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Matthew was here. In the hospital. And he had a gun.
Chloe! Where was Chloe?
She struggled against Kaleb’s weight, needing to get up.
Her phone! It was about ten feet away from the desk. She scrabbled for it, trying to turn sideways so she could drag herself toward it.
“Kaleb, oh, God, please, get off me!” The need to get to her daughter and make sure her ex-husband hadn’t somehow found her gave her almost superhuman strength.
“Wait. Just wait.” He pinned her wrists and held her down, even as she wrenched against him with all her strength.
A loud bang sounded and the glass in her office door sprayed everywhere, stinging her cheek, the noise a thousand times louder than the glass in the picture frame had been.
The muted shouts she’d heard earlier amplified, becoming horrifyingly real.
Matthew was trying to get into her office. Screaming obscenities, demanding she open the door.
A second or two later, a sharp report reverberated the air around her, the echo seeming to go on forever.
Kaleb stiffened.
Had he been hit?
Then it stopped. All of it. Matthew’s voice was silent, although she heard screaming and crying in the distance. She lay there, still struggling to breathe, a familiar band tightening across her lungs. She tried to say something to Kaleb, to ask him if he was okay, but the words came out as a strangled cough.
She tried again. Another hoarse cough.
Not now. Oh, please, not now.
Kaleb lifted off her—very much alive—but she was too involved in her current struggle to breathe to let him know how glad she was.
“Stay here.”
No. She had to get to Chloe. As Kaleb went to the door, she crawled toward her phone, sucking down what little air she could as she went.
She turned the phone over. Broken. The cracked screen was dark and empty. Panicked tears formed, and she tried to get up, but she still couldn’t catch her breath.
Then Kaleb was back beside her. “Where’s your inhaler?”
She pointed at the bottom drawer of her desk. She couldn’t do this. Not now, when Matthew could be anywhere. She had to get to Chloe.
“Don’t move.” Keeping his eyes on her, Kaleb found her canister and handed it to her. She pumped the medicine into her mouth, pulling it into her aching lungs.
It took a few seconds for the bronchodilator to work its magic.
“Where...where is he? Is—is he gone?”
Oh, God, even now he could be heading to her daughter’s preschool. That gun—
Another knock at the door had Maddy tensing all over again.
“Dr. McBride? Are you and Dr. Grimes okay?”
Kaleb unlocked the door, letting the hospital security guard in. “We’re fine.” He glanced outside. “Oh, hell.”
Maddy forced her feet underneath her, but Kaleb held up a hand.
“Don’t come over here. Not yet.”
The guard glanced her way. “We have the hospital on lockdown, and the police are en route. Do you know the man who did this?”
“Yes. Is he still here?” Something about the look on his face...
An eerie premonition set in. She didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to go over there, but of course she had to. Had to see what had happened.
In the background, Maddy heard sirens. Glass crunched under her feet as she made her way toward the door. The window still held jagged fragments of glass, and blood stained the bottom section. There was more blood along the door as if Matthew had reached through and tried to find the lock.
Maddy shuddered.
With a swallow, she started for the hallway, feeling Kaleb’s hand on her shoulder as she came even with him. He gave a slight squeeze, stopping her from going any farther. It was then that she saw why.
Matthew lay sprawled on the ground, eyes staring upward at the ceiling. Only he wasn’t staring. The gaze was unfocused. Unknowing. A gun was clutched in his hand. A few medical staff were gathered around him, but they weren’t trying to resuscitate him or administer aid.
Because he was dead.
Bile rose to her throat. Even though it was useless, Maddy fell to her knees beside him. Forced herself to reach for his neck to see if there was a pulse, but there was too much blood and her fingers slipped off. The hole in his left temple told her all she needed to know.
Kaleb helped her to her feet. “He’s gone.”
The security guard repeated his question. “Do you know him?”
“He...he’s my husband.”
Kaleb visibly stiffened, and she realized what she’d said. “My ex-husband. He...he...” She stopped and tried to collect her thoughts. “He was in Nebraska. He wasn’t supposed to find out where I was.”
She glanced up at the guard. “Did anyone else get hurt?”
“No.” The older man looked as pale as she felt. “He shot himself just as I drew my weapon. I would have shot him. I had no choice.”
She took a step toward him, shock still muddying her thoughts. “It’s okay. I’m glad he didn’t hurt anyone else.”
Kaleb handed her a paper towel, and she wiped the blood from her hands. Her cheek still stung, but not as much as her heart.
Chloe’s father was dead. She still couldn’t believe what he’d done. He’d hurt her in the past, but he’d never pulled a knife or a gun. He’d always claimed to hate her—to be glad she and Chloe were out of his life. And yet here he was. Dead. A gun on the floor beside him.
