Coercion

Next to me, Kieran stirred. My head had just hit the pillow when my phone rang again. ‘Amiyah, Patrick wants to see you! He’s going to jump!’ Freya’s hysterical crying jolted me awake. Kieran sat up. ‘You must come to the hospital right away. Please! I’m counting on you!’ Freya ended the call. ‘Pinch me,’ I said to Kieran. ‘What?’ ‘This feels like a dream.’ ‘I’m afraid it’s not,’ he said, face grim as he read something from his phone. ‘I got a couple of missed calls and a text from Allied Care. Patrick checked himself out this morning.’ After Rainey fled the country, Kieran secured admittance and paid for Patrick’s stay at the luxury nursing home. ‘He’s at the Lisbern University Hospital,’ I said in a daze. ‘He’s going to jump. Why?’ ‘We’ll find out.’ Kieran tossed the covers aside. ‘It’s about fifteen minutes away. I’ll drive.’ We got dressed in a hurry, skipped breakfast, dashed out the door. Firefighters and police were already in place when we arrived. A huge inflated life net was