Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO RUNAdrian wanted me to leave Manhattan.
I refused.
“You can go to Connecticut.”
“No.”
“New Jersey.”
“No.”
“Europe.”
“Absolutely not.”
He stared.
“You're impossible.”
“I work in an emergency room.”
“Exactly.”
“I run toward emergencies.”
“That's the problem.”
He paced.
I watched.
“You love me.”
He stopped.
“Yes.”
“Then stop trying to turn me into someone who hides.”
He looked at me.
“What if I can't protect you?”
I walked closer.
“What if I don't need protecting from everything?”
Silence.
“I need you to trust me.”
He closed his eyes.
Then nodded.
“Okay.”
We kissed.
And for one beautiful minute, the world was quiet.
Then my phone rang.
Hudson Crest.
A patient needed me.
I went.
The patient was Vanessa Hale.
She had been attacked in the hospital parking garage.
A knife wound.
Severe blood loss.
When I saw her on the stretcher, my heart stopped.
She looked at me.
“Please.”
I leaned closer.
“Who did this?”
She coughed.
“Marcus.”
My hands froze.
“Why?”
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That I tried to help you.”
I stared.
“You helped me?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“I tried.”
“Six years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you let them blame me?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Marcus?”
She nodded.
“What did he threaten?”
“My family.”
The monitor alarmed.
I held her hand.
“Stay with me.”
Her eyes closed.
“I couldn't save Adrian.”
“You did.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
A breath.
“You did.”
Then she lost consciousness.
We rushed her into surgery.
She survived.
But barely.
When Adrian arrived, I told him everything.
He was silent for a long time.
Then he said,
“She's telling the truth.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Marcus threatened her family before.”
“Why would Marcus let me live?”
“He needed you.”
“For what?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Access.”
“To what?”
“The Falcones.”
He explained.
Marcus had spent years trying to gain control of Adrian's legitimate companies.
But Adrian had built a firewall around his finances.
One person could bypass it.
His wife.
Me.
I stared.
“Because of your marriage?”
“Yes.”
“So my marriage to you made me a target.”
“Yes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That's romantic.”
He smiled.
“Terrible timing for humor.”
“It's how I cope.”
“I know.”
That night, another message arrived.
YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY.
BRING YOUR HUSBAND TO THE OLD FALCONE MARINA.
COME ALONE.
Adrian read it.
“We don't go.”
I looked at him.
“Yes, we do.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I said no.”
“And I said I'm not hiding.”
He stared.
Then slowly smiled.
May you like
“You're going to be the death of me.”
“Apparently that is already the family tradition.”
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