Raine shrugged. “I’m a contradiction. Most brainiacs are gamers on their downtime. They don’t hike and climb. I’m an avid hiker and climber. Most hikers and climbers don’t have the kind of job I do. And they aren’t all girlie.” She looked down at her perfectly manicured fingernails. “They don’t have gorgeous boots in their closets they can’t wait to wear with darling little swing dresses they’re addicted to. They don’t dream about owning a gift shop instead of dealing with classified material.”
“Raine, you’ll find someone.” Vienna’s heart ached for her.
“I want someone who knows all of me. Not just one side of me. And I have such a bad temper. I really try to get that under control, but you know how mean I can get under the right circumstances. That doesn’t help. I try not to be the smartest person in the room, but when men get all superior and start talking down to me, I can’t help putting them in their place, and I’m not subtle about it.”
Vienna knew Raine had had her heart broken once. She’d been shattered, and the effects had been long-lasting. She didn’t trust herself anymore. She didn’t trust the men vying for her attention. She never let them in.
“You’ll find someone,” she reiterated. “When you least expect it. I did. Zale was persistent when I kept shoving him away.” She had the feeling that if a man really wanted Raine, he would have to pursue her and knock her over with a bowling ball.
Raine smiled at her. “I’m glad you all came to see me. What other news do you have for me? I can’t look anything up on my laptop and they’ve disconnected my television set.”
“That’s so mean,” Shabina said. “What is the point of isolating you?”
“They want my brain to rest. And they want me to learn to meditate and slow down.”
There was a small silence. “Does your brain slow down?” Vienna asked carefully.
“No,” Raine answered honestly.
“Did you explain that to them?” Vienna pursued.
Raine shrugged. “What’s the use? I did to Rush when he kept asking me what was wrong. I hated that he knew something was wrong. No one ever knows, but he seems to be able to read me when no one else can. It’s disconcerting.”
“What did Rush say when you told him you can’t turn off your brain?”
Raine rubbed her temple. That small gesture alarmed Vienna. Raine only did that when she had the beginnings of one of her headaches. “He said he understood because he had the same problem. He told me his mother used to say his brain was too big for his head and there was no off switch. He told me his mother would massage his scalp when he would get headaches, although that would make his father angry because men don’t get headaches.”
The women gave a collective gasp of exasperation. “I thought that bull had been put to bed a long time ago,” Harlow said.
Shabina shook her head. “It’s alive and well.”
“It’s awful,” Zahra said. “I know my brother was expected to live up to a very high standard and never complain about anything. I thought I had it bad, but he had it worse in many ways.”
Zahra rarely talked about the family she no longer was allowed to see or interact with. Vienna’s heart ached for her. More than ever, she was grateful she had Mitzi and Ellen back in her life. “I forgot to tell you, Mom and Ellen said to say hello and they hope you get better soon. They would have come to visit you, but they couldn’t get their names put on the visitor list. We were lucky to get ours on there.”
Raine’s golden-red eyebrows nearly met as she frowned. “I have a visitor list? And only a certain number of visitors can be put on there? Are you serious? People like Luciano Vitale are making the cut but your mother and Ellen aren’t?” She sounded outraged. “Who is making the decisions on who can see me and who can’t?”
She threw back the covers and looked as if she might leap from the bed. Vienna caught her hand to stay her actions. “What are you doing?”
“I have to get out of here, Vienna. I’m going crazy. I really am. I can’t stay in this place another minute. Now they’re telling me who I can see?”
Vienna put her arms around Raine and held her. She felt thin. So small. Her body trembled and she was shaking as if she was silently crying. The other women crowded close, murmuring softly to console her, putting their hands on her shoulders. The slight twisting wasn’t good for her leg and had to hurt, but Vienna decided Raine needed comforting more than a lecture on keeping her leg exactly in a certain position.
“I’m all right,” Raine assured after a couple of minutes. She hiccuped and pulled away, looking sheepish. Her face was red and splotchy. Both hands went to her thigh. “I think I did something I shouldn’t have, Vienna.”
“Let me help you. You just sit straight. I take it you can’t get up to go to the bathroom.” Vienna eased her twisted thigh back into a straight position.
Instantly there was relief on Raine’s face. “No, and that’s so embarrassing. I have to let Rush know. I mean, I buzz for the nurse, but he says it’s silly not to just let him help me when he’s a doctor. That’s not happening. I think he regards me as a child.”
Shabina burst out laughing. “That’s exactly how Rainier views me. Like a little kid. He’s the calm one, and I can’t stop having panic attacks around him. I’m sure he causes them.”
Raine joined her, laughing. “It’s the same here. Rush absolutely causes me to have panic attacks. And he’s so superior sometimes, always in control. I’ll bet he’s the one deciding who’s on my visitor list.”
“No way,” Vienna objected. “Dr. Briac would be off that list so fast. I think Luciano would be as well. It isn’t Rush controlling that list.”
“All right, tell me more news.”
“Daniel Wallin committed suicide,” Vienna announced. “He was alone in his office and he hanged himself. He must have been afraid it would come out that he had tried to have Elliot and me killed.”
Raine shook her head slowly. “No way did he kill himself, Vienna. Elliot’s men got to him.”
“He was alone in a locked office,” Vienna reiterated.
“It was Zale and Rainier or some other of Elliot’s men,” Raine said. “If you’re going to spend the rest of your life with Zale, you had better know who he is.”
“You think he really killed Daniel?” Vienna sank into the chair Rush had vacated.
“Yes.” Raine glanced at Shabina. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Rainier was with him. He tried to kill you. He threatened to kill all of you. He would have done it, too. Daniel Wallin believed he could do whatever he wanted. There was no way Zale or Rainier would leave a threat like that hanging over any of your heads.”
In the back of her mind, Vienna had feared there was a possibility that Zale had something to do with Daniel’s death. She hadn’t asked him because she wasn’t certain she wanted to know. She looked at Shabina to see how she was taking the news. Shabina didn’t look surprised, more like resigned.