The police appeared seconds later, saying something to the security guard. One of the officers shot her a look and came over. “This man is your ex-husband? Any chance he had someone else with him?”
Maddy shook her head. “I don’t think so. But I don’t know for sure.”
The man gave orders to the rest of the officers and they headed off in different directions. Two of the nurses standing to the side were holding each other, eyes red. One of them had a phone to her ear.
A phone!
“I have to call someone.” The words came out of her throat in a shrill rush.
“Who?” The officer, a big burly guy, narrowed his eyes at her.
Possibilities rolled through her head. She could call the school. No, she didn’t want to scare Chloe. Roxy. She should call her sister. Maddy was pretty sure the police were not going to let her or anyone else out of the hospital until they fully understood what had happened.
“My sister.”
He gave a curt nod. “I’ll be back to ask you some questions in a few minutes.”
Kaleb handed her his phone. Her fingers shook as she tried to remember her sister’s phone number. Everything was programmed into her cell phone, so she didn’t have to dial it under normal circumstances. She finally pulled a string of digits together, and hoping they were the right ones, she pressed the call button.
Pictures were being taken of her ex-husband’s body, although it seemed horrible for him to be immortalized that way. The sourness in her throat rose even higher.
Three rings and her sister answered. “Hello?”
“Roxy, it’s Maddy.”
“Hey, hon, what’s up?”
“Matthew was here.”
“What? Where?”
“At the hospital. He had a gun.” A wobble in her voice made her pause. “He’s dead. He killed himself.”
“Oh, God. Chloe?”
“I don’t know. They won’t let me leave.”
“I’m on my way to the school. I’m sure she’s fine. He wouldn’t know where to find her.”
Maddy closed her eyes, whispering, “I didn’t think he could find me either.”
“She’s okay. Someone would have called by now, otherwise. I’ll let you know as soon as I get there and see her with my own two eyes.”
“Thank you.”
She ended the call and glanced up to find Kaleb leaning against the wall, watching her. Was there suspicion in his eyes?
That was crazy. This was all Matthew’s doing.
Sarah, one of the nurses, came over and touched her arm. “Are you okay, Maddy?”
Okay? No, she was far from okay, although she nodded, wrapping her arms around her middle. “I’m so sorry for all of this.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Wasn’t it? Knowing this man had put all of their lives in danger.
Matthew. Who was now dead. Why? Why? He’d left her alone for over a year. Not a phone call. Not a letter in all that time. And suddenly he was here. With a gun. To what? Kill her? Kill Chloe?
Renewed panic filled her system. “I have to go.”
“We’re on lockdown, Maddy,” Kaleb reminded her. “They’re not letting anyone in or out of the hospital.”
Someone arrived with a long black bag, and two men lifted her ex-husband and laid him inside, zipping it closed.
A sob rose in her throat.
Taking hold of her arm, Kaleb eased her away from Sarah and everyone else, guiding her back into her office. His big body seemed to fill the space. She took a quick step back.
Kaleb frowned. “It’s okay.”
Okay? Why did everyone keep using that word? Right now she wasn’t sure anything would be okay ever again. She’d thought she’d got over her fear. Thought maybe she could finally have a normal life. Had even thought that she and Kaleb might be able to...
No. She did not need to get involved with a man.
Especially not after what had just happened. Right now all she needed was to know that her daughter was safe.
“I have to go.” She repeated the words, knowing she probably sounded foolish. But she couldn’t help it.
“You told the officer your ex was acting alone. Are you sure of that? Could he be part of some organization?”
Organization? It took her a minute to realize what that meant.
“He’s not a terrorist. He’s just a boy from a hick town who...” Her voice caught. When she tried to force out the rest of the sentence, it caught again.
Then Kaleb’s arms came around her, pressing her head into his shoulder as a second sob hit her throat. Then a third. And a fourth. She couldn’t believe any of this was happening. A man she’d once loved was dead. A man she’d slept with. Laughed with. Had a baby with.
A man who’d turned cruel beyond belief as time had gone on.
She had to call her mom and tell her before she heard it from somewhere else.
But first she had to get ahold of herself. She curled her hands into the soft fabric of Kaleb’s shirt, the comforting scent of his body washing over her. His fingers cupped the back of her head, moving in small soothing brushes that did what her mind couldn’t seem to do: returned her to the here and now. Edging back slightly, she tilted her head to look up at him. “I was so scared.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “It’s okay. You’re allowed to be.”
Wet spots on the crisp blue of his shirt, along with twin black smudges from her mascara, made her eyes prickle all over again. She brushed at the moisture with one hand. “Your shirt. I’ll pay to have it cleaned.”
“It’s nothing. It’ll wash right out.”
Random thoughts spiraled through her head.
How did he know it would wash out? Had he held crying women often?
