Page 24 of When He Fights (Protector & Defender #3)

Before Gray could respond, there was a soft knock on the exam room door.

“Don’t come in!” Gray yelled.

The door opened anyway.

“I knew she’d come in,” Gray muttered. “That’s what happened to my wrist, by the way. I mean, she’s what happened.”

A woman crossed the threshold. A woman wearing a black dress and one broken high heel.

Technically, she wore two heels. One was broken.

One wasn’t. So she had a lurching walk as she advanced.

“Good news,” she announced. “The nurse at the check-in desk wears the same size shoes that I do. She has an extra pair of sneakers in her locker that I can buy from her.” She smiled at Kane. Then Ana. “Hello.”

“Who the hell are you?” Kane asked her.

“Emerson Marlowe.” She approached with an outstretched hand. Her dark hair slid against her shoulders. “Nice to meet you.”

He took her hand. Swallowed it and immediately let go.

She offered her hand to Ana. “I have been dying to meet you, Ana,” Emerson told her.

Like those words didn’t give Kane a bad feeling in his gut.

“ Dr. Emerson Marlowe,” Gray clarified for the group. “As in, remember the shrink I told you about? The one who’d been having sessions with Logan Catalano? It’s Emerson.”

Ana had just been shaking Emerson’s hand, but at that news, she hurriedly pulled her hand back. “Why were you talking with Logan?”

“Because someone had to do the job.” Emerson squared her shoulders. “I think there is a great deal that we can learn from the criminal mind. Once we understand how some can commit acts of heinous violence so easily, then perhaps we can find a way to eliminate those acts and prevent future victims.”

Ana remained on the exam table. If anything, she inched her body a bit closer to Kane. “What did you want? To figure out how to—how to change Logan? How to stop him from being a monster?”

“I wanted to know when he became a monster. Because the guy went from being a church choir boy in his youth to one of the most feared mob enforcers on the East Coast by the time he was an adult. Sure, everyone changes in life, but that was quite the brutal one-eighty, don’t you agree?”

Kane looked over at Gray. His buddy was frowning at his wrist brace.

“Logan was good at pretending.” No emotion entered Ana’s voice. “Maybe he pretended to be a good choir boy just like he pretended to be a good boyfriend. A good human being. But the truth is that he was always evil at his core.”

Gray looked up. His gaze collided with Kane’s. Kane forced his back teeth to unclench. “There was a drive-by at Ana’s place. That’s two attacks in one night.”

“Three,” Emerson corrected as she headed toward Gray’s side. One heel clicked. The other just sort of slid across the floor. “Three attacks. The attack at the aquarium, the attack at the police station, and the attack at Ana’s house.”

Kane took a step forward. “What happened at the police station?”

Gray waved his wrist brace.

“I saved Grayson’s life,” Emerson confessed.

“I saw the truck’s window rolling down as the vehicle advanced.

I saw the tip of the gun, and I knew what was going to happen even before the engine roared and the driver barreled fast toward his target.

” A pause. “A target that was Grayson. I leapt into action. Tackled him. Saved him.”

“Broke my wrist,” Gray groused. “And, yes, she saved my life. I don’t think she will ever let me live that down.”

“I will not,” Emerson assured him as she lifted her chin just slightly. “But at least you get to keep living, so there’s that bonus.”

“Wait!” Ana jumped off the exam table.

Dammit, he’d put her?—

“Do not dare try it again, Kane,” she ordered in a chilling tone.

“I get that you’re worried about me, but you don’t need to be.

You were the one standing in front of the picture window.

You were literally between me and danger.

I didn’t get hit.” Her eyes were big and deep and so very golden.

“You were the one dripping blood. I was afraid that you’d been shot.

When I found out that it was just glass that had cut you.

..” An exhale. “I was relieved. Still scared because there was a lot of blood, but at least you didn’t have bullets in you.

” She reached for his hand. Squeezed it.

Her voice warmed and softened as she told him, “Take a breath. Stop worrying so much about me. I am okay.”

He would always worry about her. His hand twisted so that he could cradle her fingers in his. When he finally looked up and around again, he found Emerson’s eyes on him.

Curious. Considering.

Then she caught his stare. Blinked. And he could read nothing about her expression.

“I talked to the cops on scene at Ana’s place.

” Gray began to pace around the small room.

He always paced when he was delivering bad news.

