Chapter 1 - Clare dropped to her knees beside the young man before anyone could stop her.
“Turn on every light you have.”
The men moved instantly.
One opened the rear doors wider.
Another climbed into the opposite side and switched on a small overhead lamp.
Dominic stood outside for half a second, watching her with an expression she couldn't read.
“Don't just stand there,” Clare snapped.
“Call emergency services.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Now.”
The scarred man pulled out his phone.
Clare placed two fingers against the young man's neck.
Nothing.
“What's his name?”
“Adrian,” Dominic answered.
“Adrian, can you hear me?”
No response.
Clare tilted his head, checked his airway, and began compressions.
The SUV rocked slightly beneath the rhythm of her movements.
She had performed CPR hundreds of times.
She knew how to separate panic from procedure.
Panic was noise.
Procedure was what remained when there was no time for anything else.
“One, two, three…”
Rain drummed on the roof.
“Come on, Adrian.”
The scarred man looked toward Dominic.
“What about the police?”
“Call them.”
The man hesitated.
Clare looked up.
“If you don't call them, you're gambling with his life.”
Dominic's eyes remained on her.
Then he nodded.
“Call.”
The scarred man turned away and made the call.
Clare continued.
At nearly a minute, Adrian suddenly coughed.
Air rushed into his lungs.
His eyes fluttered.
“There,” Clare whispered.
“Stay with me.”
Adrian's lips moved.
Clare leaned closer.
“Clare.”
She froze.
“What did you say?”
His eyes opened for a moment.
“Clare…”
Then he slipped unconscious again.
Something cold moved through her.
“How does he know my name?”
Nobody answered.
Clare looked from Adrian to Dominic.
“I asked you a question.”
Dominic finally stepped into the SUV.
“He's heard about you.”
“That doesn't explain anything.”
“No.
It doesn't.”
Sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Clare stared at him.
“You said he couldn't go to a hospital.”
“I was wrong.”
That answer surprised her.
Dominic crouched beside the open door.
“My brother needs medical care.
Whatever happens afterward, I accept that.”
“Good.”
“But there is something you need to know before we arrive.”
Clare kept pressure against Adrian's wound.
“What?”
“He wasn't shot because of anything he did tonight.”
She looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic hesitated.
“It means someone was trying to scare him.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect nothing from you.”
The ambulance siren grew louder.
Clare looked down at Adrian.
There was something about his face she recognized.
Not his features.
Something else.
A familiarity that made no sense.
She had seen thousands of patients over nine years.
Faces blurred together sometimes, especially after long shifts.
But this was different.
She knew that expression.
The slight crease between the eyebrows.
The way his left hand curled inward when he was unconscious.
She had seen it before.
Not in a patient.
At home.
She shook the thought away.
Her mother had been dead for six years.
Her family had never had anything to do with the Romano family.
And Clare had never met Adrian Romano.
At least, she didn't think she had.
The ambulance arrived.
Paramedics rushed toward the SUV.
Clare climbed out and immediately gave them a rapid report.
“Male, twenty-three.
Penetrating injury to upper thigh.
Significant blood loss.
Lost consciousness and stopped breathing briefly.
Pulse returned after CPR.
He's unstable.”
One of the paramedics looked at her badge-less jacket.
“Hospital?”
“Former nurse.”
“Former?”
“Long story.”
The paramedic nodded toward Adrian.
“Come with us.”
Clare glanced at Dominic.
He said nothing.
She climbed into the ambulance.
The doors closed.
For the first time since leaving Lakeview Memorial, Clare felt something other than anger.
Purpose.
Twenty minutes later, Adrian was in surgery.
Clare sat alone in the emergency department waiting area, still wearing her soaked clothes.
Dominic appeared a few minutes later.
He sat two chairs away.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Clare said, “Why me?”
Dominic looked at her.
“You've asked that three times tonight.”
“And you haven't answered.”
“I don't know if you'd believe me.”
“Try.”
He looked toward the surgical doors.
“My brother has been trying to find someone for months.”
“Someone who?”
“Our father's former nurse.”
Clare frowned.
“What nurse?”
Dominic reached into his coat and pulled out a folded photograph.
He placed it on the chair between them.
Clare picked it up.
The photograph showed a younger woman standing beside an older man outside a hospital entrance.
Clare stopped breathing for a moment.
The woman was her mother.
Evelyn Bennett.
The older man was unfamiliar.
But she recognized his eyes.
She had seen them earlier that night.
They belonged to Dominic.
She looked at him.
“Your father knew my mother?”
Dominic nodded.
“For more than twenty years.”
Clare stared at the photograph.
“My mother never mentioned your family.”
“She didn't mention us to anyone.”
“Why?”
“Because she promised my father she wouldn't.”
Clare's fingers tightened around the photograph.
“What was his name?”
“Matteo Romano.”
She looked again.
The man in the photograph wore an old-fashioned suit and a smile she couldn't place.
“Why would my mother have a photograph with him?”
Dominic leaned back.
“That is what my brother has been trying to find out.”
Clare's voice became quieter.
“Adrian knows?”
“He found something.”
“What?”
“A box.”
“What kind of box?”
“Letters.
Medical records.
Photographs.
Your mother's name appeared several times.”
Clare looked toward the operating room.
“Then why didn't he just contact me?”
“He tried.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Clare frowned.
“I never heard from him.”
Dominic pulled out his phone.
May you like
He showed her a message.
The sender was Adrian.
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