Page 119 of Free to Judge

“I know.”

“I deserve whatever you’re planning to throw at me for everything. It doesn’t matter how big or small, every hurt I caused I need to fix.”

She nods carefully. It hurts me to watch that uncertainty, not knowing if that’s due to her emotions or the physical pain she’s in. “There’s just one thing I need to say.”

“Say it.”

“I never touched Nerissa with intent. I swear on my life. It was a ruse to keep us both alive. That’s all it was.”

“I figured that out after tonight, but you still didn’t talk to me. You pushed me away, Declan. That’s what hurts.”

“Yeah.” I blow out my breath.

“Take how you’re feeling about the flirty intern and amplify that by a thousand. That’s what I was feeling.”

Knowing the murderous thoughts I entertained just a few short moments ago, I can’t imagine the pain I put her through. My eyes burn as I vow, “I would’ve burned that whole building to the ground to get to you tonight.”

Her lips curve in the tiniest of smiles. “I hope I wouldn’t have been inside.”

Her eyes glance down at her visitor’s chair. “Let’s talk.”

Making my way to her side, I pause. Then I drop to my knees. My fingers grasp the same wrist the intern touched—one of the few parts of her not battered and bruised. “I thought I lost you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I will if I don’t say this right.”

“Say what right?”

I open my mouth to get my apology out when the door opens again and a tall, broad-shouldered man in a white coat, green scrubs, and hospital badge enters while looking down at his tablet. “Ms. Marshall, I’m doc…” His body freezes.

“Declan,” the man accuses. “What the fuck are you doing in my ER?”

Kalie’s eyes flicker between us. “You know him?”

The doctor’s eyes narrow on him. “Oh, I know him. He has a tendency of getting his partners killed—like my wife.”

I rise slowly. “Ben.”

Ben steps inside and closes the door behind him with a soft click. Tension fills the room like smoke. No one speaks until Ben breaks the silence. “She’s my patient. Didn’t expect you to be here.”

“I didn’t expect to be here either,” I say. “Not like this.”

“You have some fucking nerve?—”

“Enough,” Kalie snaps, cutting him off with what I suspect is her reserve strength. “You don’t get to come in here and accuse him of anything—not after what he’s done.”

Ben’s brow furrows. “What he’s done? You mean other than leave a dead trail of answers surrounding my wife’s death?”

“Your wife died in the line of duty. You don’t get to walk in here acting like an ass.”

“Excuse me?” Ben is shocked by Kalie.

“Declan did everything in his power to find out who was behind it. He went undercover for years. He risked his life a hundred times over. He wanted the answers for Tanya’s death just as badly as you did—for you and your children.”

Ben falters, clearly taken off guard.

“He infiltrated not one, but two criminal empires for her. He rescued me from one of the heads of them,” she continues, gesturing toward herself. “As for your wife? If she’s half the woman Declan’s told me about, she’d be appalled at the way you’re acting instead of honoring the women she died trying to save.”