Page 40 of Brutal Lies

Chapter 21

Astrid

I fall back down in the bed, and Nova frowns at me with dire concern. “Are you okay? Because now you really don’t look well.”

I toss my head from side to side against the firm pillow. “I’m in a shitload of trouble, and there’s not a shovel big enough to dig me out of it.”

Before I can explain, the door to the room flies open like it was struck by lightning, and Howland rushes in. I have fought off some agile opponents with two fists, but Elliott Howland scares me into paralysis. Maybe scare is too strong of a word. He intimidates me as I sink lower into the bed. I hope I look too weak to scream at, but he heads toward me like a train careening off the rails.

“What have you done now?” His voice thunders like an avenging angel ready to smite a sinner.

Bryce hurries into the room, followed closely by Wyatt. Pierce strolls in, checking out what everyone is doing, and Justin walks in, looking entirely pissed off.

He warned me not to mess with Ted Leister. I wonder if he knows.

“Dr. Howland,” Pierce steps between us. “Astrid needs to rest. She had a rough night.”

Bryce moves closer to my bed and slips his hand into mine as we watch Howland morph into a ball of rage. Howland stares at Pierce as if he has no right to speak in his presence. Howland’s gaze turns toward each boy’s face. His mind is quickly calculating, and no one speaks as he takes in a deep breath. But he looks shaken as his flawless skin turns a splotchy red.

“Out.” His voice is low, but the threat is unmistakable. All ambient noise on the floor of the hospital seems to disappear at his command. Only mechanical noises can be heard. “All of you.”

Wyatt shakes his head. “Dr. Howland…”

Howland doesn’t let him finish his sentence. “I will speak to my daughter in private. Out.”

I squeeze Bryce’s hand and let it go. I had good intentions when I went out last night, but Howland is right—he has a right to talk to me. And he’s going to talk to me now or later. The sooner it’s over, the sooner we can start our lives over without each other in them.

“Please go. We have to talk,” I tell Bryce.

He takes my hand again. “Are you sure? I can stay with you.”

I shake my head, watching Howland glare at me. “No, you can’t,” I raise my voice as high as it will go to convince everyone that I’m capable of handling this. “I have to talk to my father alone.”

There’s a collective look of shock when I finally call Howland my father. But he doesn’t look overcome with joy to hear me say the word.

Too little, too late, I guess.

He glares as each person I care about reluctantly leaves the room until I’m alone with him.

Justin pauses at the door and eyes Howland. Do they know it was Ted Leister that landed me here? They don’t speak, and then Justin walks out, leaving the door wide open.

Howland marches over to the door and throws it shut. The bang vibrates the room, and my hands fist the sheets. I don’t want to look at him, but it will be worse if I don’t. Howland is in charge. His power has nothing to do with money.

He controls every person in this hospital. He can terminate every career that took years of school and hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain. He can make sure that person never works in any job again. He could pull the pillow out from under my head, press it against my face, and never see a day of prison for it.

It won’t matter if the case is solid; no one here will ever cross him. So no one comes to check up on me.

In this hospital, he might as well be God.

“Do you take me for some sick pleasure?” Howland asks, standing in the center of the room. “Did those boys dare you to do it like a hazing ritual? Give you a task and see what you’d do?”

Thoughtless words race out of my mouth. “Pierce told me not to go, but I had to.”

“You had to go to another illegal club,” he scoffs, “and take flunitrazepam because that’s what high school seniors do. I told you to behave, but you can’t, can you? You are worse than your mother. She never listened either.”

“Yeah,” I scoff. “She didn’t abort me like you told her to.”

He doesn’t give a shit that I know. “At the time, it was a viable option since I couldn’t marry your mother.”