Dr. Pillard stands there, his eyes wild and his hair mussed as if he’s been running his fingers through it regularly and hasn’t taken a moment to smooth it back down. He doesn’t look like the previously clean and immaculately dressed man that I’m used to seeing. Instead, he looks haggard. There are bags under his eyes and a shadow of beard growth that I know he usually keeps clean shaven.
The nurse that had sent me back said Dr. Pillard had been the one to call for me. I jerk my gaze around the room.Had it been a setup?No one else resides in the room, the patient bed strippedand empty. A frown puckers my brow, then the door opens again and I turn to face the man that steps inside.
Morpheus Calloway.
My heart rate jerks into overdrive, hammering against my rib cage in the primordial fight-or-flight reflex. Sweat pools at the base of my spine and my skin buzzes. I clench my hands into fists and take a step away from both men as Morpheus fully enters the room and closes the door behind him. They leave the lights off.
“What the hell is going on here?” I demand, glaring daggers at Dr. Pillard.
The man doesn’t shrink under my gaze, but he does flinch when Morpheus steps up behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “That will be all, Dr. Pillard,” he says. “You may leave. I’d like to speak with my ward alone.”
“I amnotyour fucking ward.”
Morpheus lifts his head and sighs. “Please try to curb your language, Juliet. It’s very unbecoming of a lady to curse.”
Ignoring his words, I look to the only other person that might be able to help me. “Dr. Pillard? What’s the meaning of this?” I should’ve known better. The second Morpheus gives the man an out, he bolts into action, nodding to Morpheus and slipping from the room without answering me.
Trapped. I’m fucking trapped in here. My breathing stutters in my chest as I examine the space between me and the door. Morpheus shifts on his shiny black loafers, stepping directly in my path. I bite down on my lip hard enough to taste blood. This can’t be happening. The muscles in my legs jump and jitter beneath the skin. When I take another step back as Morpheus advances one, I almost fall, barely managing to catch myself on the side railing of the empty bed.
“I heard what happened to your friend’s mother,” Morpheus begins.
The riot of emotions and fears in my head go dead silent. “What?”
He tuts, folding his hands in front of him. “It’s so sad to hear that Eliza Pierce had a little accident,” he says. “I’m sure your friend is thankful it was only a little one. A hit-and-run, I heard.”
“Did you talk to the police?” I demand. Is that how he knows?
Morpheus tilts his head at me. “Now, why would I do that?”
“Then how did you…” The meaning behind his words slams into me and my hand clamps down on the bed railing until I swear I hear it cracking. “You didn’t…”
“I know you’re having a hard time seeing me, Juliet,” Morpheus continues. “It’s why I asked Dr. Pillard if we could borrow one of their empty patient rooms. So that we could talk.”
“You want to talk?” I gape at him.
“Of course I want to talk,” he says. “We never talk anymore.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” I snap. “You’re trying to have me declared unfit to care for myself!”
“Lower your voice, young lady.” The tone of his words is quiet and cutting and it makes me shut my mouth. I swallow around the rock-hard lump in my throat.
Morpheus sucks in a slow breath and then releases it, closing his eyes briefly before reopening and fixating them on me. “I apologize for the deceit it took to get you here,” he says. “But I felt like it was necessary for us to have a heart-to-heart. You seem to be under the misapprehension about my intentions.”
“Did you have someone slam into the back of Mrs. Pierce’s car?” I ask. “Just to get me here?”
He blinks and then puts one hand over his chest—right where I suspect a heart would be if the fucker had one. “Juliet, I’m shocked you would think that of me.”
Liar. I narrow my eyes on him. “Answer the question.”
“Of course not.” He shakes his head. “I would never be so cruel as to drag an innocent woman into our family matter.” Hispupils are bigger than normal as he sets those eyes of his on mine and holds me captive. “That would be you.”
My breath catches. Me? “W-what?”
“I have no desire for anyone to get hurt, Juliet,” Morpheus tells me. “You, however, seem to only enjoy causing me pain.”
“Me? Causeyoupain?” I laugh, but the sound is hollow. “You’re the one who took advantage of a drunk teenage girl at his own friend’s party.”
It takes me a moment to realize what I’ve said as the room goes silent. I don’t know if it’s from his shock or my own for the words, but Morpheus doesn’t speak for several long moments. Then, he steps forward, not stopping until he’s right in front of me, our bodies a mere hair’s breadth away from each other.
