Chương 2
He needs you.
Tessa stared at it for a long time.
Then she threw it away.
Five minutes later, she picked it back up.
She hated that about herself.
She hated that she always looked twice.
Always checked.
Always wondered who had been left behind.
That was how she had ended up as a combat nurse overseas.
That was how she had spent years running toward things everyone else escaped.
It was also how she had lost people.
The next morning, Rafe Calder was waiting outside the hospital.
No guards.
No expensive car.
No public display.
Just him standing beside the entrance in a dark coat, looking like someone who had not slept.
Tessa stopped walking.
“You know this is a hospital, not a place where people usually meet to intimidate nurses.”
“I’m not here to intimidate you.”
“That’s good.”
She adjusted the strap of her bag.
“Because your intimidating face needs more work.”
A breath escaped him.
Almost a laugh.
Almost.
“I need your help.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you were there.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one I have.”
She waited.
Rafe looked through the glass doors toward the emergency room.
“I have people who can find my sister.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because everyone who works for me sees a problem they need to solve.”
“And you think I don’t?”
“I think you see people before problems.”
The answer caught her off guard.
She looked away first.
“What happened to your sister?”
“I don’t know.”
The honesty surprised her.
Rafe continued.
“And that is what worries me.”
“Because you always know.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“Because I always thought I did.”
For the first time since meeting him, Tessa saw something beneath the control.
Not weakness.
Something worse.
Doubt.
A man who had built his entire identity around knowing exactly where danger was had discovered that danger could exist inside his own walls.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
Rafe looked at her.
“You believe me?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“I believe someone is hurt.”
He nodded once.
“That is enough.”
They walked toward the waiting area together.
Neither of them noticed the person across the street taking a photograph.
Neither of them saw the message sent seconds later.
The message contained only one sentence.
The nurse is with him now.
Rafe did not notice the man across the street until they were already inside the building.
Tessa noticed him.
She always noticed the people who tried not to be noticed.
It was a habit she had developed overseas, where the person standing too still was often more dangerous than the person running.
“Wait,” she said.
Rafe stopped.
He looked back at her.
“What?”
She glanced through the glass doors.
“Nothing.”
His expression changed slightly.
“You don’t say nothing.”
“I say nothing when I’m not sure.”
“That is unusual.”
“For who?”
“For someone who just walked into a room and ordered me to sit down after being shot.”
Tessa ignored that.
She looked outside again.
The street was normal.
Cars moved through traffic.
A man walked a dog near the corner.
A woman carried coffee in both hands while talking on her phone.
Nothing looked wrong.
That was usually when things were wrong.
“Do you have security watching the hospital?” she asked.
“Not anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone inside my organization is involved, I don’t know who I can trust.”
The answer made her look at him.
“That’s a dangerous thing to admit.”
“It’s a dangerous thing to discover.”
They continued toward the private conference room Rafe had arranged.
Tessa almost refused.
Then she remembered the missing woman.
June Calder had laughed in the ambulance when her brother was being difficult.
She had looked at him like he was a person, not a reputation.
That stayed with Tessa.
She did not like abandoning people.
It was one of her worst qualities.
At least, that was what her brother used to tell her.
“You have five minutes,” she said.
Rafe opened the door.
“You said that yesterday.”
“And you survived yesterday.”
“That sounds like approval.”
“It isn’t.”
The room was smaller than she expected.
No giant table.
No intimidating decoration.
Just a few chairs, a television screen, and a coffee machine sitting in the corner.
Tessa noticed the coffee machine first.
“That surprises you?”
Rafe followed her eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to have one.”
“You’re a billionaire.”
“I’m not a billionaire.”
“You have a building with your last name on it.”
“It’s a foundation.”
“That is billionaire behavior.”
He looked almost annoyed.
“People assume things.”
“People usually assume things because they see things.”
The corner of his mouth moved again.
There was something strange about watching a man like him try not to smile.
It made him seem younger.
Not softer.
Just younger.
Rafe placed a folder on the table.
“This was found in my sister’s car.”
Tessa opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Bank records.
Printed messages.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Who printed these?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to believe I don’t know everything.”
She looked through the pages.
The documents were about June’s charity work.
Donations.
Contracts.
A few names she recognized from the news.
“Why would someone leave this?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
“No.”
Rafe looked at her.
She tapped one of the pages.
“They didn’t leave this for you to find out.”
“Then why?”
“They wanted you to look.”
Silence settled.
Rafe leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because whoever did this knows you.”
She turned another page.
“They knew what would get your attention.”
“That doesn’t tell us who.”
“No.”
She looked at the handwriting on the folder.
“But it tells us something else.”
“What?”
“They wanted you angry.”
Rafe stared at the papers.
For a moment, his face showed nothing.
Then his fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
Tessa saw it.
The reaction was small.
Almost invisible.
May you like
But she saw it.
“Anger is useful,” he said.
