He Protected My Baby’s Killer So I Left Him Chapter 05
The lights in the hotel room were still on.
The bed was neatly made, with no sign that anyone had slept in it.
Matteo stood in the doorway, dialing the disconnected number over and over.
Leo opened the closet.
It held only a few empty hangers.
Marco checked the bathroom and the luggage rack.
Nico spotted a receipt from the animal hospital on the table.
It was dated yesterday.
Toast had been on an IV all day for a severe stress reaction.
Under “Payer,” there was only my name.
None of the four men spoke.
While they had been helping Isabella shop for bedding, pick out curtains, and set up her room, I had been at the vet with my sick cat, alone.
Matteo suddenly turned and headed for the door.
“She had a follow-up this afternoon.”
“She has to still be at the hospital.”
By the time they arrived, the area outside the operating room was empty.
The nurse on duty recognized them.
Or rather, she recognized the four names on a phone that had gone unanswered.
“You’re Soleil’s family?”
Matteo nodded immediately.
“Where is she?”
The nurse’s tone was cold.
“So now you ask?”
“The patient had a major hemorrhage this afternoon and needed emergency surgery.”
“We called every single one of you from her phone.”
“Not one of you answered.”
The color drained from Matteo’s face.
“She was just here for a follow-up.”
“How did it turn into a major hemorrhage?”
“Retained tissue. Post-op infection.”
The nurse closed the chart.
“If she’d come in any later, it could have been much worse.”
Leo’s lips parted.
“Did she leave a message for us?”
The nurse gave him a sharp look.
“She asked me to remove all four of you as her emergency contacts.”
At his side, Nico’s hand clenched into a fist.