Chapter 2 - The Hand He Thought Was Pity
Tessa did not sleep that night.
Neither did Rafe Calder.
By three in the morning, St. Catherine’s had become something between a hospital and a fortress.
Two Calder security men stood near the private surgical wing.
Three detectives waited downstairs.
Reporters gathered outside.
The official statement described what had happened as an attempted robbery disrupted by private security.
Nobody believed it.
Tessa certainly didn’t.
She sat alone in the staff lounge holding a paper cup of coffee she had forgotten to drink.
The photograph bothered her.
Not because Malcolm had said it existed.
Because she believed she knew exactly what it was.
Fifteen years earlier, Tessa’s mother had kept a photograph hidden inside an old cookbook.
Tessa had found it accidentally when she was seventeen.
In it stood three people.
Her mother, Evelyn Ward.
A much younger man Tessa later learned was Vincent Calder, Rafe’s father.
And a woman Tessa didn’t recognize.
On the back, written in Evelyn’s handwriting, were four words:
If anything happens, trust June.
Tessa had asked her mother about it.
Evelyn had turned pale.
Then she had burned the photograph.
At least, Tessa believed she had.
Evelyn died eighteen months later.
Tessa had never asked again.
Now June Calder had apparently been targeted.
And someone at the gala had been carrying Tessa’s photograph.
A knock sounded.
She looked up.
Rafe filled the doorway.
He had changed into a black hospital shirt someone from his staff had brought.
The bandage beneath it made his movements slightly stiff.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
“So are you.”
“I’m working.”
“You’re staring at cold coffee.”
Tessa looked at the cup.
“Fair.”
Rafe entered.
The room seemed immediately smaller.
He remained standing.
She pointed to the chair opposite her.
“You survived the first time I told you to sit.”
His expression changed slightly.
Then he sat.
She studied him.
“Where’s June?”
“Upstairs.”
“She okay?”
“Physically.”
“And otherwise?”
Rafe leaned back.
“My sister grew up in this family. She learned early not to ask whether something is frightening.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
Tessa waited.
Rafe looked at her.
“She’s terrified.”
There it was.
A truthful answer.
“And you?”
“Of what?”
Tessa almost smiled.
“You really hate that question.”
“I don’t see the usefulness.”
“You got shot tonight.”
“I’ve been hurt before.”
“Someone tried to kill your sister.”
“They failed.”
“And somebody had a photograph of me.”
That stopped him.
“Yes.”
Tessa placed the coffee down.
“Show me.”
Rafe reached into his jacket.
He placed a clear evidence sleeve on the table.
Tessa’s chest tightened.
It was not the same photograph.
But it had been taken on the same day.
Her mother stood outside a lake house beside Vincent Calder.
The third woman was there too.
This version had something else.
A baby stroller.
Tessa leaned closer.
“Where did you get this?”
“Malcolm found it in a service corridor.”
“Who dropped it?”
“We don’t know.”
She turned the sleeve over.
There was writing on the back.
Rafe watched her carefully.
“You recognize it?”
“Yes.”
“Whose handwriting?”
“My mother’s.”
Rafe said nothing.
Tessa read the words.
Vincent promised to protect her. He failed.
A chill moved through her.
Rafe’s face tightened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he promise?”
“I don’t know.”
“That photograph says otherwise.”
“It says my mother believed your father promised something.”
“You expect me to believe she never told you?”
Tessa met his eyes.
“My mother spent the last years of her life refusing to discuss Vincent Calder.”
Rafe leaned forward.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
“I know.”
“You know a lot about my family.”
“Everyone in this city knows about your family.”
“Not like that.”
The tone changed.
He wasn’t threatening her.
But suspicion had returned.
Tessa stood.
“If you think I helped someone attack your sister, say it.”
Rafe stood too.
“No.”
“Then stop questioning me like I did.”
“I question everyone.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It keeps people alive.”
Tessa crossed her arms.
“And yet someone still got close enough to June tonight.”
The words hit harder than she intended.
Rafe’s expression went blank.
Tessa immediately regretted it.
“Rafe.”
He turned away.
“Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
He walked toward the window.
The city glowed beneath the storm.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Rafe said quietly, “She’s the only family I have left.”
Tessa’s anger disappeared.
He continued.
“My mother died when June was eight. My father was...” He paused. “Complicated.”
“That’s a generous word.”
Rafe glanced back.
“You really do know my family.”
“Only what people say.”
“And what do people say about me?”
Tessa considered lying.
Instead, she shrugged.
“That you’re ruthless.”
“True enough.”
“That people disappear when they cross you.”
His mouth tightened.
“People exaggerate.”
“That’s comforting.”
“That you should be afraid of me?”
