nto the exclusive underground garage

e scanned her iris at the security terminal, and the heavy ste

. Do not come down. Lock the door," Adelia ordered

rolling gurney and shoved him under th

abbed a pair of trauma shears. She cut away the ruined, blood-soaked fabric of his shirt, p

gan scrubbing the thick layers of blood and

into focus. High cheekbones. A sharp, aristoc

ad already known. The cedar-and-tobacco scent in the garage had slammed into her like a freight train, dragging her back six years t

rile surgical lights, drove the truth home

d. Then she crushed the emotion down.

, dangerous aura of absolute power. He wasn't just a wealthy

high-pitched, continuous alarm pierced t

d out of it. The woman

ision across his abdomen, suctioning out pools of dark blood. Her e

. It was resting less than a millimeter against his abdominal aorta. One microscopic

navigated the impossibly tight space. Millimeter by agonizing millime

inked loudly as she dropped i

jected a heavy dose of her proprietar

r slowed, settling into a steady,

ke jelly. She leaned back against the edge of the ope

nic chime echo

glass separating the OR from the scrub room, two small faces

glued to the sleepi

es up the bridge of his nose. H

zone, ripping off her surgical c

light tremor. He pointed a finger at the glass. "Lo

rned her head slowly, looking from her so

sockets. The sharp cut of his jaw. It was as if she

nds, oblivious to the tension. "When Leo grow

ready struck-six years ago, then again in the garage, then once more under the surgical ligh

him. Hilliard Hays, if the cufflink research was right.

at the man on the table. He

quietly, her voice cold and

my-" Lun

ow

. Leo paused at the door, looking back at

back on him and walked back into the

ared down at his face. The father of her children. A man who had vanished into th

adjusted his IV drip

" she murmured. "And you picked the w

ion. Not now. But when he woke up-if