Page 180 of The Hunter's Empire

A different silence follows this time.

Keith exhales slowly before answering. "He didn't leave that office alive either."

I don't ask how. Something in Keith's expression tells me I don't want the answer.

Instead, another question rises to the surface almost immediately. "Nico?"

For the first time since the conversation started, Aurelia smiles. "A better question would be when Nico."

I frown. "What does that even mean?"

"It means he barely left this room."

I blink.

Aurelia gestures toward the chair beside my bed. "For three days, that chair was occupied more consistently than your hospital bed was."

A small laugh escapes Keith. "The doctors hated him."

"The nurses loved him." Aurelia corrects.

"He argued with every doctor who came through that door." Keith adds. "He memorized your chart, your medicationschedule, your test results, and somehow convinced himself he was qualified to disagree with actual surgeons."

Aurelia shakes her head, though she's smiling now. "I threatened to drag him home myself yesterday."

"And?"

"He asked whether I planned on carrying him."

Keith snorts quietly. "To be fair, he had a point."

Aurelia rolls her eyes. "The man is impossible."

The room falls quiet again. I look toward the empty chair beside my bed.

For a moment, I can almost picture him there. Arms folded. Eyes fixed on the monitors. Pretending not to be worried while jumping to his feet every time one of the machines made a sound.

Something warm settles painfully in my chest.

Anton, who has been unusually quiet for the past several minutes, suddenly checks his phone before letting out a dramatic sigh.

"I should probably go."

The three of us look at him.

"I've got another problem waiting for me."

I raise an eyebrow. "What kind of problem?"

Keith immediately pinches the bridge of his nose. "The kind involving Anton shooting one of his customers in his ass."

I stare at him. "...What?"

Anton throws his hands into the air. "Oh, come on. When you say it like that, it sounds much worse."

Aurelia laughs. "Does it?"

"He deserved it." Anton insists. "The idiot was harassing one of my employees all night. She told him no several times, and he still wouldn't leave her alone."