“Yes.”
“Yet you aren’t.”
“I’ve met scarier men.”
“I doubt that.”
Tessa smiled.
“You’ve never worked an emergency room on New Year’s Eve.”
Rafe surprised her by laughing.
It was brief.
Low.
Almost unwilling.
But real.
Something loosened between them.
Then Tessa remembered the question he had asked outside the ER.
“Earlier,” she said.
Rafe looked at her.
“You asked why I wasn’t afraid to touch you.”
His expression immediately closed.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I do.”
She stepped closer.
“Because you were my patient.”
“That’s all?”
Tessa hesitated.
The answer disappointed him.
She could see it.
That surprised her.
“Initially,” she said.
Rafe’s eyes returned to hers.
“Initially?”
“You were bleeding.”
“That sounds romantic.”
“I’m not trying to be romantic.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
He looked away.
“Because women aren’t usually romantic with me.”
Tessa blinked.
She could not tell whether he was joking.
He wasn’t.
“That’s difficult to believe.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
“Rafe.”
“Look at me.”
“I am.”
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“Look.”
Tessa did.
Really looked.
The intimidating height.
The enormous shoulders.
The hands large enough to close around her wrist completely.
He mistook her silence.
“Exactly.”
“What exactly?”
“That moment.”
“What moment?”
“The calculation.”
Tessa frowned.
“I wasn’t calculating anything.”
“Everyone does.”
His voice remained emotionless.
“Women see me and decide whether they should smile because they’re afraid, avoid me because they’re uncomfortable, or be kind because they feel sorry for me.”
Tessa stared.
The statement was so unexpected she almost missed the pain buried inside it.
“You think people pity you because you’re... tall?”
“Not tall.”
He gave a humorless smile.
“Too much.”
The phrase landed strangely.
Tessa remembered how carefully he had held himself outside.
How he shifted away from people.
How he kept his shoulders angled in crowded spaces.
Rafe Calder had built an empire large enough to frighten half the city.
Yet some part of him still believed he took up too much room.
Tessa moved closer.
“Give me your hand.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because I asked.”
“Tessa.”
“Rafe.”
Slowly, suspiciously, he held out his hand.
She placed hers inside it.
The size difference was almost absurd.
Her fingers barely reached around the side of his palm.
Rafe went absolutely still.
Tessa looked up.
“Am I afraid?”
He said nothing.
“Do I look uncomfortable?”
“No.”
“Do I look sorry for you?”
His jaw tightened.
“You’re proving a point.”
“Maybe.”
She started to withdraw.
His fingers closed.
Not hard.
Just enough to stop her.
Tessa looked down.
Then at him.
Rafe released her immediately.
“Sorry.”
She surprised him by taking his hand again.
This time voluntarily.
His eyes searched hers.
“What are you doing?”
“Finishing the point.”
His voice became quieter.
“And what point is that?”
“That sometimes a woman touches you because she wants to.”
Rafe stared at her.
For one long second, something unguarded appeared in his face.
Then June’s voice came from the doorway.
“Well.”
They both turned.
June stood there wearing a hospital robe beneath a black coat.
Her smile was tired but unmistakable.
“I feel like I’ve interrupted something important.”
Tessa released Rafe’s hand.
Rafe stepped away.
“You’re supposed to be upstairs.”
“So are you.”
“June.”
She lifted both hands.
“I’m going.”
Then her eyes landed on the photograph.
Her smile vanished.
“Where did you get that?”
Rafe looked at her.
“You recognize it?”
June walked closer.
“Of course I recognize it.”
Tessa’s heart accelerated.
June picked up the sleeve.
Her eyes filled with something that looked disturbingly like fear.
“June,” Rafe said.
She looked at Tessa.
“Your mother was Evelyn Ward?”
“Yes.”
June closed her eyes.
“Oh God.”
“What?”
June looked toward her brother.
“Rafe, Dad lied to us.”
“About what?”
June’s eyes returned to Tessa.
“About why Evelyn disappeared.”
Nobody moved.
Tessa felt as if the floor had shifted beneath her.
June swallowed.
“She didn’t leave because she betrayed our father.”
Rafe’s expression darkened.
“Then why?”
June held up the photograph.
“Because she discovered who was stealing from the Calder organization.”
Rafe’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
June opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
The entire floor plunged into darkness.
A second later, an alarm began screaming.
Rafe grabbed Tessa and pulled her behind him.
Footsteps thundered outside.
Then Malcolm shouted from the hallway.
“Lock the door!”
Something struck the other side.
June gasped.
And in the darkness, Tessa realized someone had not come to the hospital to kill Rafe.
May you like
They had come to make sure June never finished her sentence.
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