Page 97 of Shattered Silence Duet

“What’s happening?” a scared voice asks.I know that voice.

“Her heart rate is picking up,” another familiar voice answers.

Someone squeezes my right hand.

“But why?”

Max.I recognize his voice now. If I have their voices with me in death, maybe it won’t be so bad here. I try to squeeze his hand back as my breathing steadies, and the beeping starts to slow down.

More noises start to penetrate my mind. Somewhere, a door opens, followed by an unfamiliar voice. “Dom, it’s time. CPA is here.”

“I told you no!” Dom’s voice is sharp with anger, making my hand squeeze the person holding mine a little harder.Why is he so mad?Is he mad at me?

“Look, I’ve held them off as long as I can, but she’s seventeen, and there’s no sign of her mother,” the other man says. If I was dead, this was a very strange conversation I was listening to.

“I don’t care. I’ll marry her, then she’ll be under my care.”

The man sighs heavily. “Dom, you can’t marry a minor without her parents or guardian’s permission.”

“But she doesn’t have parents here!”

“Then you need to get her emancipated.” I hear a loud bang, like someone threw something against a wall.

“Chief! She can’t be emancipated while she’s unconscious!” Dom yells.

“But you can marry her while she is?”

“Ahh!” Dom groans in frustration.

Did Dom just say he’s going to marry me?

As more of my senses come online, I start to come to the conclusion that this isn’t death. I think I’m in a hospital. As the noises start to filter through my cloudy brain more clearly, I make out the distinct sounds of beeping machines and the sharp smell ofantiseptic. I recognize it from the few times I was given something to help heal my injuries.

But if I’m not dead… That means they’ve saved me, just like they said they would.

The door opens again, proceeding a woman’s voice this time. “Good afternoon, I’m Julie Peters, and this is Roger White. We are from Child Protective Services, and I’ve been assigned to Mina Davies case. Can you tell me what all the yelling is about?”

CPA?No!They’ll take me away from my guys. I can’t let that happen, but as much as I try, I can’t open my eyes or make a noise.

“You don’t need to be here. She has a family, she has us,” Dom says firmly.

Dom!He won’t let them take me away. He always told me that they’d take care of me, I just wish I trusted them enough to tell them the truth before it got to this point.

“That’s not how the state sees it,” she replies.

“You can’t have her.” The hand holding mine squeezes as Max speaks.

“I assure you, I’m just here to speak for her best interest. What is your relation to her?”

“I’m her boyfriend.” I grip the hand as hard as I can, which isn’t much. Hearing Max call himself my boyfriend sends a shiver through me that makes me desperate to open my eyes and look at him. Does he really mean that? Or is he just saying what he thinks will keep them from taking me?

“I thoughtyouwere her boyfriend, or was it husband?” another man asks.

Husband?

I hear a small laugh. “I might have gotten a little ahead of myself, but I will be her husband one day, so it’s just semantics at this point.” I know that voice, too.Ben.What is he talking about?

“Look, not to be rude, but none of this matters. She’s a minor with no parents or guardian. It doesn’t matter who her boyfriend is. You can’t marry her without parental permission, and she can’t be emancipated until she’s awake and goes through the properlegal procedures to do so. She will be placed in the system for now until she’s fully emancipated or a parent or guardian steps forward,” the woman tells them in her no-nonsense voice.