Chapter 715
Maloney was backed into the farthest corner of the examination room, pressed flush against the cold tile.
He had shredded his own hospital gown, leaving a tattered sleeve dangling uselessly from his arm.
Blood smeared his mouth and stained his cheekbones.
It was impossible to tell if it was from biting the staff or an injury of his own.
The dark red ring around his pupils was far more prominent than before, settling deep into his eyes like permanent ink.
A handful of medical staff clutching sedatives were pinned against the opposite wall, unable to find an opening to restrain him.
The sound of the door opening snapped his attention toward them.
His head whipped up, his hollow gaze sweeping past the faces at the entrance.
It finally locked onto Sienna.
For a fraction of a second, his stare faltered.
In that fleeting moment, Sienna saw a glimmer of desperation surface in his eyes—a drowning man reaching frantically for a lifeline.
Everyone in the room noticed his momentary hesitation.
Sienna caught the subtle nod from the trapped doctor in the corner.
She took a slow step forward.
“Careful,” Thea warned in a hushed whisper from behind.
But Sienna didn’t stop.
A guttural, agonizing sound tore from Maloney’s throat.
Like a malfunctioning machine, he violently lunged at her.
As the entire room held its collective breath.
The doctor seized the opening, driving the needle deep into Maloney’s arm and slamming the plunger down.
A second later, the thrashing man collapsed into a lifeless heap on the floor.
It took the combined effort of the medical team to hoist him back onto the hospital bed.
He was finally still.
Yet it wasn’t the stillness of peaceful sleep.
His eyelids were partially cracked, his pupils twitching erratically beneath them.
Even with a massive dose of sedatives coursing through his veins, the suppression effect was wearing dangerously thin.
Over a mere three days, he had withered away to skin and bones. His complexion was ghastly pale, framed by heavy, bruised bags beneath his eyes.
His vitality had been entirely consumed, his bodily functions deteriorating at a terrifying, visible rate.
It was an unnatural, horrifying decline.
Standing beside the bed, Sienna handed the fresh lab reports back to the attending physician.
She peeled back Maloney’s eyelid and flashed her penlight.
His pupillary reflex was disastrously sluggish, the left eye trailing a fraction of a second behind the right.
Slipping the light into her pocket, she inspected his wrist.
The two acupuncture needles she had placed before leaving were still there, but one had shifted a fraction of an Inch off its axis.
Her finger lingered over the needle for a second.
“Has his IV fluid been swapped over the last forty-eight hours?” she asked, turning to the duty nurse.
The young woman was startled by the abrupt question.
“No, Dr. Sloan. Every procedure has strictly followed the medical directives.
Every IV bag and line change has been logged, requiring a two-person verification signature p>
“How many times was the bag replaced p>
“Three times between yesterday and today. Morning, noon, and night. The stubs are filed at the nursing station p>
Sienna didn’t press further.
Stepping closer, she unscrewed the port on his left arm’s IV line.
With a fresh syringe, she extracted a vial of the residual fluid from the tubing.
The instant the liquid passed beneath her nose, the color dropped from her face.
The scent was completely wrong!
“I need a lab,” she demanded.
Her words sent a shockwave through the medical team.
It instantly clicked for everyone in the room Maloney’s psychotic break had been triggered by sabotage in the medication cycle,
Refusing to waste a second, the medical center director rushed to clear out a compact testing facility.
Sienna strode inside with the sample, the heavy reinforced door clicking shut behind her.
The harsh fluorescent lights flickered on, sealing her off from the growing chaos outside.
In the hallway, Jarred had already arrived.
The dark hostility simmering in his chest hadn’t vanished; it was merely buried beneath a cold exterior.