“Must be why he’s here with her father and brother.”
He could hear voices coming from all around him, the realization sweeping through the coffee shop.Now that people knew he was married to one of their precious Boudreaus, it was on to the next step of their plan.
“Keep your voice down,” Liam hissed, but Gabe shook his head violently.
“No!I’m tired of keeping quiet.Tired of being the nice guy while someone tries to frame me for malpractice.You know what they’re saying about me?That I killed that woman in California.That I was drunk when I operated on her.”
His hands were shaking now—not entirely an act.The stress of the last few weeks, the fear for Nica’s safety, the weight of the lies he spewed for the masses—it was taking its toll.
“I’ve never touched a drop of alcohol before surgery.Never.But try telling that to the medical board when someone’s feeding them altered records, planted evidence.They want me to fail.Want me broken.Wouldn’t be surprised if they want to drive me out of this town.”
Gracie herself appeared at their table, her face creased with worry.“Dr.Summers?Are you alright?You look…”
“Like hell?”Gabe laughed harshly.“Yeah, that’s about right.When someone’s trying to destroy your life, it tends to show.”
The coffee shop had gone quiet, everyone straining to listen to the town doctor’s very public meltdown.This was better than Gabe had hoped.By the time word reached Banner, the story would be even more dramatic than the reality.
“The nightmares won’t stop,” he continued, his voice cracking.“Every patient I’ve lost, every family I’ve had to face and tell them their loved ones couldn’t be saved—they’re all there when I close my eyes.And now Nica…what if she doesn’t make it?What if the last thing she remembers is me being accused of murder?”
That’s when Rafe walked through the door, his expression grim but unsurprised.The timing was perfect—they rehearsed this part carefully.
“Gabe,” Rafe said, approaching the table with the cautious air of someone dealing with an unstable individual.“I need you to come with me.”
“Why?”Gabe demanded, jumping to his feet.“What crime have I committed now?Trying to save lives?Caring too much about my patients?”
“You’re scaring folks, Gabe.Making threats.I need you to calm down and come with me before this gets worse.”
“Worse?”Gabe’s laugh bordered on hysterical.“How could it possibly get worse?Your sister’s been shot, my career’s in ruins, and everyone thinks I’m a killer.What’s next, Sheriff?You going to arrest me?Lock me up for caring too much?”
Time to wrap up his performance.He allowed Rafe to cuff him, allowed himself to be led from the coffee shop under the stares of half the town.Was his performance enough to convince Julian Banner?By lunchtime, the story would be all over Shiloh Springs: Dr.Gabriel Summers had finally cracked under the pressure.
As Rafe walked him across the street to the sheriff’s station, Gabe caught sight of his reflection in Gracie’s front window.He looked exactly like what he was pretending to be—a broken man who’d lost everything.The irony wasn’t lost on him that the best performance of his life might also be his most honest.
Now all they could do was wait for Banner to take the bait.
But as they walked across the street, Gabe in handcuffs, neither Gabe nor Rafe noticed the black sedan parked across the street, or the fact that it was now turning toward the hospital.
Julian Banner had indeed taken the bait.But not the way any of them had expected.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The antiseptic smellof the hospital had become as familiar to Nica as her own perfume over the past two days.She shifted carefully in the narrow bed, wincing as the movement pulled at the surgical incision across her chest.The bullet had done its damage—punctured lung, nicked artery—but the surgeons had worked their magic.She was alive, breathing on her own, and according to her primary surgeon, well on her way to a full recovery.But she’d been warned, absolutely no getting upset, to stay in bed and take it easy, which for Nica was nearly impossible.She wasn’t the type of person who could simply sit still and do nothing.
Of course, things might be a little easier if her husband had bothered to show up.Nope, she’d gotten a visit from her brothers, along with a lecture that still stung.Good thing she knew they loved her, otherwise she might be plotting the kind of revenge they could only dream about.
Nica stared at the ceiling tiles, counting the tiny perforations for the hundredth time.Forty-seven holes in the tile directly above her bed.She’d memorized every scuff mark on the walls, every sound the ancient air conditioner made when it kicked on.Anything to keep from dwelling on the fury that had been building in her chest like an infection.
Gabe knew who had tried to kill her.Her own husband had figured out the identity of the man who’d been terrorizing them for months, and he hadn’t told her.Turned out he told just about everybody else.He’d told her brothers, he’d told his FBI friend Mike.According to Shiloh, the Austin FBI office was coordinating with the Shiloh Springs Sheriff’s Department, AKA her big brother Rafe.For all she knew, even her parents had been told who’d hired the man who’d attempted to kill her.Her brothers had shown up earlier, read her the riot act for eloping with Gabe, rubbed salt in the wound of how much it had hurt her parents, and made her feel about two inches tall.They’d even mentioned the fact that Gabe and his cohorts were setting up a plan to use Gabe as bait, to bring out the man who had been making their lives a living nightmare.
She was the one who’d been shot, the one lying in this sterile room with tubes and wires monitoring her every breath.And yet somehow, she was the last to know anything about her own would-be killer.
The irony wasn’t lost on her that the man who’d promised to love, honor, and protect her was now protecting her right out of the loop.
“Dusty,” she called out, her voice carrying more edge than she’d intended.The chair outside her door creaked, followed by the sound of boots on linoleum.Dusty appeared in her doorway, his lanky frame filling the space as he leaned against the frame.His uniform was crisp despite the long hours he’d been pulling guard duty, but she could see the fatigue around his eyes.
“You bellowed, Nic?”His easy grin was the same one she’d known since she’d been in high school, when he’d moved to Shiloh Springs, and joined the sheriff’s department.Before life had gotten complicated.Before bullets and hospital rooms and a husband who thought he knew what was best for her.
“Get in here and sit down.I’m going stir-crazy.”
