Zack sighed. “I know. I get it, okay? But this was something I had to do. And I didn’t want any of y’all involved in my fucked-up situation.”

“That’s bullshit,” Beau said rudely. “I’m your friend, not just your partner. You have to know I would have had your back no matter what.”

“I do know that,” Zack said quietly. “But some things are private, man. And like I said, this was something I had to do. That had to be done.”

There was a long pause.

“And did you get it taken care of?”

Zack sighed wearily. “Yeah. No. Fuck it all. It will never be okay, but I got the answers I wanted. But if Gracie doesn’t accept that or forgive me then it doesn’t mean a goddamn thing.”

“Is there anything I—we—can do?” Beau asked quietly.

“Just keep Gracie safe until I come back home to her,” Zack said in a soft voice. “I can’t lose her, Beau. And I know it looked like a dick move to cut out on her when she was just beaten nearly to death, but this . . . ​this had to be done or I will never have a chance to get her back.”

“You don’t have to worry about Gracie,” Beau said adamantly. “She has to go back to the doctor so he can check on her recovery and she needs to refill her prescription for her pain medicine. She’s stubborn and has been refusing to take it but Lizzie and Sterling have been leaning on her, making sure she takes what she needs. She’s been in a lot of pain, and hell, who wouldn’t be after the beating she took? So they’re going to make sure she not only gets the medicine but takes it as well.”

Fear squeezed Zack’s insides at the thought of Gracie leaving the confines of the safe house they’d installed her in, even if it was a necessary evil.

“Make damn sure she’s protected. Those bastards are out there, waiting and watching for another opportunity to strike. Hell, they waited months after the shit that went down with Ari. They aren’t going to give up. They’ve proven that much.”

“She’ll have a full security detail,” Beau reassured. “Private clinic. She needs follow-up X-rays and blood work or we would have had the physician come to her.”

Zack swore. “When is her appointment?”

“Tomorrow morning. Before the clinic opens.”

Damn it. There was no way for him to get back in time to go with her. And, well, he didn’t want their first face-to-face meeting after he’d ducked out to be in public or with others present. Nor would he subject her to the devastation of having to listen as the people who’d abused her so callously admitted to such an atrocity.

“I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon. Take care of her for me, man. She’s my entire life.”

“You know I will. You went to the wall for Ari, and I’ll never forget that. I know how you feel. Ari is my life too, and I wouldn’t survive something ever happening to her.”

Zack reluctantly rang off, frustrated by the time it would take to get back to Gracie. He was tempted to just rent a fucking car and drive through the night to get back to her, but he’d still miss her appointment, and he’d be in no mental or physical condition to take her back to hell. Not that he was prepared to brave the bowels of hell either, but one of them had to be strong, and he certainly didn’t expect Gracie to be when she was the one most affected by the events of the past.

He needed to get some sleep so he could catch his early morning flight back to Houston, but he already knew sleep would be a long time coming. He’d never sleep another night until Gracie was back in his arms for good.

TWENTY-SEVEN

ANNA-GRACE sat in the nearly empty waiting room of the doctor whom she’d been referred to for her follow-up appointment. She’d been assured that this doctor was someone DSS used because he was utterly discreet and often made house calls, or, as was the case currently, if he needed access to medical equipment he arranged for times when the clinic was either closed or before it opened to the public. And, well, from what Beau Devereaux had told her, most of his patients were those who had need of complete anonymity, so he didn’t take on “normal” patients. And judging by the posh, expensively decorated waiting area, it didn’t appear that he was hurting for money.

As empty as it was of actual patients, the room was crowded with Eliza, Wade, Dane, Isaac and Coop. There were two others she’d been introduced to but she couldn’t recall their names.

And then there was one other man in the waiting room, who at first she’d assumed was just another person in her ridiculously large security escort. Well, and as silly as it sounded to be surrounded by mountains of testosterone—excluding Eliza, of course, though she was more of a badass than most men!—it did make her feel safer. Especially with Zack gone.

But the man had garnered suspicious glances from the others and raised eyebrows among her security detail as though they had no liking for his presence.

But he was inconspicuous and didn’t pay any heed to the rather large contingent of fierce-looking men surrounding him.

Arrogant bitch. The whole lot of them think they’re invincible.

Anna-Grace’s head snapped up, her mouth dropping in surprise at the sound that had popped out of nowhere, but not a single person in the room reacted in any way to the terse, angry statement. In fact, they acted as if they hadn’t heard it.

So smug. They think they can get the best of us. They have no idea of our resources or what we’re capable of. And the ballsy bitch who works for them needs to be taken down a notch or two.

There was a sound of triumphant glee that accompanied the next statement.

She’ll soon find out that she’s not as invincible as she thinks she is. It’s a lesson I’m very much looking forward to.

Gracie’s graze swept over the occupants of the waiting room, convinced that someone was having a cell phone conversation and not being in the least concerned with being overheard. But again, she saw nothing to indicate anyone using a phone. Not even the hands-free kind.

And then her gaze settled on the other side of the waiting room, where the man she’d been observing hadn’t changed position. He stared intently at Eliza, his jaw ticking with agitation, while the others all were expressionless and seemed bored.

Was she going crazy? Was she ultra-paranoid after her attack and the traumatic sequence of events of the last few days? Had she reached her emotional limit?