Chapter 231 The Boy Who Flinched

Chapter 231: Chapter 231 The Boy Who Flinched

Sam finally stirred near dusk.

Eira rose at once and leaned over the bed. "Sam? Hey, sweetheart. You’re awake."

An oxygen tube rested beneath his nose. He blinked up at her, dazed and frightened, as if he could not believe she was real.

Maybe her call had reached him last night. Maybe he had heard her voice before he passed out.

Alpha Killian reached toward the call button.

Sam’s eyes flew wide.

The monitor jumped into a rapid, uneven beep. His whole body tensed beneath the blanket.

Eira caught Alpha Killian’s wrist before he could touch the button and pulled his hand out of Sam’s sight.

"Hey, it’s okay." She bent closer. "You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you."

She released Alpha Killian and pressed the button herself.

A nurse arrived with the doctor a moment later. The instant Sam saw the white coat, panic took over again. His breathing quickened, and his hands began to shake.

Eira stepped between him and the doctor.

"Give him some space."

The doctor stopped.

"It’s okay, honey," Eira whispered. "You don’t have to be scared. He’s just here to check on you."

Alpha Killian watched Sam’s reaction, then looked at the doctor.

"Lose the coat," he said quietly. "Come back without it."

The doctor stepped into the hall and returned a moment later in blue hospital scrubs. Eira kept hold of Sam’s hand while the nurse checked his vitals and the doctor completed a brief exam.

Sam stayed tense, but he no longer panicked.

"Keep talking to him," the doctor told Eira. "Your voice seems to calm him."

Alpha Killian nodded toward the hallway. "Stay with him."

He followed the doctor outside.

Eira settled back into the chair and looked down at the hand she was holding.

Then she saw it.

Sam’s right thumb was missing from the first joint.

Her breath caught.

The surgeon’s words came back to her. The bruises. The old fractures. The possible bite marks. Sam’s terror when Alpha Killian reached for the call button. The way he had reacted to the doctor’s coat.

What had happened to him over the past two years?

What had the school done to him during the days he had been there?

Eira forced the questions down. Sam was awake, injured, and still afraid. She would not make him relive anything before he was ready.

Tears blurred her vision.

Then Sam’s fingers tightened around hers.

"Sis," he whispered.

The word came out rough and dry.

Eira wiped her eyes and smiled. "Yeah. I’m right here."

"Sis."

Two years ago, the first time Sam had called her that, something inside her had changed. He had become her little brother in every way that mattered.

Now he gave her a weak, crooked smile. It was dazed and trusting, almost boyish.

Her chest ached.

Sam had not been the child she spent the most time with at Miss Gwen’s home. He was simply the one she had grown soft for, the one she had secretly given her number to.

But it would not have mattered which child had reached for her. Any child looking at her with that much fear and trust would have broken her heart.

She had a hundred questions.

Who hurt him? Why had he been sent away? Why had someone cut off his thumb? What had happened at the school?

But Sam was exhausted, medicated, and barely able to speak.

Eira squeezed his hand.

"Rest now," she whispered. "We’ll talk later."

She would wait until the police arrived.

--

Hale Tower was finally quiet.

Alpha Sebastian had just finished the launch ceremony for the Snowmark account. At least that deal was secure. The problems waiting behind it had not gone anywhere.

His annual report was due next. The Carter Group’s shareholder meeting was only days away, and despite securing the Snowmark contract, Alpha Sebastian had still lost the Sovereign Processor Initiative.

Alpha Sebastian could already picture the older board members sitting around the conference table, smiling politely as they picked apart his performance.

His report was thin. He had no major project to announce and no breakthrough to show for the year.

Alpha Carter would find a way to make it worse. Fiona always did.

Alpha Sebastian pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Beta Jordan stepped inside with a tablet in hand. "Alpha, your phone has been off all day. Fiona’s office forwarded her call to me."

Alpha Sebastian glanced at the dead phone on his desk. Then he remembered the unknown number that had called again and again during the night.

"I forgot to turn it back on." He picked up the phone. "Isn’t Fiona at headquarters? What does she want?"

"The Omega Home and the other orphanages are being included in one combined donation drive this year. No special exceptions. The internal memo went out this morning."

Beta Jordan hesitated.

"There’s more."

Alpha Sebastian looked up.

"The trip lead has been reassigned. Finn is handling it this year. Alpha Carter said you don’t need to spend your time on that kind of work anymore."

Alpha Sebastian’s expression darkened.

Beta Jordan did not need to spell it out. The Omega Home was where Eira had grown up. The Carter siblings knew exactly what they were doing.

The memo had already been distributed. Arguing now would only make him look defensive.

"Understood."

Sebastian turned on his phone.

Notifications flooded the screen, but no new calls came through. He opened the call history.

The same unknown number appeared again and again.

More than twenty missed calls.

He tapped the number.

The area code was 530, somewhere in Northern California.

Sebastian froze.

That was where Sam had been moved.

Sam.

It had to be him.

He hit redial.