“So why do you not think Zack did it now?” Eliza asked curiously.

“No one can fake that kind of reaction,” Sterling said in a low voice. “That kind of shock and surprise. Fuck. He didn’t even know about it. Am I right, Covington?”

Zack gave a clipped nod.

“But you know what happened,” Eliza pressed. “She confided in you.”

“Finally,” Sterling admitted. “It took a long time. I mean I knew something bad had happened to her. She was so fragile. And sad. There was so much sorrow in her eyes that it hurt to look at her at times.”

“Christ,” Zack said, nearly choking on the knot forming in his throat. “She thinks I did that to her? That I set it up?”

He couldn’t wrap his mind around it. What the hell could he have done to ever make Gracie think he would do such a thing?

“Did she say why she thinks Zack was behind it?” Eliza asked curiously.

Sterling shook his head. “I asked. I mean from the way she described your relationship I found it hard to believe myself. But she was so adamant. Said she knew without a doubt that you’d horribly betrayed her. And after that one time, she never spoke of it again. She refused. I could tell it still hurt her even after twelve years.”

“Duh,” Eliza muttered. “Women don’t get over shit like that overnight.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” Zack said, his voice rising. “You can’t think I’d do something like that, Lizzie.”

She squeezed his hand again. “No, I don’t think so at all, Zack. But she does. And she’s the most important person in this equation. It doesn’t matter what I think. She’s the one who is convinced you fucked her over. Until you can convince her otherwise, nothing changes.”

“I have to get back to her,” Zack said resolutely.

His gaze flickered over Sterling.

“We’ll dump him back at his car and then we have to go.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. So you do have her,” Sterling said with a frown.

Zack sighed and quickly brought Sterling up to speed on the events of the last twenty-four hours. He wasn’t sure when he’d stopped viewing Sterling as the enemy—a competitor—but it was clear the man cared about Gracie. Gracie had confided in him something she likely had never confided in anyone else. So whether Zack liked it or not, it would appear that Sterling was an important figure in Gracie’s life. Perhaps her only friend and ally.

“Son of a bitch!” Sterling spat out. “Who the fuck beats up an innocent woman just to send a message?”

“Cowards. That’s who,” Eliza said, her features wrinkling in distaste.

“How is she?” Sterling demanded. “I’d like to see her.”

Zack hesitated. The very last thing he wanted was for Sterling to have access to Gracie. But then again, perhaps allowing it would go a long way in rebuilding her trust in him.

“Just what is between you and Gracie?” Zack asked carefully.

He wasn’t agreeing to anything until he had a clearer picture of Sterling’s relationship with her.

Sterling studied him for a long moment. “It’s not like that,” Sterling began. “I’m her friend. Her only friend. I care a lot about her. She’s like a little sister to me.”

Zack’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. Gracie was hardly the kind of woman most men would view as their sister. She was beautiful. So beautiful it hurt to look at her.

Sterling let out a sound of exasperation. “Okay, sure, in the beginning I was interested. But after getting to know her, I realized that the last thing she needed was a relationship. But what she did need was a friend. Someone she could trust. And it took a long time for her to trust me.”

Zack felt grudging respect for the other man. It certainly appeared as though he’d been good to Gracie. Had been there when she needed someone. But it burned like acid in his mind and heart that he hadn’t been the one she leaned on. He hadn’t been her rock, her friend, her lover. He’d been . . . nothing. When she’d been everything in the world to him, she’d thought he’d betrayed her in the worst way.

He wanted to throw up.

“I need to know everything,” Zack said quietly. “We’ll drop you back by your truck so you can follow us back to the hospital. You can see Gracie. Maybe it will appease her fears if she sees a familiar face and understands that I’m not going to . . . hurt . . . her.”

He nearly strangled saying the last. As if he’d ever hurt her. But she didn’t believe the same. She believed he’d already hurt her.

“Okay, but I really don’t know that much. Sorry. She wasn’t very forthcoming on the details. All she said was the man she loved had set her up and wanted to get rid of her. She then told me that you arranged for her to be raped by . . .”

He broke off and glanced warily at Zack as if afraid of the impending outburst.

“Just say it,” Zack said through his teeth.

What could be worse than what Sterling had already related?

He should have known it could get worse. It could always get worse.

“She was raped by three of your friends,” Sterling said softly.

Zack’s mouth flapped open and shut. He was utterly robbed of speech. His mind was such a red cloud of fury he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t think it could get any worse than Gracie being raped and believing it was at his instigation. But she hadn’t simply been raped. She’d been gang-raped. By people he trusted! People he called friends? He was a hair’s breath from completely and utterly losing all control and turning over the entire goddamn world to find the sons of bitches who’d violated Gracie in the most demeaning, dehumanizing manner possible.

“What friends?” he demanded hoarsely.

“I don’t know. I swear,” Sterling said. “She didn’t get into much detail. All she said was that three of your friends raped her at your request. That you wanted to get rid of her for good. It happened while you were at school. The day before you were due to come home again. She said you wanted the job done and for her to be gone by the time you got home from school.”

Tears of rage and anguish swirled chaotically in his eyes. This was insane. It was something straight out of fiction or some bizarre movie. This shit didn’t happen in real life, did it?