“She’s definitely got heavy metal poisoning, but run a full tox screen. Look for anything, everything, and run an EKG on her heart.”

The doctor’s face remains impassive, but his question shows his true heart, “Anything else, Doctor Walker?”

Jeff answers for me, his voice about as kind as a crocodile with a toothache. “Do it. I want Zoey to get copies. Run all of Yvette’s treatment by her too.”

Dr. Pruitt loses all professionalism. “Are you trying to kill her by getting DDG involved, Jeff?”

“What did you say?” Blake snaps, leaning over me.

But I’m finding my own backbone after all these years. It might be ridiculous to say this, but being kidnapped has finally brought into sharp focus what’s most important. And it’s not tippy-toeing around assholes who bully me by reminding me of my past with hurtful names. I reach out and touch Blake’s arm and immediately, his gaze jerks to me.

He must see the fire rising in my eyes because I can feel his pride as he stands straight, giving me the floor with an evil smile that says ‘you’re gonna get it and I can’t wait to watch!’

“What did you call me?” I demand from Dr. Pruitt.

He has the good graces to look embarrassed, but he still repeats himself, only slightly quieter and less sure, “You know . . . DDG?”

“If you don’t know my name, I’m sure you can look at my chart and find it right there in front of your face. If not, as a professional, you could ask. And a little hint, it’s embossed in brass on the plate outside my morgue. It’s Zoey Walker. Need me to spell it for you? Z-O-E-Y-W-A-L-K-E-R. Learn it, use it. Because never again will I allow someone to reduce me to a name meant to hurt me by keeping me in the past.”

Oh, my God, that felt so good to say!

I think that has been twisting and turning in my gut for a long time, gathering steam, finding strength, and through yet another horrible thing that’s happened to me, I finally found the power to set it free.

The room has gone silent, all eyes on me, and quite a few dropped jaws. Jeff breaks first. “’Bout damn time, Zoey.”

“Right then,” Dr. Pruitt says, “full tox and EKG on Mrs. Horne, and let’s get an X-ray of that cheek, Miss Walker.”

* * *

Jacob comes into the hospital like the whirlwind he is. I can hear him from the front door all the way to the exam room. “Zoey! Zoey! Where are you?”

“In here,” I yell, not worried about bothering anyone with the noise because the whole department, staff and patients, are gossiping about Yvette and me.