The phone rang again, cutting off Mike’s words.This time the screen showed a number Gabe recognized.
“Rafe?”Gabe answered, his heart already starting to race.
“Gabe, you need to get to the hospital,” Rafe’s words hit him like a physical blow.“There’s been a shooting at Daisy’s Diner.Nica’s been hit.”
The phone slipped from his suddenly nerveless fingers, clattering to the floor as the world tilted around him.He heard Mike calling his name, felt strong hands gripping his shoulders, but all he could think about was Nica—his beautiful, fierce wife who was supposed to be safe, who was supposed to be protected while he played mind games with a madman.
“How bad?”He heard Mike ask the question, realized he’d picked up the fallen cell phone and was talking to Rafe.With a quick glance at Gabe, Mike hit the speaker button, and he heard Rafe’s response.
“She’s alive,” Rafe said, and Gabe sagged with relief so intense it nearly brought him to his knees.“But it’s bad.Gabe needs to get here now.”
He was already moving, Mike beside him, but as they rushed toward the door, one thought echoing through his mind with crystalline clarity: The trap had been sprung, all right.But he’d been wrong about who the prey was supposed to be.
The fluorescent lightsin the hospital corridor buzzed overhead as Gabe’s boots echoed against the polished linoleum, each step feeling like it took an eternity.Mike kept pace beside him, both men moving with the kind of urgency that came from knowing someone you loved was fighting for their life behind closed doors.
When they rounded the corner to the surgical waiting area, Gabe’s heart clenched at the sight before him.Douglas sat hunched forward in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, his weathered hands clasped so tightly his knuckles had gone white.Ms.Patti paced near the window, her usually perfect blonde hair disheveled, mascara streaked down her cheeks.Two of Nica’s brothers—Dane and Chance—stood near the coffee machine, their faces grim.
But it was the blood on Dane’s shirt that nearly brought Gabe to his knees.
Dark crimson stains covered the front of his brother-in-law’s light blue button-down, and Gabe knew with sick certainty that it was Nica’s blood.His wife’s precious life’s blood.The woman who had teased him that morning about burning the toast, who had promised she’d stay put at the ranch and take care of Destiny, who’d promised she’d meet him for dinner at Daisy’s with her family.
Mike muttered a curse under his breath, and Gabe realized he’d stopped walking entirely.
A movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention.A man in a dark gray shirt and worn jeans stood just outside the waiting area, his posture rigid with what looked like shame and frustration.When the stranger’s eyes met Mike’s, there was a brief nod of recognition.Gabe realized who he was, who he had to be.
The bodyguard.The man supposed to keep Nica safe.
Rage, white-hot and consuming, surged through Gabe’s chest.His hands clenched into fists at his sides, and he took a step toward the man before Mike’s firm grip on his arm stopped him.
“Not now,” Mike said quietly.“Your wife’s family needs you.”
The words hit him like a physical blow.Your wife.Nica was in surgery fighting for her life because someone had tried to kill her.Because of him.Because of the nightmare from his past that refused to stay buried.
“Gabe!”Ms.Patti’s voice cracked as she spotted him, and she rushed over, her small frame colliding with his chest as she threw her arms around him.“Thank God you’re here.”
He held her carefully, this woman who had welcomed him into her family with open arms despite his complicated past.“How is she?Have the doctors said anything?”
“She’s still in surgery,” Douglas said, rising from his chair.The older man’s face was ashen, aged by worry.Gabe’s next thought was about Douglas’ heart.It had been less than a year since Douglas had been in this very hospital, with Gabe taking care of him.“They said…” His voice broke slightly.“They said the bullet nicked her lung and they’re working to repair the damage.”
Gabe glanced at the clock on the wall, trying to calculate how long it had been since he and Mike had gotten the news, had driven like maniacs to get there from his apartment.Time felt elastic, stretching and compressing in ways that defied logic.
Rafe appeared from around the corner, still in his sheriff’s uniform, his badge catching the harsh overhead light.His brother-in-law’s face was a mask of professional composure, but Gabe could see the worry in his eyes.
“What happened?”Gabe asked, though part of him dreaded the answer.
“Someone took a shot through the big window at Daisy’s,” Rafe said, his voice carefully controlled.“Single shot, high-powered rifle from what we can tell.The angle suggests they were positioned on the roof of the old Miller building across the street.I went up there, looked around.No shell casings or anything else that would show somebody had been up there—except for several cigarette butts.I collected them and I’ve given them to Antonio to see if we can get DNA from them, but honestly, I doubt we’ll get anything useful.”
“You think it was deliberate?”Mike asked, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer.
Rafe’s jaw tightened.“Window’s completely shattered, but if the shot was taken from across the street, based on that trajectory and the fact it was a single, well-placed shot?Yeah, I’d say someone was specifically targeting Nica.”
The words hit Gabe like physical blows.Proof it wasn’t random.Proof it wasn’t some robbery gone wrong or a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.Someone had deliberately tried to kill his wife.
And he knew exactly who was behind it.
“I need to talk to the bodyguard,” he said, his voice rough.
Mike nodded.“Let’s step outside.”
