“You know,” he said softly, “you don’t have to be tough every second.”
I looked at him.
He smiled faintly.
“I married you because you’re brilliant and stubborn and impossible to intimidate.”
I tried to smile.
Pain stopped me.
His expression softened.
“But you don’t have to prove any of that to me.”
I closed my eyes.
He brushed my hair away from my forehead.
“Let me take care of you for a while.”
I squeezed his hand.
And for a few minutes, the hospital room felt almost peaceful.
Then my phone vibrated.
It was sitting on the bedside table, connected to a charger.
Hayes glanced at it.
“Unknown number.”
I held out my hand.
He gave it to me.
A text message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
My stomach tightened.
Another message arrived.
YOU THINK YOUR HUSBAND CAN PROTECT YOU?
I stared at the screen.
Hayes leaned closer.
His expression hardened.
“Don’t answer.”
A third message appeared.
THE NEXT TIME, THERE WON’T BE AN AMBULANCE.
My hand began trembling.
Hayes took the phone carefully.
He photographed the messages with his own device.
Then called Detective Brooks.
I watched him explain what had happened.
His voice remained controlled.
But his fingers were white around the phone.
When he finished, he turned to me.
“She’s sending an officer to document everything.”
I nodded.
He sat beside me.
“Marin, listen to me. Nobody is getting near you.”
I wanted to believe him.
But I had already learned that the Mercers could be dangerous when they thought their control was slipping.
And now someone was threatening me directly.
An hour later, Evelyn returned.
This time, she looked troubled.
“I have news.”
Hayes stood.
“About the footage?”
“Not yet.”
She glanced at me.
“About Vesta.”
My heartbeat quickened.
Evelyn placed a printed document on the table.
“She contacted a private investigator this morning.”
Hayes frowned.
“Why?”
“Apparently, she wanted information about Marin’s business.”
I stared at her.
Evelyn continued.
“The investigator declined the assignment after Vesta asked whether there were ways to make a company appear financially unstable.”
Hayes’s expression darkened.
“She wants to destroy Ironline.”
“Possibly.”
I grabbed the notepad.
WHY?
Evelyn looked at me.
“Because your company is something she can’t control.”
I stared at the page.
Ironline Freight Solutions wasn’t merely a business.
It was every night I had slept on an office couch.
Every contract I had fought to keep.
Every employee who trusted me to make payroll.
Every driver who depended on my team to keep freight moving.
I had built something real.
And now Vesta wanted to attack it because her son couldn’t tolerate being embarrassed.
I wrote one sentence.
SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHO SHE’S DEALING WITH.
Evelyn read it.
Then, unexpectedly, she smiled.
“No,” she said. “I don’t believe she does.”
At nine thirty that night, Detective Brooks called Hayes.
He put the phone on speaker so I could hear.
“We’ve located someone who may have additional information,” she said.
Hayes leaned forward.
“Who?”
“A member of the catering staff.”
I felt my pulse quicken.
“She says she was working near the buffet table when the incident occurred.”
“Did she see Kale throw the ball?”
“We’re arranging a formal interview.”
Hayes closed his eyes.
“Thank God.”
“There’s something else.”
His eyes opened.
“What?”
“The employee says she noticed Mrs. Mercer behaving strangely immediately afterward.”
“Vesta?”
“Yes.”
I gripped the blanket.
“She believes Vesta removed an object from the lawn.”
Hayes looked at me.
I could see hope beginning to replace the exhaustion in his face.
“Will she testify?”
“She hasn’t committed to that yet. She’s frightened.”
“Of my family?”
“She says someone contacted her employer and threatened to have the catering company removed from several lucrative contracts if any staff member discussed the barbecue.”
Hayes’s jaw tightened.
“Orson.”
“We don’t know who made the call.”
I watched him struggle to remain calm.
Detective Brooks continued.
“But the employee kept something.”
Hayes leaned closer to the phone.
“What?”
“A photograph.”
I felt my heart begin pounding.
“She was taking pictures of the buffet arrangement shortly before the incident. She says the photograph may show where people were standing.”
Hayes swallowed.
“Can we see it?”
“Once it’s been properly collected and reviewed, I’ll let you know what it establishes.”
The call ended.
Hayes looked at me.
For the first time since the attack, he smiled.
Not because everything was going to be okay.
Not because justice was guaranteed.
But because someone outside the Mercer family had seen something.
And had been brave enough to speak.
Near midnight, Hayes finally fell asleep in the chair beside my bed.
His head rested against the wall.
One hand still held mine.
I watched him for a long time.
He looked older than he had that morning.
