Clara packed her duffel before sunrise.
She had nearly finished when Leo appeared.
“You can’t leave.”
“Watch me.”
“It isn’t safe.”
“Whose fault is that?”
Leo said nothing.
Clara zipped the bag.
“I was hired as bait.”
“No.”
“As a scapegoat, then.”
“We didn’t know.”
“Liam didn’t know.”
Leo’s expression softened.
“That matters.”
“It doesn’t change what happened.”
She lifted the bag.
“I have a brother in a hospital who needs me.”
“You walk out that gate now, Adrian knows we discovered the connection.”
Clara stopped.
“And?”
“And you become useful to him.”
The implication landed.
Tommy.
Clara’s face drained.
“Is my brother safe?”
“We put two men at County General.”
“You did what?”
“To protect him.”
“I want to see him.”
Leo nodded.
“We’ll arrange it.”
Clara stormed back into Liam’s room.
He was sitting upright.
“You investigated me.”
“Yes.”
“You paid Tommy’s treatment.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about it.”
“Yes.”
“You put armed men outside his hospital room.”
“Yes.”
Clara stared.
“You have a vocabulary problem?”
“I’m trying not to make this worse.”
“You’re failing.”
Liam accepted that.
Clara tossed Adrian’s note onto the bed.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
She searched his face.
“You believe me?”
Liam asked.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s fair.”
His answer disarmed her.
Liam looked down at the paper.
“I’m sorry.”
Clara blinked.
“What?”
“I said I’m sorry.”
“That might be the first apology this house has heard since construction.”
“I can take it back.”
“Don’t.”
Their eyes met.
Then Liam said something Clara had never expected.
“You can leave.”
Leo shifted in the doorway.
“Merc—”
“She can leave.”
Liam kept looking at Clara.
“I’ll keep security on Tommy. His treatment stays paid. You don’t owe me anything.”
Clara stared.
“You’d actually let me go?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were right.”
“About what?”
He glanced toward the sunlight spilling through the open blinds.
“Breathing isn’t the same as living.”
Clara’s anger faltered.
She looked at his injured leg.
Then at the parallel bars.
“Stand up.”
Liam frowned.
“What?”
“If I leave, stand up.”
“Clara—”
“Prove you’re not quitting.”
He stared at her.
Then pushed himself upright.
Pain flashed across his face.
He stood.
Three seconds.
Five.
Ten.
Clara’s eyes burned.
“Again tomorrow.”
Liam looked at her.
“You’re staying?”
“Until you can walk.”
“That could take months.”
“Then stop being lazy.”
His laugh surprised both of them.
It was deep and rough and genuine.
Leo quietly left.
That afternoon Clara was driven to County General.
Two Mercer guards waited outside Tommy’s room.
She hated seeing them.
She was also grateful.
Tommy looked smaller.
But when Clara entered, he grinned.
“There she is.”
She hugged him carefully.
“You look terrible.”
“So do you.”
“Jerk.”
“Runs in the family.”
She sat beside him.
Tommy studied her.
“So.”
“So what?”
“Who’s the rich guy?”
Clara froze.
“What rich guy?”
“The mysterious benefactor who paid for my trial.”
“I don’t know.”
Tommy smiled weakly.
“You do that thing with your eyebrow when you lie.”
“I do not.”
“You’re doing it now.”
Clara sighed.
“He’s my patient.”
“Old?”
“No.”
“Ugly?”
She thought of Liam.
“No.”
Tommy’s grin widened.
“Oh.”
“Stop.”
“Married?”
“Tommy.”
“Criminal?”
Clara became silent.
Tommy’s smile vanished.
“Clara?”
“Eat your Jell-O.”
“Oh, my God.”
“He’s complicated.”
“You’re working for a criminal?”
“Technically, I’m working for a very difficult man with terrible bedside manners.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Clara squeezed his hand.
“He saved your life.”
Tommy looked at her.
“No.”
“What?”
“You did.”
Her throat tightened.
“You took the job.”
Tommy’s eyes softened.
“Whatever happens, don’t sell your whole life to save mine.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I mean it.”
Clara leaned forward and kissed his forehead.
“I’d do anything for you.”
“I know.”
“That’s the problem.”
Neither noticed the man in maintenance clothes standing outside the room.
He walked away.
Twenty minutes later, the fire alarm sounded.
Nurses began moving patients.
Clara stepped into the hall.
Smoke poured from a utility closet.
One Mercer guard shouted.
The lights flickered.
Then Clara heard Tommy call her name.
She turned.
A man in scrubs was pushing Tommy’s bed toward the service elevator.
“That’s not his nurse.”
Clara ran.
“Stop!”
The man accelerated.
One of Liam’s guards reached for his weapon.
The elevator opened.
Another man emerged.
Chaos exploded.
Clara grabbed Tommy’s bed rail and pulled backward.
The fake orderly struck her across the face.
She fell.
Tommy shouted.
Then the Mercer guard tackled the man.
Hospital security flooded the corridor.
Within seconds it was over.
Clara crawled toward Tommy.
“I’m okay,” he gasped.
She held him.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
Back at the estate, Liam heard what happened.
Something inside him snapped.
“Bring Adrian to me.”
Leo shook his head.
“He’s gone.”
“Find him.”
“He emptied his apartment.”
Liam gripped the bed rail.
“He touched her family.”
His voice became frighteningly calm.
“Find him.”
Clara returned after midnight.
A bruise darkened her cheek.
Liam stared at it.
“Who hit you?”
“He’s in police custody.”
“Name.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“No.”
She approached.
“You don’t get to kill everyone who hurts me.”
His gaze burned.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s not protection. That’s revenge.”
“He went after Tommy.”
“I know.”
“He hit you.”
“I noticed.”
Liam’s jaw clenched.
Clara sat beside him.
“Your world solves everything with fear.”
“It works.”
“Until everyone around you is too afraid to tell you the truth.”
That silenced him.
Clara touched his hand.
“Maybe that’s how Adrian got so close.”
Liam looked down at their joined hands.
“You should hate me.”
“I’m considering it.”
“Yet you came back.”
“You still need a nurse.”
“That the only reason?”
Clara looked at him.
“No.”
Neither moved.
Then Liam lifted his hand and touched the bruise on her cheek with extraordinary gentleness.
Clara’s breath caught.
He leaned closer.
A knock interrupted them.
Leo entered.
His expression erased everything else.
“We found Adrian.”
Liam’s face hardened.
“Where?”
Leo placed a folder on the bed.
“He isn’t running.”
“What?”
“He’s coming here.”
Leo looked at Clara.
“And he says he has proof that the explosion wasn’t meant to kill Liam.”
Clara frowned.
“Then what was it meant to do?”
Leo answered.
“To put him exactly where he is now.”