I take my time getting ready for bed. I won’t let Valentine have her own room. She’ll eventually accept her place here, but giving her distance now would do more harm than good.
It’s that same reasoning that makes me step out of my closet in nothing but my boxers. I can’t let her get used to me sleeping in clothes when this is what I like to wear.
By the time I open the bathroom door and reenter the bedroom, Val’s breathing has evened out in sleep.
Good.
Right on time, my phone flashes with a notification, letting me know he’s here.
I grab a handful of cash out of the nightstand nearest me, then make sure to shut the door quietly when I leave the bedroom.
I’m at the top of the stairs when my men let Doc in, but I wait until I’m stopped before him to speak. “Appreciate the quick delivery.”
I called him when Valentine first went up to our room.
The man in his seventies lifts a shoulder. “It’s all stuff I had on hand.”
Having no pockets, still wearing only my boxers, I hand him over the stack of hundreds so I can take the items he has for me.
“These should look exactly like the ones she has.” Doc places a stack of foil rectangles, each containing twenty-eight little pills in neat rows, in my hand. “Just make sure you pop out the right amount before you swap them for the current one.”
I nod.
Doc digs into his satchel for the second item, withdrawing a capped syringe. “This is the other thing.”
I take it from him, then turn and head back upstairs to my wife.
