The Tyrant's Trophy

(Another crossover guys:D Tell me what you think of Phil Sweetheart and please, enjoy this chapter. God bless.)

Phil

My dog went missing the day after that reporter came by. That pompous pest must have said something to her - encouraged her in some way. I knew I should have stayed beside the two.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

I’m not used to not holding the strings and now my mutt is on the loose and living with that nosy journalist. Logan had found her and attempted to bring her home but some freakish man got in the way. There’s no way to touch her without leading links back to me.

The best I can do for now is keep up appearances as the crew keeps an eye on her. With that, I kept talking to the receptionist: Molly or Kathy, I think is her name? Whatever: the point is she’s new and she’ll make a nice stress reliever for me.

“Excuse me.” A voice said behind me. I wanted to roll my eyes but I smiled instead as I turned to the newcomer. The man didn’t even seem to get that I’m Dr. Sweetheart as he said, “I have an appointment with Dr. Sweetheart.”

“That would be me.” I sized the man up as we shook hands. Adam Carter or should I say, ‘Devil’s dog.’ He made an old acquaintance of mine wealthy but now, he’s the top dog of the underworld.

“Adam Carter.” He introduced himself, squeezing my hands firmly. When I mentioned that, he simply replied, “My apologies; I was in the military, so that’s a habit I’m trying to break.” Despite his poker face, I could tell that he didn’t like sharing that information.

“Your appointment isn’t until 10:20,” Becky or whatever cut in.

That didn’t faze Mr. Carter and he even offered to wait until his scheduled appointment. Though he wore a pleasant smile, I know fake when I see it. Marines are great fighters but ironically terrible actors.

I’m not, though.

Acting has become natural to me.

So I decided to mess with this man. He obviously wanted something from me - something more than a checkup. “You must have been in the Marines.” I probed, returning that fake smile to him. “You know, you look familiar. Your name sounds familiar as well.” I feigned ignorance.

The man chuckled. “Should I confess why I’m here?”

“So we do know each other!” I would have to be Maybell; dumb to not know who Adam Carter was. I met the guy even before he became anyone special. Before the man could answer, I waved him off. “Don’t tell me. I’m going to figure it out.”

I led him to the examination room near my office. As he texted a friend, I took a seat near the wall in front of my computer. “Alright,” I leaned back in my seat. “So I’m trying to figure out how we know each other.” Carter’s bloodlust look made me want to wipe it away. I’ve been in this game longer than he has. The thing about working in the black market, is it’s best not to make a spectacle of yourself. I’ve seen Adam around for years and not once did he notice me - that gives me the edge.

Keeping up appearances, I asked him to tell me why he was here.

He brought up his leg: the very leg I had prevented from being amputated. “I knew that name sounded familiar!” I slapped my leg, proudly. “You were my biggest case while I was a resident!” He was the case that made my bosses see my brilliance and thrust me into the black market. After him, lots of people flocked to me to cure them.

That gave me the sponsors I needed to invest in my research. The man didn’t praise me or even say a simple ‘thanks.’ What audacity. If it weren’t for me, Adam Carter would be half a man: limping and weak. How ungrateful.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but you’re a businessman, correct?” I pointed out, wanting this man to hurry up and leave. I was waiting for a call from Logan.

“Yes. A very successful one, to be precise.” He rubbed it in.

Giving a hearty chuckle, I asked for the point of this meeting. At this point, all Adam seems to want to do is waste my time. The time I could be using to get my mutt back. “In that case, what brings you to my humble clinic? You clearly can go to larger hospitals.”

“Well, your clinic seems large.” I couldn’t help but tense up at that comment.

“Yes,” I admitted, not wanting the man to dig any deeper than necessary. “The reason the facility is so big is because of the advanced equipment we have; things like x-ray machines, MRI machines, and I even have an O.R.”

“Impressive… I didn’t know you could perform surgery in a clinic.”

My fists balled up even more. It was obvious Adam Carter was hiding something. He was pressing for too much information. If I looked closer, too, I would say Adam Carter enjoyed the fact that I felt some discomfort.

Calming myself, I made the most logical explanation. “Well, my O.R. is quite advanced. I will only accept the best. I’m sure you could tell based upon all the awards I have displayed in the waiting room.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed. Well done. I can proudly say that one of the residents who worked on me is a successful surgeon.”