“We got footage of the vehicle thanks to the doorbell camera. Same truck was involved in both shootings. It looks like there were two individuals in the truck. The driver and the shooter. First it went to the station, where I got the spray of bullets, and then the truck drove over to Ana’s place.

” He frowned at a blood pressure cuff that had been left on a rolling tray.

“Lots of her neighbors came out to watch the circus when the cops swarmed and the crime scene teams went to work. Mrs. Shirley Hosier— Mrs. Shirley’s grandson had given her a doorbell camera for Christmas.

He didn’t like for his grandma to go to the door without knowing who might be waiting outside.

She gave links to view the footage to the cops, and they discovered that the truck idled near Shirley’s place for a good five minutes before taking off and shooting.

It was like the perps in the truck were waiting for something.

” He stopped frowning at the cuff and turned his frown on Ana.

“Almost like they were expecting a signal to attack.”

Ana shook her head. “There was no signal. I was playing the harp. Kane was listening, standing near me, and then, in the next moment, he was yelling for me to get down and launching his body to cover mine.”

He hadn’t been sure that he would get to her in time.

When Kane swallowed, he tasted the fear that lingered.

It was like bitter ash. He’d seen the truck, seen the gun—the tip, just as Emerson had described—and he’d known that the attack was seconds away.

He’d leapt for Ana, only wanting to protect her.

It was his job, after all. Gray had deposited a big-ass check from the federal government in Kane’s bank account. Another freelance gig.

I’ll put that money into the same savings account that I’ve used for all of Ana’s rent payments. I won’t touch a dime of it. Because he didn’t need to be paid for watching Ana.

“Why on earth were you playing the harp in the middle of the night?” Emerson asked. Her head tilted to the right.

“Uh, Emerson.” Gray shook his head. “Not really the point. The point is the bullets that were flying. The point is that there were two attacks from the perps in that truck. One at the station. One at her place. There is an APB out for the truck now, FYI, everyone. We will find that vehicle. We are also pulling all traffic cams from the area. Maybe we’ll get a pic of the driver or the passenger—the shooter.

Unfortunately, we already know the ride was reported stolen, so the driver isn’t the guy who owns it.

The real owner is a farmer up in Hattiesburg who doesn’t know how his truck got all the way down here. ”

Emerson moved to stand in front of Ana. Click. Slide. Click. Slide.

Kane frowned at her feet. “I’d probably just trash them.”

“They were really expensive shoes. Hoping I can get them repaired.” She focused on Ana. “Why were you playing the harp? At two a.m.?”

Ana glanced at Kane.

“Oh.” Emerson cleared her throat. “Had you two been, uh, were you busy, um?—”

“They have a cover story of being involved,” Gray cut in to say. “They aren’t lovers. Cover story, Emerson. Not reality. They aren’t involved.”

Yeah, buddy, we are. Not that he intended to broadcast his business. Kane had never been the type to kiss and tell.

“Jeez, Emerson,” Gray grumbled, “get your mind out of the gutter.”

Your mind is dead-on-track, Emerson.

“I have trouble sleeping,” Ana suddenly disclosed.

Kane’s attention shifted right back to her. Her cheeks had definitely reddened.

“I tend to wake up at the same time each night. I wake up at two. I go downstairs. I play the harp to calm down. To soothe myself. After a while, I’m able to go back to bed.”

“Logan loved hearing your music,” Emerson murmured.

Kane stiffened. “ That bastard took her music away from Ana. She should still be on a stage, still performing with the New York Philharmonic, but instead, she had to run. She didn’t feel safe. She had to give up her whole life because of that piece of crap.”

Emerson wet her lips. “He told me that he fell in love with Anastasia?—”

Kane growled.

“He fell in love with her when he first saw her perform. She had a solo, and it was the most beautiful performance he’d ever heard. Her face was completely focused, lost to the music, and Logan knew then and there that she was meant to be his.”

“Ana is not and will never be his. ” Guttural. “Never.”

Ana squeezed his hand. “I’m okay, Kane.”

He took a deep breath. His head turned toward her. He drank her in even as he promised, “I won’t let him get close. He will not hurt you. I don’t care if I have to take a bullet or if I have to shoot into the bastard until he stops moving— he will not have you. He will not hurt you. I swear it.”

Another knock at the door. What. The. Hell? Who was it this time?

The nurse popped his head inside. Frowned at all the people. “So, what, this is some kind of group meeting in my exam room? Why don’t you take that meeting outside to the parking lot?”

Gray flashed his ID. “FBI. I’m interviewing the vics, and I need privacy.”