The Wife's Resolve

Chapter12: In the Hospital

Valerie wakes up to the sound of the heartbeat monitor. Back in the hospital again. She shifts her body uncomfortably on the small bed. Her hand raised to her head, which was still hurting. She felt the bandage and wondered if she had reopened the wound. Damon was going to kill her and then bring her back to explain. She almost laughed at the thought. Various images from the night before were blurry in her mind. Her mind focused on the second car. Did it mean to hit her? If not, why did it not stop and see if everyone in her vehicle was okay? She was agitated. An IV is attached to the top of her hand, which itches and bothers her more. She needed to get out of here. She instinctively goes to pull it out when a voice stops her.

"Leave it in, Valerie." Damon's rough voice drew her attention to her side, where he was sitting, staring. She could not tell if it was a look of hurt or anger in his eyes, though.

"I'm fine, really," she attempted to sit, but he put out his arm to stop her.

"You were in an accident, do you remember that?" He said slowly. "You passed out, more than once. You are not going anywhere; the doctor himself needs to come in here and guarantee me that you are fine."

"There are no guarantees," she answered, shaking her head slowly. She winced but tried to hide it.

"Then I guess you'd better get comfortable," he laughed slightly, "No guarantee, means no leaving the hospital." He grabbed the blanket and pulled it higher up on her.

"You're impossible," she huffed.

"I'm impossible! You're the one who got run off the road last night, and instead of calling me, instead of staying in the hospital for observation like the doctor said, you chose to get all dressed up and come to a ball."

Valerie covered her face with her hands before dropping them to rub her neck and letting out a good long sigh, "I did that for us. I refuse to allow someone to attempt to ruin the night and ruin all the hard work we put into that charity ball."

"I could have killed Paxton and Nicoli when I found out what they helped you do. You have to be smarter than this, Valerie," He lectured, "If something happened to you, it would affect us all."

"You didn't kill them, though, right?" she partly joked, but having been unconscious in front of Damon, she could hardly make the claim that she was okay. She had promised to defend them in front of him and had failed. Nicoli would probably be fine, but Dmon already had issues with his cousin even on a good day. Their family struggled predated her, and Damon may never fully trust Paxton, and it had nothing to do with Paxton, but with Paxton's position in the family. Paxton had never challenged Damon's authority publicly, but he could have.

"I may have pulled my gun," he winked at her.

"Is that all you did?" She would be surprised if it were.

"Nicoli stopped me from beating Paxton to a pulp. He had to run that big mouth of his. Oh, I did, however, kick him through a door and threaten to kill him," Damon answered nonchalantly. "He seemed to enjoy it."

"What the hell is wrong with you, Damon?" she yelled, and her monitors started beeping more.

"Calm down," He stated. Grabbing onto her hand and caressing it. "He got up and walked out. No permanent damage, I swear. Nicoli saved him."

"I'm surprised Nicoli was not on your side," she huffed. "In fact, I am pretty sure he warned him last night that you would try to kill them both."

"And yet they disobeyed direct orders," he accused.

"Sorry about that," she apologized, "I really did think I was doing the right thing at the time. Nicoli tried to call you. I even remember Paxton threatening to call you if I did not allow Nicoli to see my head."

"Nicoli, it is not unreasonable. On this occasion, though I would say he was on your side, not Paxton's." Damon reasoned.

"How could he possibly be on my side? I was not even awake." Valerie laughed.

"He said you would never forgive me if I killed him." He shook his head.

"Well, Nicoli does have a brain in there somewhere, I am glad to hear it." Valerie laughed again, "Who knew. Anyways seriously Damon, we can't keep going round and round about this. Last night, I am sure it was a shock to you when you found out, and I was not there to help. You need to remember I was not the only one injured last night. Speaking of which, have you heard anything else about Penelope?"

"Penelope is in surgery again." He gripped her hand, pulling her attention to him, "The doctors are pessimistic about the outcome. Her injuries are more severe than they originally believed."

"Will she make it?" Valerie felt a tear slide down her cheek.

"I'm not sure," he spoke hesitantly, "the doctor will do all they can do for her."

"They were just doing what I begged for," she cried, "can you understand that?" He handed her a tissue and waited for her to compose herself again.

"Perhaps I, but you need to understand they have a responsibility to me. If I can't trust them to do what needs to be done, especially something so serious as my wife being injured, and they do not even notify me. How can I trust them? Valerie, I don't keep you in the dark. You know the organization is being attacked, and we don't know who is behind it. I need you to take threats to your life seriously and not hide them. I can't find out hours after an attack when there is little I can do. Nicoli went to tow your car back and investigate, but this should have been done hours ago." He was angry, but he explained to her as gently as he could, "Valerie, because of the incident, you will have a bodyguard going forward."

"I don't need that," she objected.

"I don't think I asked you what you thought you needed. I can't and won't lose you over something so reckless. I understand you thought you were doing something good. However, threats can come from inside the family just as they do from the outside. I have to know who to trust."

"I do not want to bring more attention to this than necessary. Right now, Natali will be your bodyguard. You need a new assistant, and she can fill in without drawing too much attention."

"With her daggers," Valerie laughed, "she brings attention wherever she goes."

"You will have to teach her then," he joked, "make sure to remind her she can't enter the courthouse with those."

Valerie laughed at the image of Natali going through a metal detector in her mind. "There is no way! Pick someone else."

"There is no one else," he stated.

"What about Paxton? He already works in my office. He knows the law; no one will suspect anything," she asked

"Over my dead body," he practically yelled.

Valerie was not sure if he was joking, but did not press it. She would have to talk to Nicoli about what happened last night to know the likelihood of ever getting a reasonable bodyguard.

"What about Nicoli?" she asked.

Damon laughed, "Nicoli and Natali draw the same amount of attention. Pretty sure your father would object to Nicoli."

"He will object to Natali, too," she insisted.

"It's either you let Natali follow you around, or you leave the law firm until this mess is over."

"With your business, the mess is never over," she sighed, defeated.

He was glad she was giving in and tried not to gloat, "That is highly possible, so what will it be?"