Chapter 20
20
Madison came awake with a jerk. She didn’t know what had awakened her, but there was some kind of movement in the house. She listened and heard nothing, but she knew something was wrong.
“Dante,” she said, rocking him a bit.
“What?” he murmured, then moved to slide his arm over her. She felt his steady breath on her neck and knew that he was starting to fall asleep again.
“Dante, I heard something.”
The alarm wasn’t going off, but she knew someone was out there.
“You stay here,” he said, slipping out of bed. He reached the door. “Call 911 if you hear anything.”
She nodded and grabbed the phone. There was nothing for a few moments, then, a scuffle. She clicked the phone on; ready to call when she realized that there was no dial tone. Damn. She set it aside and grabbed her cell and realized there was a missed call on it. Before she could key in her security code, there was a shot.
“Dante!”
She sprung out of bed and headed to the door as she keyed in her code and dialed 911. She tripped over something large and fell to the floor, the phone flying out of her hand and crashing to the floor. She looked back and found Charlie laying there, sound asleep.
“Charlie,” she whispered. Then the door creaked open, light spilling into the room.
“He will be fine, Madison. Just a little sleepy stuff in his food.”
She knew that voice. It had been the one she had listened to each week. It belonged to the one person she had always trusted.
“Dr. James?”
He sighed, regret easy to hear in his voice. “Sorry about this really.”
He stepped into the room and she scrambled back. She wanted to hide, but he turned on the light. She blinked against the brightness of it.
“You’re sorry about this?” she asked.
“Yes. I didn’t mean to come after you, but when you revealed what you knew about Allison’s murder, I had no choice.”
“You killed Allison?”
He nodded.
“I had no idea. Why?”
“She was a patient. Very troubled.”
“And for that you shot her?”
She knew Dante’s phone was on the bedside table. She had to figure out a way to distract him. Keep him talking.
“No. I had an affair with her you see. When I tried to break it off, she threatened to tell my wife and report me to the medical board. I couldn’t have that.”
“So you killed her for that?”
“I tried to reason with her.”
“And now you are going to kill me?”
He shrugged. “I have no choice.”
“What did you do to Dante?”
“Dante? Oh, yes, your Marine lover is probably dying or dead. I did try to shoot him in a way that would lessen his suffering.”
He made it sound like he was the fucking humanitarian of the year.
“And when the police arrive, they will find you, dead, by your own hand. Another sufferer of PTSD gone bad. Of course, what is worse, you killed a highly decorated Marine.”
Anger sliced through her. She wanted to see Dante, to hold him, to hear him breathe and make sure he was okay. But the words Dr. James said to her pierced through the veil of shock that seemed to be holding her still.
“I am not going bad.” She ground out every word.
“Oh, but the notes will prove it.”
Then with dawning horror Madison realized the man had probably doctored her file. No doubt it would show a woman on the edge, not one who had been thriving. She knew it was now or never. She would not go down without a fight.
She rose up then, taking him by surprise. He got a shot off, but she already had his arm. The shot went wide. With all the strength she had, she punched him, then tried to claw at him. He stumbled back, but easily gained his balance. He pushed her down and she want tumbling back, hitting her head against her dresser. Pain radiated out from the back of her head.
He stepped closer and she tried to move back but found herself up against the nightstand. She lifted her hand to get something, anything to throw at him. His fingers dug into her hair and he yanked her closer. He set the barrel of the gun against her temple.
“I am really sorry about this, Madison.”
She closed her eyes, preparing herself to die. In the next second, though, she heard the sweetest voice.
“You fucking bastard,” Dante growled. She opened her eyes in time to see him launch himself toward Dr. James.
The doctor screamed and fell back onto her bed, then they tumbled to the floor. The gun flew out of his hand and skidded over her wooden floor. It went somewhere under her bed. Dante won the struggle, of course, straddling the doctor as he slammed his head over and over onto the floor. It was easy to see that their attacker was now unconscious.
She crawled forward. “Dante.”
He didn’t seem to hear her.
“Dante!” She grabbed his arm. He had blood oozing out of the opposite shoulder. He turned to her. The look she saw in his eyes scared the hell out of her. He meant to kill the doctor.
“Dante, babe, please, no. Don’t.”
His hand spasmed on Dr. James’ shirt.
“Don’t kill him. Please. Don’t do this. Not like this. I love you, don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
He let loose of the doctor. His head landed with a thud. Sirens sounded in the distance as he leaned toward her.
“Madison.” He cupped her face then kissed her. Feet pounded down the hall and she heard people shouting. Still, Dante kissed her.
