He’d also arranged for calls to Nica’s phone from spoofed numbers appearing to be Gabe’s, but when she answered, there would be only silence, or sometimes, the sound of a woman weeping.Let her wonder if Gabe was hiding something, if there was another woman who knew his secrets.
Melissa’s children would grow up without their mother because of Summers.He didn’t believe the lies the hospital and the press spread about Dr.Summers being drugged by another colleague.If there had been drugs involved, which wouldn’t surprise him, the good doctor had taken them himself.Now he could live with the consequences of his actions.The least he could do for Melissa and her children was ensure Gabe never knew peace again.Never felt safe.Never walked into an examination room without second-guessing himself.Never hold his wife without wondering if she would leave him.
He opened Melissa’s autopsy report for the hundredth time, her face in the morgue photos still beautiful despite everything.Her children’s school pictures were lined up beside it on his screen, two faces with her eyes, her smile.
“I promised you,” he whispered to Melissa’s image.“I promised I’d make him pay.”
His fingers moved to a small, framed photo on the desk, the only personal item in the sterile room.Melissa at the lake, laughing at something off-camera, her hand stretched toward the photographer.Toward him.The diamond ring on her finger catching the sunlight.Six years together, planning a future, raising her children as if they were his own.All obliterated by one man with a scalpel who’d cost him everything with one moment of medical negligence.
“He took everything from me,” he said to the empty room.“Everything that mattered.Now it’s time for me to do the same to him.”
He still remembered standing in that antiseptic hospital corridor, the anesthesiologist and the Director of Nurses carefully explaining what happened, that Melissa had suffered a series of unexpected complications, speaking of Melissa’s death as anything but what it truly was—murder by incompetence.And afterward, the hospital’s lawyers circling the wagons, the confidential settlement with its gag order that was supposed to silence him.As if money could replace Melissa.As if legal documents could contain his rage.
Now her children called another man “Dad.”A man who hadn’t been a part of Melissa’s life for years, hadn’t loved her like she was the air he breathed, hadn’t been there holding her, loving her until that final, fatal mistake.The injustice burned in him like acid.
He touched the glass gently.Summers had no idea who was coming for him, who was methodically dismantling his life.But he would.Eventually.When there was nothing left to take.
The GPS tracker showed the red dot stationary now.Home for the night, probably discussing with Nica what to do, how to handle the situation.Let them talk.Let them worry.Tomorrow would bring new torments: The medical board of the clinic would receive their anonymous packet, and his man in Shiloh Springs had instructions for another close encounter.
And after that?He smiled as he shut down his laptop.After that, Dr.Gabriel Summers would learn what it truly meant to lose everything he loved.
CHAPTER TEN
Nica couldn’t shakethe feeling something was wrong.Her shoulders tensed as she scanned the school library for the third time in fifteen minutes.The sensation of being watched had followed her all day, a constant, unwelcome companion.First at Gracie’s Grounds when she’d stopped for coffee.Then again when she’d stopped to get gas and had run into the convenience store to grab a premade sandwich and a bag of chips, since she hadn’t had time to make lunch before rushing out the door that morning.
Get it together, she chided herself.Everything is fine.
But it wasn’t fine.Not really.Not when someone was leaving breadcrumbs of her private life scattered in places only she should see.An antsy feeling, like an itch she couldn’t scratch, was making her irritable and a little bit scared.
When the opportunity presented itself, she’d jumped at the chance to do substitute teaching for a semester.It not only gave her an excuse to put off searching for a permanent job but also would free her up to go with Gabe if he decided to take the offer from the World Health Organization.Living in Geneva might seem like a dream come true, but with everything else going on in her chaotic life, the timing seemed a little skewed.The thought of moving overseas, halfway around the world and away from her family?It had never once crossed her mind the entire time she’d attended A&M.Even when Gabe had talked about the chance it might happen, she’d discounted the possibility, knowing it was a long shot he’d be chosen.
Her third-period students were scattered among the library tables, heads bent over laptops and notebooks as they researched their science projects.The familiar scene of academic focus should have been soothing, but today it only heightened her unease.The normalcy felt like a facade—paper-thin and ready to tear.
“Ms.Boudreau?”The school librarian, Mrs.Henderson, appeared at her elbow.“These just arrived for you.”
In her hands she carried a gorgeous spray of flowers in a clear crystal vase.Nica’s breath caught at the sight of two dozen perfect pink roses, their delicate petals just beginning to unfurl.Their sweet perfume wafted toward her, at odds with the excitement spreading through her.Wow, Gabe was being the perfect husband, sending her flowers at work.Now that the cat was out of the bag with her family, it looked like he was feeling romantic.This was the first time he’d openly sent her a gift at work.
“Thank you,” she managed, accepting the vase with trembling hands.“They’re beautiful.And such a surprise.Did you happen to see who delivered them?”
Mrs.Henderson adjusted her reading glasses.“A tall man wearing dark clothing.Not from our usual florist, I don’t think.Didn’t say much, just that they were for you.”She smiled and gestured toward the flowers.“Lucky you.What’s the special occasion?”
The description matched the figure she’d glimpsed a couple of times already today.The same shadowy presence that had been hovering at the edges of her vision, disappearing whenever she tried to get a proper look.It had happened a couple of times over the past week or so, though she hadn’t paid much attention to that feeling of being watched, not until today when she’d seen him twice already.
“There isn’t one that I can think of.Was there a card?”Nica asked, her voice sounding distant to her own ears.
Mrs.Henderson pointed to a small white envelope nestled among the blooms.“Right there, dear.”
As the librarian walked away, Nica set the vase down on a nearby desk and plucked the card from the flowers.Her fingers felt stiff as she opened the envelope and withdrew the small card inside.
There, in unfamiliar handwriting, was a single line: “Sometimes I wonder if Gabriel really sees me, or just the version of me he wants to see.”
The room tilted beneath her feet.The words—her words—had been written in her journal just three nights ago, in the privacy of Gabe’s apartment.In the journal she kept locked in her bedside drawer.
“Ms.Boudreau?Are you okay?You look really pale.”
Nica snapped her attention to Leila, one of her brightest students, who was eyeing her with concern.
“I’m fine,” Nica lied, quickly tucking the card into her pocket.“Just surprised by the delivery.”
