“What do you want, Mr.Banner?”Nica demanded.“To make Gabe suffer?Congratulations, mission accomplished.To destroy his life?Also accomplished.To make him watch helplessly while the woman he loves is terrorized?I’m a teacher, I’ll make sure you get a gold star.”
“I wanted him to pay—”
“For what?For being the victim of someone else’s jealousy and vindictiveness?”Nica’s voice was getting hoarse, but she pushed on.“Seems like Gabe’s done nothing but pay and pay and pay.Who drugged him, Julian?You must know by now.”
Banner’s silence was answer enough.
“I told you before, but I want to make sure you’re finally getting the picture.It was someone on the hospital staff, Dr.Marcus Richardson.Does the name sound familiar?It should.He was the surgeon who was supposed to perform Melissa’s surgery, but called in sick at the last minute, asking Gabe to cover for him.Dr.Richardson, a doctor on staff, a person who had access to the OR staff break room, someone who knew when Gabe would be arriving, would grab a cup of coffee before scrubbing in for the procedure.”Nica studied his face.“Someone who probably had their own reasons for wanting to hurt him.”
“It doesn’t matter who—”
“Of course it matters!It changes everything!”Nica’s voice cracked with emotion.“Don’t you see?Gabe isn’t the villain in this story, he was another victim.You’ve been punishing the wrong person all this time.”
Banner turned away from her, his shoulders sagging.“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t bring her back.”
“No, it doesn’t.Nothing will.But it could stop you from creating more victims.”Nica leaned forward as much as she dared.Breathing hurt, and moving pulled the stitches in her chest, but she knew she had to make Banner listen, to finally understand.“Let me go, Julian.End this.Let yourself grieve properly instead of hiding behind this crusade for revenge.”
“I can’t.”Banner’s voice was broken.“I’ve gone too far.Done too much.Even if I wanted to stop…”
“You can stop.Right now.Just let me go and disappear.You’ve got enough money to head for a non-extradition country.Start over somewhere else with clean hands.”
“And then what?What happens to me?I kidnapped you, had you shot—”
“If you don’t run, then stay and face the consequences.Take responsibility for your actions.But stop making it worse.”
Banner was quiet for a long time, and Nica allowed herself to hope.Maybe she’d gotten through to him.Maybe this nightmare was finally over.
Then he turned back to her, and the look in his eyes made her heart sink.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and she could hear that he meant it.“But it’s too late for that now.Gabriel took away my future, my happiness, my reason for living.Now I’m going to take away his.”
“You know Gabe didn’t murder Melissa.But if you do this, you will be a murderer.”
The warehouse door opened behind him, and two men walked in.Nica recognized one of them—the man she’d spotted at the gas station, the one who’d brought the roses to the school library.The man who’d read her private journal.
“Take her to the back room,” Banner said without looking at them.“Make sure she’s comfortable.We may be here for a while.”
As they wheeled her toward a door at the back of the warehouse, Nica called out one last time.“You’re wrong about him, Mr.Banner.You’re wrong about everything.And deep down, you know it.”
Banner didn’t respond, but she saw his shoulders tense.Maybe there was still hope.Had she planted enough doubt to make him reconsider?She had to hope so, or she might’ve just signed her own death warrant.
As the door closed behind her, shutting her into a smaller room with no windows and only a single exit, Nica allowed herself to acknowledge what she’d been trying to ignore: she was getting sicker.Her chest hurt worse than it had in the hospital, and she could tell she was running a fever.The surgical site was sore and if she had an infection, without proper medical care, she could be in serious trouble.
She was convinced she’d gotten through to Julian Banner, at least a little.Had seen the doubt in his eyes, the cracks in his resolve.Now she had to hope that would be enough to save not only her life, but Gabe’s sanity.Because if something happened to her, if Banner succeeded in his twisted plan for revenge, it would destroy the man she loved as surely as if he’d put a bullet in his heart.
And that was something she couldn’t allow to happen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Gabe felt theworld tilt on its axis as he stared at Dusty’s pale, blood-streaked face.The deputy sheriff was conscious now, propped against the bathroom wall of Nica’s hospital room, but his eyes finally focused, though he was unstable on his feet.He watched Mike and Rafe help him to the chair beside Nica’s empty bed.
This was all his fault.Dusty hurt, Nica missing with a serious infection that needed immediate treatment.None of this would have happened if he hadn’t been so gung-ho to trap Banner—and it backfired spectacularly.
“Tell us again what happened,” Mike said, his voice tight with controlled fury.Mike and Rafe had been with Gabe when he’d gotten the call that Banner’s hotel room was empty, and his rental car missing from the hotel’s garage.Since Banner hadn’t shown up at any of the places Gabe had been, the deliberate scenes he’d staged to tempt Banner out in the open not working, there was only one other place he could be—he’d gone after Nica.
Dusty winced as he touched the back of his head, his fingers coming away sticky with blood.“Banner showed up about five minutes after Gabe called.Had two men with him—big guys, professional looking.He said he wanted to see Nica, but I refused, telling him she wasn’t allowed to have any visitors that weren’t immediate family.Made a point of telling him I knew every member of her family, and he definitely wasn’t on the approved list.He laughed.Gabe, I’m sorry.I tried to stop them, tried to get between them and Nica, but…” He gestured weakly at his head.“One of them came up behind me while I was focused on Banner.Clobbered me good.”
Gabe’s hands clenched into fists.Every fiber of his being screamed with the need to do something, to tear apart the hospital until he found her, to hunt Banner down like the predator he was.But he forced himself to stay calm, to think logically, like the man Nica needed him to be right now.