“Jesus,” Jack said from behind them.
Madison pulled back from the kiss and looked over. Officer Ellis was right behind him.
“It was my therapist. It was Dr. James.”
She realized then that Dante was leaning more heavily on her. She looked at him and noticed his eyes were fluttering closed.
“He was shot,” she said.
In the distance, she heard the officer calling for a paramedic. Dante’s breath was against her neck.
“Don’t leave me, Madison.”
“I won’t.”
Then, his eyes shut and she prayed they got him to the hospital in time.
She sat in a chair, Jack by her side, blood on her clothes.
Dante’s blood .
She pushed that thought away. Madison knew that if she dwelled on that fact, she would fall apart. Without Charlie, she was barely holding onto her sanity as it was.
Hannah had taken over, and they had gotten him settled in at their house. Jack had just received a text saying Charlie was doing well. And while not chipper, he was able to wake up and apparently had no ill effects.
She heard footsteps and looked up. Officer Ellis walked down the hall, his face haggard, his eyes cold.
He definitely didn’t look like Opie anymore.
“Ms. Baker. Have you heard anything?”
She shook her head. “Nothing yet. Still in surgery.”
He looked at her clothes. “Didn’t they offer you anything else to wear?”
She looked down and then back up at him. She shook her head.
“Can you tell me anything about tonight?”
“Don’t you think this can wait?” Jack asked as he took hold of her hand. “Damn, Madison, you’re freezing.”
Shock. She knew she was probably in some sort of shock. They had checked her out for a concussion. All it had turned out to be was a very bad, very big bump.
“I can answer questions. Doctor James showed up tonight. He apparently figured out who I was, thanks to our session today. I mean, yesterday.”
“And did he say why he killed Allison?”
She nodded. “They had an affair. She threatened to tell his wife and report him. What did he say?”
“Well, he’s here at the hospital right now. I think your boyfriend gave the bastard a concussion.”
“Here?” she asked, unable to keep the panic from her voice.
“Under guard. He won’t be bothering you anymore.” He hesitated.
“I said you could ask me questions.”
“Your security alarm didn’t sound. Did you put it on before you went to bed?”
She nodded.
“Do you know how he got the code then?”
She thought about the four-digit code and closed her eyes. Even though she thought she was all cried out, the tears still came.
“Zero-nine-seventeen.”
She opened her eyes and found both men looking at her.
“It’s the date of the attack in Afghanistan. He knew it, probably understood that would be the one four digit number I would remember.”
And the bastard had used it.
“That was a risk on his part.”
Before she could ask anything else, there were footsteps coming from the opposite direction. It was the surgeon. The older man looked tired as he approached them.
“Ms. Baker?”
She nodded at the solemn sound of his voice. Her heart almost stopped beating right there and then.
“He lost a lot of blood, probably because he decided to have a fight with someone after getting shot.”
“H-he was saving me.”
He gave her a tired smile. “He’s going to be fine. He was asking for you before we put him under. He also threatened the staff that you should be in his room when he wakes up. He claims you are his fiancé.”
Jack chuckled beside her.
“I’m…” she didn’t know what to say.
“She’s his, I promise,” Jack said.
He nodded. “His family has been informed.”
“Oh, God, I forgot—”
Jack squeezed her hand again. “I called his Aunt Joey. She got a hold of everyone else. Elena, his sister, should be here soon, according to the text I got. And his parents should be here in the morning.”
The doctor nodded. “He’s in recovery right now, so I am going to get a nurse to take you to his room to wait. He threatened to leave the hospital, and I have a feeling he would, if you weren’t there. Seeing that he went above and beyond to save you, it would be a shame if he ruined all my excellent work.”
He turned to leave. “Doc,” Officer Ellis said.
“Yes?”
“Can Ms. Baker have a set of scrubs?”
The doctor looked down at her. She was still only wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top, which had Dante’s blood staining it. The doctor nodded.
“Well, there you go,” Jack said. “And you’re a fiancé.”
“He didn’t ask.”
“Believe me, as a brother-in-law, you won’t get a request. You’ll get a ring and a date. The man has his mind set.”
She leaned back in her chair and before she knew it, tears were pouring down her face. Jack wrapped an arm around her and let her sob on his shoulder.
He was the only man she had ever loved and she couldn’t imagine life without him. Only a week into their relationship and she knew he loved her. He wouldn’t leave her, but she couldn’t bring him down. She would have to be the one who faced reality. He had a promising career and he didn’t need to be burdened with her issues. The cruelness of the situation was going to leave her soul shattered.
She was going to have to let him go.