Page 36 of Nica (Texas Boudreau Brotherhood #17)
Gabe allowed them to escort him from the room, but not before turning back to deliver his final lines.
“When the truth comes out—and it will—I hope you can all live with what you’ve done.
My wife almost died because of your lies.
If she doesn’t make it…” He let the threat hang in the air, unfinished but unmistakable.
As the guards led him down the hallway, Gabe could hear the explosion of voices from the conference room behind him. Good. They’d be talking about this for hours, calling their friends, spreading the story. By noon, everyone in Shiloh Springs would know that Dr. Gabriel Summers had finally snapped.
In the lobby, Douglas and Liam were waiting. Douglas’ face was a mask of concern that Gabe knew was only partially fake. His father-in-law was a good man, and this couldn’t be easy for him to watch.
“Gabe,” Liam said, grabbing his arm. “What was that? We got a call to head over here fast, that you’d snapped.”
“That was me finally telling everyone in this lousy town the truth,” Gabe said, his voice still carrying that edge of instability. “Finally telling these holier-than-thou people what I really think of them.”
The security guards released him to his family, and Douglas immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Come on, son. Let’s get you some coffee, somewhere quiet where we can talk.”
Gracie’s Grounds was only a few blocks away, and the morning crowd had thinned out, but there were still enough people seated at the tables or milling around for the plan to work.
Perfect. More witnesses to his breakdown.
Gabe let Douglas guide him to a corner table, but he couldn’t sit still.
The performance had to continue. He had to convince everybody who saw him that he’d finally snapped—that he needed professional help—or more.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he said, his voice carrying across the coffee shop. Several heads turned in their direction. “I can’t keep pretending everything’s fine when it’s not. When my wife is lying in a hospital bed because someone in this town wants me destroyed.”
“Wife?” Gabe heard somebody whisper. “I didn’t know he was married.”
“Yeah, that’s right, I’m married. And my wife, my bride, the woman I love more than life itself, is lying in a hospital bed after having a bullet dug out of her chest.”
Okay, maybe that was a little over the top, but I need to make this look good.
“Nica?”
“He’s married to Nica Boudreau?”
“Must be why he’s here with her father and brother.”
He could hear voices coming from all around him, the realization sweeping through the coffee shop. Now that people knew he was married to one of their precious Boudreaus, it was on to the next step of their plan.
“Keep your voice down,” Liam hissed, but Gabe shook his head violently.
“No! I’m tired of keeping quiet. Tired of being the nice guy while someone tries to frame me for malpractice. You know what they’re saying about me? That I killed that woman in California. That I was drunk when I operated on her.”
His hands were shaking now—not entirely an act. The stress of the last few weeks, the fear for Nica’s safety, the weight of the lies he spewed for the masses—it was taking its toll.
“I’ve never touched a drop of alcohol before surgery. Never. But try telling that to the medical board when someone’s feeding them altered records, planted evidence. They want me to fail. Want me broken. Wouldn’t be surprised if they want to drive me out of this town.”
Gracie herself appeared at their table, her face creased with worry. “Dr. Summers? Are you alright? You look…”
“Like hell?” Gabe laughed harshly. “Yeah, that’s about right. When someone’s trying to destroy your life, it tends to show.”
The coffee shop had gone quiet, everyone straining to listen to the town doctor’s very public meltdown. This was better than Gabe had hoped. By the time word reached Banner, the story would be even more dramatic than the reality.
“The nightmares won’t stop,” he continued, his voice cracking.
“Every patient I’ve lost, every family I’ve had to face and tell them their loved ones couldn’t be saved—they’re all there when I close my eyes.
And now Nica…what if she doesn’t make it?
What if the last thing she remembers is me being accused of murder? ”
That’s when Rafe walked through the door, his expression grim but unsurprised. The timing was perfect—they rehearsed this part carefully.
“Gabe,” Rafe said, approaching the table with the cautious air of someone dealing with an unstable individual. “I need you to come with me.”
“Why?” Gabe demanded, jumping to his feet. “What crime have I committed now? Trying to save lives? Caring too much about my patients?”
“You’re scaring folks, Gabe. Making threats. I need you to calm down and come with me before this gets worse.”
“Worse?” Gabe’s laugh bordered on hysterical. “How could it possibly get worse? Your sister’s been shot, my career’s in ruins, and everyone thinks I’m a killer. What’s next, Sheriff? You going to arrest me? Lock me up for caring too much?”
Time to wrap up his performance. He allowed Rafe to cuff him, allowed himself to be led from the coffee shop under the stares of half the town.
Was his performance enough to convince Julian Banner?
By lunchtime, the story would be all over Shiloh Springs: Dr. Gabriel Summers had finally cracked under the pressure.
As Rafe walked him across the street to the sheriff’s station, Gabe caught sight of his reflection in Gracie’s front window.
He looked exactly like what he was pretending to be—a broken man who’d lost everything.
The irony wasn’t lost on him that the best performance of his life might also be his most honest.
Now all they could do was wait for Banner to take the bait.
But as they walked across the street, Gabe in handcuffs, neither Gabe nor Rafe noticed the black sedan parked across the street, or the fact that it was now turning toward the hospital.
Julian Banner had indeed taken the bait. But not the way any of them had expected.