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Sam leaned against the wall behind her as she settled on her step. She fired a text off to Mathias, making sure he and his sister were okay and behaving while at Maggie’s. While she waited for his reply, she turned to lean against the wall, stretching her legs on the step in front of her, and watched Sam trying to be unobtrusive.

“What’s your story? You married? You have a nickname like the rest? You like sushi? Tell me something. It’s weird having someone I barely know following me around.”

Sam studied her. “I’ve never thought about it, but I guess it is. I’m not married, but I have a girlfriend, Monica. We’ve been together for a while. We have a son, Aidan. He’s four. I had a nickname, but it’s never followed me around like some. I like sushi, but my girlfriend is obsessed with it.”

“All right. Let’s see it.”

He raised a quizzical brow. “See what?”

“I know you have a picture of your son, so you might as well show it to me.”

He pulled out his phone, but before he could flip it around to show her, footsteps echoed in the stairwell.

“Bridget. Bridget, I need to talk to you.”

She whipped her head around to the man coming up the stairwell toward her and scrambled to her feet. “What the hell? You aren’t supposed to be here.”

Sam reacted in a flash, placing himself between Bridget and Seth Masters, his hand resting on his firearm. “Get back to the nurse’s station. Now.”

Seth held up his hands in a no-harm gesture. “No, please. I have to know what went wrong. My entire life depends on it.”

She stepped on the top landing so she could see over Sam’s frame and stared down at Seth. “What went wrong? You tried to rape me, you son of a bitch. How dare you even approach me?”

“I was set up. You have to believe me. If you don’t drop the charges, my career is ruined.”

“Are you saying this is my fault?”

“I need you to listen to me. They paid me to seduce you. They told me you would like it, and they wanted the video to get you to do what they wanted. They told me you liked it that way and that would you tell me no as part of the game.”

“You’re insane!” Bridget felt her body shaking, and the tears fell on her cheeks. “Who the hell would pay you to do such a thing? And why would you agree to do it? You’re a father, and you thought nothing of attacking me with my children in the next room. And now you’re worried about your career without any thought to what your behavior will do to your son. You make me sick!”

“Bridget, go to the nurse’s station and stay there,” Sam ordered her. “I got this.”

This time, she needed no other encouragement. She bolted through the door back on her floor. Instead of going to the nurse’s station, she ducked into a supply closet, rested her head against the one of the shelving units and allowed the tears to fall unchecked. She suspected her shift would be hard. She had no idea it would leave her an emotional wreck.

That was how Sam found her. He didn’t bother to stop the tears or give her platitudes that everything would be alright. He waited for her to collect herself in her own time before he spoke.

“Security is holding the doctor until the police can arrive to arrest him for harassment. Sydney is working with an attorney Tristin uses from time to time to file a restraining order against him. It seems like all of this is connected to the people who want to sue you for custody of your niece and nephew. The doctor was hired to seduce you into some rough sex and get it on tape. The point was to show what you do when you’re supposed to be watching over your niece and nephew. They were going to use the video to prove you’re an unfit guardian. At least that’s the story the SOB’s sticking to.”

“Oh, my God!” she wailed. “I can’t believe my sister’s in-laws would go to such extremes. They basically paid this guy to rape me. That’s sick and pathetic and…” Her voice trailed off as sobs clogged her throat.

“We can use his statement to help us get all the proof we need to show what they’ve done, and we can use it to keep them from getting custody of the kids. I’m sorry you’re having to go through this, but if there was a silver lining, it would be that. Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I need a few minutes. Would you mind telling Charlotte I won’t be long? She’s my supervisor in the black scrubs. I want to check on Mathias and Marlowe before I continue my shift.”

“I understand. I’ll be close by if you need anything.”

She was already pulling out her phone when he stepped out of the closet. The other nurses would probably start gossiping that she’d brought her boyfriend to work just to make out with him in the supply closet, but she was past caring about what the people in the hospital thought. Her focus was on hearing her kids’ voices and reminding herself of the important things in her life.

Chapter Twenty-One

“You good to go through with this?”

Zane’s eyes narrowed as he tugged his ball cap firmly on his head. He didn’t face Wings as he answered. “Yeah. As much as I can be. I hope Jay’s plan works.”

The Alpha Team planned for this. They reviewed every scenario multiple times so they walked into the situation prepared. But no one could prepare for the unexpected.

“Plan A probably won’t. More than likely B and C won’t either. But D is usually a sure bet. We just have to play out the first three to get to the fourth.”