Chapter 3
“I can’t keep humoring you without limits. If I hadn’t been there last night, Lena might be dead. The facts are right in front of you. Are you still going to make a scene?”
For a heartbeat, I felt unmoored, like I’d turned into some unreasonable shrew. I still stepped through the doorway and left.
I signed a lease and, stepping back outside, spotted several plainclothes posted near the building. Reid’s work was dangerous; blowback on family wasn’t rare.
Living with him was safer. Moving out alone doubled the risk.
He’d just said he wouldn’t indulge me anymore—then filed a request with the department to assign people
to watch my back.
He’d told me once, if I got hurt because of him again, he’d lose his mind.
I looked away and took the divorce packet from the attorney waiting downstairs.
I’d been texting Reid since morning, trying to lock a time and place to sign. No reply. Finally I called.
He hung up on me immediately. I stood there for a moment, frowning, when the plainclothes detail stirred. One of them approached, face tight.
“Ms. Lane, Captain Foster’s in the ICU. We need a family signature.”
His tone had bite. “The Captain was in the middle of an urgent op. Your call gave away his position. He was shot. He may lose a limb.”
The hospital hallway was packed with Reid’s squad. Red-rimmed eyes. Accusing looks. One guy turned and drove his fist into the wall.
I walked past them without breaking stride and entered the room. Reid lay pale on the bed. When he saw me, he tried on a reassuring smile.
“Scared you, huh? I’m fine. Just a bullet. I’ll be okay.”
He reached for my hand. I stepped aside.
Jake couldn’t hold it in. “Sign the consent. If we don’t get him into surgery now, the Cap could die.”
I slid him a look, cool and flat, and drew the divorce papers from my bag.
“I’m not signing the consent. If you want to live, sign the divorce. Have your parents listed as your primary medical decision-makers.”
“You-”
Chapter 3
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A vein jumped in Jake’s temple. He lunged like he meant to tear me apart. The others grabbed him and
hauled him back.
I took in their faces-shock, fury, disbelief. Using my own husband’s life to force a divorce. They’d never seen anyone colder.
Reid’s expression kept shifting, then went still. He shut his eyes and rasped, “All because I stayed with Lena last night?”
Under the heat of their “eat-her-alive” stares, I answered evenly, “Yes. Because you stayed with Lena
Shaw.”
The next instant, someone yanked my collar from behind and dragged me off balance. Reid tried to push
himself up, alarm flaring-then pain knocked him back.
“Lena, don’t touch her.”
Lena stood there in dried blood, her belly deflated, her whole body unnaturally weak.
“You can hate me. I’ll disappear for the rest of my life,” she whispered. “But Cap can’t wait. If he doesn’t get surgery now, he’ll lose the leg.”
Chapter 3
