When Stephen flat lined that last time, my body had become numb. I didn’t want to think or feel. When I went back to Tyler’s place, something felt wrong. I knew a piece of me was missing. When it was time to go to bed and my head hit the pillow, every smell that reminded me of Stephen immediately hit my nose. I remember jumping off the bed and admitting there was no way I could stay there. Tyler didn’t hesitate. He never protested. Instead, he gathered up my animals and insisted I follow him. Five minutes later we were at the gym. That’s when I discovered there was a spare room in the back. Apparently the room was added when the gym was being built. Julian used it the most, but Tyler said he did crash there a time or two. It worked, too. I’d felt calmer and I was finally able to experience a full night’s sleep.

It was a waiting game. Stephen had been put into a coma because of the severe trauma to his head. Plus, the knife wound had hit one of his kidneys, and he needed to have it removed. His doctor felt putting him in a deep sleep would help with the healing process.

With Stephen in the hospital fighting for his life, I didn’t know how I stepped foot into the octagon. It took everything in me to not let my emotions out with every punch, but I made a promise. Chuck probably should’ve pulled me from the fight card. He had to know I lied like a dog when I told him I was ready to fight. I wasn’t ready for anything.

“Zoe,” Tyler said and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“I’m ready.” We were outside Stephen’s door. I could hear that all too familiar beeping sound again. “Let’s go see him.” When Tyler pushed my wheelchair through the doorway, I felt the wind knock out of me. “Where is he?”

Tyler ran over to the bed and turned back toward me. “I don’t fucking know.” I was still learning how to maneuver myself in a wheelchair. As I tried to turn the wheels, my hand became entangled. He ran past me. “I’ll be right back.”

I kicked the foot rests up and stood. Which was probably a bad choice because I lost my balance and fell back into the chair. “Fuck.” Where was Stephen? I wanted to help. I forced my body back up into a standing position and walked over to the window. A part of me was hoping I would see him in the parking lot.

“Zoe, what are you doing?” Tyler ran over.

“Looking for Stephen.” I grabbed his arm for more support.

Just then a nurse ran into the room. “What’s going—” She glanced around and ran over to the small bathroom. “Where?”

“Yeah, good question. We’re wondering that, too.” I grabbed Tyler’s hand and carefully walked back to the wheelchair. “I thought he was supposed to be safe here.”

“What are you talking about?” the woman said and quickly left the room.

I looked up at Tyler. “We need to call Detective Alan.”

“Yeah, okay,” Tyler said and punched a few buttons on his phone. I could tell by his facial expressions he was struggling to keep it together.

“It couldn’t be him, could it?” It was our cryptic way of saying, Did the serial killer do this?

He stopped typing on his phone and looked over at me. “He’s supposed to be in jail.”

I was pacing the length of my hospital room, waiting for answers. My steps were short and my movements wobbly, but I couldn’t wait in a damn bed.

“Zoe.” Alan walked into my room and held out his hand. “I’m sorry to see you under these circumstances again.”

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” I felt bad sounding angry.

“Two prisoners escaped overnight. He was one of them.”

Now I felt completely confused. I needed to sit down. “So let me get this straight. You knew and didn’t tell us.”

“We were taking care of everything. It was better to wait, than make it public while we were gathering all the information still.”

I rubbed my hands over my eyes. “Why would the killer come after Stephen again?”

“He didn’t finish his kill. From what we’ve discovered after going through his house, he would be classified as obsessive compulsive.” Alan leaned against the window sill. “We found his journals. There were maybe twenty in a box stored down in the basement. This case is bigger than we originally thought.”

“Bigger?” Now I felt scared.

“He logs. His kills. There was a space in the journal for Stephen that was still empty.”

My heart sank. I stood up and immediately fell back down. “Damn it.” I forced myself back to a standing position. “The security cameras here at the hospital?”

“Have the suspect’s face but they’re still too grainy. Our technical team is working on the images now.”

I turned to face him. “So you may be able to find him?” Tyler ran back into the room. He looked out of breath. “Where were you?”

Tyler pointed to Alan. “I noticed a man throwing a wheelchair in the back of a black full-size pickup.” He held out his phone. “Here’s an image of the license plate.”

“Jesus, Ty.” I knew what he’d done was dangerous. He had no idea if the guy was armed. What if the asshole grabbed a gun from one of the security guards on the way out of the building?

Alan had Tyler text the image to his phone. “I’ll be in touch.” Then he turned and left.

I didn’t know what that meant. What I did know was we were stuck in the damn hospital until I was given the all clear. I moved my body back onto the bed and rested my head on the pillow. Just as I closed my eyes, I heard, “Zoe.” I turned to find the nurse standing by my bed. “I need to take you for your MRI.”

The fucking MRI. “Yeah, okay.” Anything to distract me at the moment was fine by me.

“Zo.” Tyler stepped up beside my bed. “I’m going to go to the police station and see if I can help.” He bent down. “We need to get you out of here as soon as possible.” Then he kissed me tenderly. “I need you with me.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Do better than your best.”

“Still love to be bossy, I see.” He kissed my nose and left the room.

The nurse helping me into my wheelchair to take me for the MRI actually sighed. “That’s Tyler Moore isn’t it?”

“Wow, you know your fighters.”

“Only the important ones.”

Her comment made me laugh. If felt good to laugh.