“Doing this in Shiloh Springs won’t be a problem, with Nica’s brother being the sheriff.I’m thinking Antonio Boudreau can help with the FBI office here in Austin; he’s got connections through Derrick Williamson.Can you arrange for anybody else you think necessary?”
“The Bureau has resources.”Mike closed the case file.“But Gabe, if this goes sideways—if we can’t pull him back from the edge—”
“Then at least Nica will be safe.”Gabe’s voice was steady, but Mike could see the fear he was trying to hide.“I nearly lost her once by keeping secrets from her.I won’t lose her again to some twisted revenge fantasy.”
The two men stood in silence, the weight of the decision settling between them.Outside, Austin traffic hummed with normal life, people going about their daily routines without knowing that somewhere in the shadows, a predator was planning his next move.
“When do we start?”Mike asked finally.
Gabe looked at his watch.It was nearly midnight—he wanted to get back to Shiloh Springs, to the hospital where Nica was recovering under armed guard.“Not tomorrow.I want to make sure we’ve got time to get everything in place.Double check and make sure Nica is protected.Twenty-four-hour guards at her door.Tomorrow, we will talk to the sheriff’s department in Shiloh Springs, get Rafe and the deputies caught up on what we’re planning.Also, we’ll coordinate with the FBI office in Austin.I know people here, ones who’ll step up.People I trust—Antonio, he’s Nica’s brother.Derrick Williamson, he’s in charge.He’s also married to the woman who owns the diner.You can coordinate with them.I will stake my life that they are clean, not on Banner’s payroll.”
“So, we’re talking roughly thirty-six hours to get everything in place, and then we’ll make our move.It’s not a lot of time.”
“I’m not waiting any longer than that, Mike.We don’t know that Banner won’t take another run at Nica.She’s a sitting duck in the hospital, unable to defend herself.I won’t let him destroy the one good thing in my life.No, we draw him out, end this once and for all.I’ll have my public breakdown at the morning staff meeting.By evening, I want Banner to believe he’s won, gotten everything he’s ever wanted.”
“And if you’re wrong about him being behind this?”
Gabe’s smile was sharp as a scalpel.“Then we’ll use my public breakdown to draw out whoever it is, because they won’t be able to hide in the shadows and gloat.They’ll want me to know they’ve won.But Mike—” He met his friend’s eyes straight on.“I’m not wrong.A man doesn’t spend years systematically destroying someone’s life without having a very personal reason.Banner loved Melissa Carpenter, and he’s going to pay for thinking that gives him the right to destroy my life.My happiness.”
Gabe was tired of being the prey in a twisted game of hunter and hunted.Time to turn the tables and go from prey to predator.
Let the hunt begin.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The soft beepof monitors and the antiseptic smell of the hospital room had become Nica’s constant companions over the past two days.She shifted carefully on the narrow bed, wincing as the movement pulled at the surgical site.The surgeon had repaired her lung and the nicked artery, and assured her she would make a full recovery, though it would take time and patience, two things Nica sadly had in short supply.The pain medication made everything fuzzy around the edges, which made her reluctant to take it, and it had been hours since her last dose of morphine, so she was lucid enough to feel restless.
Her momma had called earlier that morning, stating she and her daddy would be by to visit.Nica had expected her parents for the past hour.Instead, three familiar silhouettes filled her doorway—broad shoulders, serious expressions, and the unmistakable Boudreau stance that meant business.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Nica said, attempting to keep her voice light as Ridge, Shiloh, and Dane filed into her room.Ridge closed the door behind them with a soft click that somehow managed to sound ominous.
“Momma and Dad got held up at the ranch,” Ridge said, pulling a chair closer to her bed.His dark eyes held a weight she hadn’t seen since their grandfather’s funeral.“Figured it was time we had a conversation.”
Shiloh leaned against the wall beside the window, arms crossed, while Dane positioned himself near the door like a silent sentry.The formation was subtle but unmistakable—they weren’t planning on letting her escape this conversation, even if she could manage more than a few steps without collapsing.That wasn’t happening, since she could barely manage to sit up, much less try to run away.
“About?”she asked, though the knot forming in her stomach told her she already knew.
“Your secret wedding, for starters.”Ridge’s voice held that particular blend of hurt and frustration that only big brothers could master.“Three months, Nica?You kept it from us for three months?”
She’d rehearsed this conversation in her head dozens of times, but lying in a hospital bed with surgical drain tubes and an IV line wasn’t where she’d planned to talk to her big brothers about everything.But reading the underlying concern about her health made it harder to summon her usual defiance.“It wasn’t supposed to be a secret forever.I worried about what people would think about the age difference between me and Gabe.Knew it would cause gossip and that it might hurt his reputation with some of the folks in town.Then the threats against Gabe started, and it was like everything snowballed like an avalanche rolling downhill.And you better not blame Gabe about any of this, you hear me?From the very beginning he wanted to tell the family everything.It was completely and totally my idea to want to have a little time to ourselves before confessing to the family what we’d done.Was that too much to ask?”
“Baloney.”Shiloh’s voice was quiet, but it cut through the room like a blade.“You eloped because you were scared.What did you think we’d do, hang Gabe up by his thumbs?Torture him into leaving you alone?”
She shook her head vigorously, wincing at the pain it caused.“Shiloh, it wasn’t like that.Gabe and I didn’t plan to fall in love.He came up every couple of weeks to work in College Station, and we ended up spending a little time together.I was a familiar face in a sea of strangers, and Gabe caught me up on everything happening in Shiloh Springs.But the more time we spent together—”
“We’re not complaining about you falling in love, Sis,” Dane said, never leaving his spot by the door, “It’s the fact you felt you had to hide it from us.Have we ever made you feel like you couldn’t tell us anything?”
Toying with the edge of the blanket laying across her chest, she felt about two inches tall.Everything they said was true.Every one of her brothers had always been there for her.Supported her.Held her when she’d scraped her knee or broken her arm.Stood by her side when she graduated from high school, and waved goodbye with tears in their eyes when she’d left for college.They’d kept her secrets when she’d confessed her school crushes and been her rocks when she’d needed their strength.
“I know it doesn’t help for me to say I’m sorry, but I am.I was scared you’d think Gabe was too old for me, you’d say we didn’t know each other enough.But I love him with all my heart.Then all the other stuff started happening, and Gabe started keeping secrets from me, and well, after us spilling everything at Sunday dinner and filling in all the blanks when Mike got here, you pretty much know the rest.”
“Were you hoping it would all just go away?”Dane asked the question quietly, though Nica could hear the underlying hurt in his voice.Her heart rate picked up, and she could hear it reflected in the monitor’s increased beeping.“Gabe told us everything, plus remember we were at the ranch when he got that one call from whoever this stinking jackass is whose been tormenting y’all,” Dane said.His voice carried the same deadly calm he used when dealing with trouble on the ranch—the kind of quiet authority that came from running a business empire and protecting everything under his care.“Filled in all the blanks about your stalker, the flowers, the phone calls.All of it.”
“When?”The word came out sharper than she intended.
“Yesterday, while you were still pretty out of things from the surgery.”Ridge leaned forward, elbows on his knees.“He was torn up, thinking he might lose you.Got real honest real fast about why you both kept us in the dark.His friend, Mike, also filled in a few blanks about what they’ve been able to piece together.”
Everything started clicking together in Nica’s mind, each thing making her pulse race a little faster.A little tingle of anger began to build inside.“What else did he tell you?”
