Ethan smiled again, but his jaw tightened.
“I just want her to know I’m here. That I’m not abandoning her.”
“Put. It. Down.”
The nurse by the door, frozen until now, finally stepped in.
“Sir, the patient needs rest. You’ll have to leave.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows, playing offended.
“I’m her husband.”
“And I’m her mother,” Carol said evenly. “Take one more step, and I’ll put your face on the floor myself.”
Something shifted in his eyes.
The smile disappeared. The real man showed—small, cowardly, used to being obeyed.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
Carol stepped closer, within reach.
“You still don’t know who you picked a fight with.”
The nurse called security. Ethan stepped back slightly, but before leaving, he set the bouquet on a chair.
“This isn’t over,” he muttered.
“No,” Carol replied. “It’s not.”
The moment he walked out, Carol grabbed the bouquet and slammed it against the metal table. The flowers scattered. From the center, a cheap phone wrapped in tape dropped out.
The nurse gasped.
“Oh my God…”
Carol already knew.
Not flowers.
Surveillance.
He had tried to plant a phone to listen when Lena woke up.