10
The soundsof yelling roused me. I was lying in the back seat of a very nice car with my foot wrapped in a towel, but I was bleeding so much it had seeped through and was doing a pretty incredible job of ruining theleather.
I cried out in pain as I moved my foot. The shouts stopped abruptly. I looked up only to find two pair of concerned eyes staring right atme.
One belonged to Lucien. The other belonged toHank.
Of all the freaking things that could happen. I sighed. “Can we go,Lucien?”
He straightened. “Ofcourse.”
He started to walk around the vehicle to get into the driver’s seat when Hank reached out and grabbed his arm. “You aren’t taking heranywhere.”
Lucien stiffened and gave Hank the once over. He jerked himself free. “I don’t think you have any right to tell me anything about what might be best for Helen after the events of last night. Wouldn’t youagree?”
I winced. Ouch. I wondered who else had heard aboutthat.
Hank flinched as if he had been struck. “What happened?” he askedquietly.
“She dropped her mug. It shattered and at minimum she cut her foot.” He stared back at me. “Although, I think she might have fractured it, too.” Lucien shook his head. “She’s bleeding everywhere and needs to go to the hospital. If you’re finishedposturing?”
Hank and Lucien stared each other down until Hank relented with a terse nod. “I’ll followyou.”
“Hank. No.” My thoughts were spinning from Lucien’s information. I couldn’t deal with anything else rightnow.
His lips pressed together, but he didn’t say anything. Hank spun on his heel and headed back to histruck.
Lucien slid into his vehicle and winced at the sight of my foot. “That was not really a delay we could afford.” Concern showed in his vivid blue gaze. “Are youalright?”
“My foot is killingme.”
Lucien turned back around and started the car. “I was not just referring to your foot.” He looked like he was going to say something else, but he shook his head instead and pulled into the long drive on myproperty.
My teeth were chattering and I winced every time we hit abump.
“I am so sorry, Helen. Perhaps I should have encouraged you to put the mug down before I told youanything.”
“How can they dothat?”
Lucien glanced in his rearview mirror. “They plan to try something calledrescission.”
“Elaborate.”
“It’s usually used by a buyer. So say you purchased a home and found out the foundation was shot. Only you had an inspection on the house and the inspector said it was in great condition. Normally a home inspector is immune to lawsuits for something like that. But say you found out later the home inspector was related to the realtor and had a vested interest in ensuring the home sale. That could open up an opportunity for a little wiggle room in the contract.” He waved a hand. “Not the greatest example, but non disclosure is one of the biggest things that could result in winning a rescissioncase.”
Lucien’s soothing baritone was distracting me from my foot. “So...I love my property. How are they claiming anything aboutit?”
“The former owner of the property has been found. And I suspect paid off handsomely. He’s claiming he was under duress to sell his property by another agent he refuses to name. In turn, he was forced to sell to you. He wants the property returned to him and has hired our firm as hisrealtor.”
“This sounds shaky atbest.”
“That isn’t all. He’s claiming you were working in tandem with said agent and pressured him to sell at a lower pricepoint.”
“That’sridiculous.”
“I quite concur.” Lucien turned into the emergency room parking lot, smoothly pulled right in front of the doors, and put his vehicle intopark.
Just as I was trying to get out, the passenger door opened and Lucien reached in with very little effort and plucked me out of the car, careful not to jostle my injured foot. When I protested, he shushed me, and carried me gently through thedoors.
