica hovered a few feet away, arms hugging herself.
“That was them,” she said.
“We knew this would happen.”
“But not so fast.”
“I don’t think they realized you were in here, and they didn’t know we’d gotten married.”
She nodded, looked away. “Still. They found you.”
“We knew it would happen,” I said again, keeping my voice soft and calm.
I walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me, eyes confused for a moment, and my hand drifted down toward her hip. She chewed on her lip and I could tell she was having a moment with herself, maybe wrestling with uncertainty or anger or fear, I couldn’t be sure.