“You’ve been working too much,” Dad said. “Gotta take time off now and again to spend with your old man.”

His words almost knocked my tears loose, but I held them in and cleared my throat. “I was just thinking the same thing. I think I’m going to be spending a lot more time in New Orleans from here on out.”

My dad gave me a half smile, probably the biggest one he could without pain. “I like the sound of that.”

To see that joy on my father’s face, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do. “You got it, Daddy.” I looked to the doctor standing near the wall. “Sorry to interrupt. I just—”

He waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. As I was telling your brother and father, they’ll be here shortly to get him down for a CT scan, and we’ll go from there.”

The panic that was just starting to fade kicked up again. “CT scan?” I jerked to look at Heath and my dad.

Dad answered. “They’re worried about me knocking my head and jacking my hip up.”

“What?”

When no one elaborated further, a tense silence hung in the room. The doctor excused himself, and I drilled Heath with a stare. His look again carried enough warning that I couldn’t miss it. Now wasn’t the time to ask questions. We made small talk with Dad until someone knocked on the door and it opened to reveal a woman dressed in scrubs.

“Mr. Sampson, we’re ready for you.”

I backed away, hating that they were wheeling him out of sight. The door shut, leaving Heath and me alone in the room.

“What the hell happened?” I asked as soon as the door shut.

“He wandered down into a bad neighborhood and got jumped.”

“He got jumped? They could’ve killed him!” I hadn’t been a New Orleans resident in a long time, but even I knew the city had a dark side that couldn’t be hidden.

Heath crossed the room and dragged me into a hug. “But they didn’t. He’s okay. We’ll make sure this never happens again.”

My mind raced through the possibilities. “We can get him twenty-four-hour care if he doesn’t want to leave his house. I can afford the best, and you know damn well I’ll make sure he gets it.”

My brother kissed the top of my head. “I know. We’ll figure it out. You know he’s stubborn as hell, and he’s still a little out of it. This isn’t going to be easy for any of us.”

I squeezed him harder. “I meant what I said. I’ll stay as long as I need to. He needs both of us.”

“Yeah, he does.” Heath loosened his grip and I looked up. “I’m glad you’re staying.”

“Do you want to try to move him into the place I’m renting? Maybe it would be easier?”

“I don’t think a lot of change is a good idea right now. Let’s see what they say about his hip first. Then we’ll decide.”

“Okay. We’ll do whatever we have to.”

The door opened and Rhett stepped inside.

Heath released me. “There’s our hero. He found him. Who knows how long we would’ve been out there without his help.”

I didn’t care that my brother was watching. I crossed the room and threw my arms around Rhett.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him again.

“I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done for me,” he said as he gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pressed my face into his chest.

“Whatever you say,” Heath said, “but I’m damn glad you were here. We owe you.”

“He’s right. We do.”

Rhett held me tighter. “None of that owing shit. This is what we do.”

Fifteen minutes later, Dad and his hospital bed were returned to their previous position. Conscious of all the eyes on us, I stepped out of Rhett’s arms.

“I wondered how long it would take him to make a move on my girl. Took him long enough, but I’m glad to see he finally figured it out.”

My face heated, and I was sure it had turned red at my dad’s words.

My instinct was to inch away from Rhett, but he looped an arm around my waist and pulled me in front of him.

“Glad we’ve got your blessing, sir.”

“Take good care of my girl.”

“Of course, sir. Understood.”

“Good.”

I took the clarity in my father’s words as a good sign, even though a few moments of awkward silence followed. We waited another hour before the results of the CT scan were delivered. Dad had a hip fracture, but nothing that would require surgery. They weren’t able to determine the cause of his altered mental state.

“He’s lucky it’s not worse,” the doctor explained. “We’ll keep him overnight to run a series of tests, make sure he’s stable, and get a neuro consult. Depending on what we find, it might be a good idea to look into rehab facilities for the hip fracture.”

Dad protested, but Heath and I overruled him. When I volunteered to stay with Dad and sleep on the pull-out chair, Heath overruled me.

“I’m pulling rank on this one. Go home. I need to stay with him to make myself feel better about letting him wander off. This was on me.”

I argued and told him it wasn’t his fault, but he wouldn’t listen. As we left the room, two uniformed officers waited outside, ready to take Dad’s statement despite the late hour.

I paused in the hallway. “I don’t know how much he’ll be able to tell you.”

The young officer shrugged. “Any little bit helps. We want to get out there and find whoever did this. Do you want us to wait?”

“No, now’s fine. It’ll be a while before they move him to a room,” Heath said to the officer. When I opened my mouth to volunteer to stay again, he shot a pointed look at me. “Go get some sleep, Ari. I got this.”

That was how I found myself back in Hennessy’s Jeep at four o’clock in the morning, heading back to my place. I’d sent Carver home earlier, knowing it would be a long wait and there was no reason to keep him.

When we pulled up to the gate, Rhett punched in the code that he clearly remembered. After he parked the Jeep in the driveway, I shared my decision.

“I told my dad I would stay as long as he wanted, and I meant it.”

Rhett turned slowly to look at me. “You can run your business from here?”