Informed Consent (19 page)

S
asha smiled down at Connelly
, who was propped up in his hospital bed, cradling a baby in the crook of each arm.

“I miss you guys,” he crooned to the twins.

“Good news. You’re apparently in such good shape that Dr. Bryant says you can leave tomorrow.”

She found it hard to believe that a person could have seventy-five percent of his liver removed and walk out of the hospital two days later. But if anyone could do it, it was Connelly.

He grinned. “I can’t wait.” Then the smile faded. “How’s
he
?”

“They’re moving him from the transplant intensive care unit to a bed on the other transplant floor. Usually they try to put related donors close together, but I explained that in this case, the furthest possible room would be preferred.” She studied his face. “Unless you want to see him?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s over. Speaking of things that are over, how’d Naya’s hearing go?”

She cleared her throat. “In light of the, um, circumstances, the judge issued a permanent order shutting down the research study until the university can clear up the whole mess.”

‘Mess’ was perhaps a bit of an understatement. Dr. Kayser had been admitted for observation over his loud protests. Golden Village was being investigated by the commonwealth; Greta Allstrom and her goon, Derrick Harver, were in police custody. The mysterious Alpha Fund had apparently disbanded in the middle of the night—no doubt en route to far-flung destinations that lacked extradition treaties with the United States.

Connelly was staring hard at her. “At some point, you know, we will need to talk about these so-called circumstances.”

“Is this going to be some sort of don’t forget to take your cell phone when you’re breaking into an assisted living facility lecture?”

He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head from side to side. “What am I going to do with you?”

She leaned over the hospital bed. “Tell you what. You just worry about getting out of this joint and we’ll call it even.”

“Even? How do you figure?”

“Seems as if we each endured some measure of risk to save a life. I know
I’m
so proud of
you.
” She blinked innocently at her husband, who had been temporarily rendered speechless.

Check. And mate.

M
elissa F. Miller
is a
USA TODAY
bestselling author and a former commercial litigator. She has practiced in the offices of international law firms in Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, D.C. and in a two-person firm in South Central Pennsylvania. Today she writes full time. When not out on an adventure with her three young children and husband, she’s hard at work on her next book. Like Sasha McCandless, she drinks entirely too much coffee; unlike Sasha, she cannot kill you with her bare hands.

S
asha and Leo
will back in their next adventure in 2016 (working title,
International Incident
)! If you enjoy this series, I’d love it if you would help others enjoy it, too.

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A
s always
, I owe a debt of thanks to both my family and my fantastic editing team.