I turned back to Emily, taking a thick wool blanket from the foot of the bed and wrapping it carefully around her shivering shoulders. "Can you walk, baby?"
"I think so," Emily whimpered, swinging her pale legs over the edge of the examination table. She winced as her feet touched the ground, her left ankle badly sprained.
I lifted her cleanly into my arms, holding her close against my chest just as I had when she was six years old and terrified of thunder.
As I walked toward the doorway, Brandon didn't move. He stood right in the center of the frame, blocking my exit, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "You aren't taking her anywhere, Colonel. She's Ethan's legal spouse. Until a judge says otherwise, she returns to the Prescott estate."
I didn't argue. I didn't slow down.
I brought my right combat boot up in a swift, precise forward strike, driving the heel directly into Brandon’s sternum.
The air left his lungs in a loud, wet gasp as he flew backward, crashing hard against the corridor wall before sliding down onto the linoleum floor, gasping for air like a landed fish.