I chuckled, “thank you. So what brings you here?” Besides wasting every second of my time, you brat?

“Well, unfortunately, my time in the military led to me developing PTSD.” Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I heard this one. Does he realize how many patients I receive that have PTSD?

Feigning sympathy, I replied, “I’m so sorry to hear that. Are you on any medication for that or have you sought counseling?”

“I went eleven years without addressing it. I just recently started going to counseling.”

“Eleven years? That’s a long time. What made you finally go?” Still, not as unusual but that is longer than most cases.

“Well, I had everything under control until my wife suffered a miscarriage at fifteen weeks.” There was a split second of grief that flashed across his face he covered it up quickly.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you. It was very difficult for us. My wife was absolutely in love with our baby, and I can’t imagine the pain my wife was going through. She blamed herself. All she wanted was to be able to hold our baby in her arms, but she was robbed of that chance.”

I couldn’t help but read between the line. “What do you mean?”

“Some low-life gave my wife drugs that killed the baby and forced a miscarriage.” I felt my nerves rising again. This sounded too familiar - too close to home for me to take this meeting as just a ‘visit.’

“That’s unfortunate.” I sat up, eager to know what became of the man in his story. “What happened to the guy who did it?”

“Nothing, but he deserves hell for what he did to my wife.” The blood lust came back to Carter’s eyes. “How could someone kill a baby? I’m just waiting for Karma to come back around and give him what he deserves,” He said coldly while staring me down; It made me more uncomfortable and agitated. “Anywho, that caused me to regress. I started becoming violent whenever I was having an episode. Unfortunately, my wife took a few blows; she actually ended up in the hospital.

“Wow.” I breathed.

“Yup. There are men out there who purposefully beat their wives nearly to death either for no reason, they’re angry, they’re bored, or for their own sick twisted fun.” I looked away from him with a blank face. “I promised to protect my wife and never hurt her. I realized that if I didn’t get help and let her keep getting injured from my episodes, I was no better than those low lives.”

This is a threat.

Not a visit.

I’m not used to this - feeling trapped in some way. Agitated, I tapped my fingers on my leg.

“Back to your original question,” he said as if that threat was never made.“My counselor said that I should address major parts of my past. You were the one who saved my leg, so I would say you’re a major part of my past.”

“Well,” I casually said while scratching my chin. I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. “I suppose the surgery could have had an impact, psychologically. What is it exactly that you needed to address about the surgery to help you move forward?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. My counselor didn’t exactly say, and he just said that I had to face my past.” And to threaten me, hmm?

“Well, maybe we could go over how you felt about all the surgeries.” I wanted to finish this up. I wanted the man to finish and leave my clinic.

“I had anxiety. I wondered if the doctors cared about the long-term effects of amputating my leg. I was stuck in a wheelchair for so long, I had such a strong desire to walk again.”

“That’s understandable. Many of my patients have said the same thing.” And many had walked again - the ones that pay the most that is.

“Really?”

“Yes. Some of my patients have spinal cord injuries.”

“And you manage to help them walk again successfully?”

“I do. That’s something I take pride in.”

“You should. That’s rather impressive.”

“Thank you.” My beeper went off, disrupting this conversation.“It looks like the hospital needs me, and must be an urgent case. I’m so sorry, but I have to go.” I said, reaching into my pocket for my pager. It wasn’t a hospital emergency: it was Logan beeping me because something urgent came up with my foolish lab rat.

“I understand. Thank you for your time.”Carter stood up and we shook hands again. I got his message loud and clear but the thing that bothers me is - how did he get involved in this? All he cared about was that piece of meat he called his wife. I heard the rumors. I’ve seen them for myself too - so how did my wife rope him into threatening me?

“It was my pleasure. I hope this meeting helps with your recovery.” To test my theory, I decided to leave the man alone. If he’s sticking his nose in my business, then I will know it. My rooms are all rigged: little things are set in place so if Carter does anything, it’ll tell me all I need to know.

“I trust you can see yourself out?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Take care, Adam.” And be careful not to poke a sleeping dragon. I don’t take threats lightly; I get revenge back no matter what.

“You as well.”

With that, I left the building. Taking my phone out, I dialed Logan’s number. “Where is she?”