Dusk Snow Hides All Return (Rowan and Adrienne) novel Chapter 7

When he came to again, he was in the VIP Ward.

Every inch of him screamed with pain. His face and body were wrapped in gauze bandages.

The room was quiet. Just the steady beeping of the monitors.

He tried moving his fingers and managed to press the call button on the nightstand.

He waited. Waited so long he almost drifted back into unconsciousness. Finally, a nurse pushed the door open, clearly annoyed. "What now?"

"Water..." Rowan's throat was bone dry.

The nurse rolled her eyes, poured a glass of cold water, and slammed it down on the nightstand hard enough that some of it sloshed out.

"Drink it quick and stop ringing. We're busy!" She turned and walked out.

Rowan looked at the glass, then looked at the door swinging shut. He understood perfectly.

This was the Merritt Hospital.

With the way Adrienne treated him—fiancé in name only, VIP Ward or not—why the hell would the staff go out of their way to be nice to him?

He lay there in silence, riding out the pain and the thirst.

The next few days went the same way.

Food came cold. Bandage changes were rough. He'd hit the call button ten times and maybe get an answer twice.

When the nurses did wander in, they'd cluster together and chat in voices just loud enough for him to hear.

"Did you hear? The patient in Room 302 next door is the impostor heir from the Ashford Family? He's so gorgeous. And sweet too."

"Right? Ms. Merritt's been there every day. She really cares about him."

"We better take good care of him. If we keep Ms. Merritt happy, maybe we'll get promoted."

"Unlike this one... Ugh. Brought it all on himself. Ms. Merritt obviously can't stand him anymore, and he's still acting like he owns the place."

Rowan listened. His face didn't move.

That day, a nurse came in to change his bandages, rushed through it, and started pushing the care cart out in a hurry. The wheel caught on his IV drip tube where it hung off the bed and yanked hard.

"Ah—!"

Adrienne froze. She looked down at him.

No self-pity in his face. No tattling. Just a flat statement of the facts.

That thorn in her chest dug in harder.

She snapped at the nurses. "You two. Go to the Finance Department and collect your checks. Get out of this hospital. And tell the Head Nurse—I want the VIP Ward reviewed top to bottom. One more incident like this, and every single one of you is gone!"

The nurses ran out crying.

The doctor got there fast, cleaned the wound on his hand, and checked his ribs. Thankfully, there was no new fracture.

Once the doctor left, it was just the two of them.

Adrienne sat by the bed, looking at his pale, hollowed-out face with a complex look in her eyes.

She reached out like she wanted to touch his cheek, stopped halfway, and ended up just tucking the blanket around him.

"These past few days... they've been pushing you around like this the whole time?" Her voice came out hoarse. "Why didn't you tell me? I was right next door... with Desmond. I dropped the ball on you, I know. But you could've come to me..."

Rowan closed his eyes. "No need."