A very small, almost elusive smirk touched the corner of his mouth. “Good” was his only reply, before his face went back to complete neutrality. As odd as he was, that response was comforting.

“Could you tell me your name, please?” I asked.

He scowled. “Cope.”

Cope? Was that a name? “Cope like Copeland?” I asked.

“Cope like Cope” was his reply.

Well, OK, then. “Nice to meet you, Cope. I’m—”

“Addison Turner. You lived in River Kipling’s home as a foster child for four years. His mother was batshit crazy and abused you. I know everything about you, so save it.”

My mouth dropped open as I listened to this man sum up my whole past with River in four sentences. How did he know this? Was he really that close to River? “So Captain is really in the hospital? This is true?”

He nodded and kept scowling.

“He’s going to be OK, though?” I asked, my heart starting to beat faster and my fear clawing its way to the top. Although I had gotten into this truck, I wasn’t so sure he was being honest with me.

“Fuck yeah. Cap’s survived more than a flyaway bullet to the leg. He’ll be fine, but he’s gonna want you.”

Flyaway . . . “What?” I asked, grabbing the handle of the door as the word “bullet” sank in. Someone had shot him? How? Why? He was at work tonight.

“Reckon ain’t my shit to share with you. Cap will have to do that. But yeah, he’s gonna be fine. He’ll even get to keep his leg. Clean shot through.”

Keep his leg . . . clean shot through. Oh, dear God.

I didn’t say much more as I watched him drive in the direction of the hospital. A very large part of me was thinking I’d rather he had come to abduct me than escort me to the hospital where Captain was lying, shot up half to death.

When he pulled into the parking lot, I almost jumped out of the moving truck.

“Whoa, woman. Seriously, chill the fuck out. I’ll get you up there quick,” he barked at me when I started to open the door.

“I need to get to him,” I snapped back.

“And I’ll get you there. Jesus,” he grumbled, as he opened his truck door and I jumped down from my seat.

This guy had better hurry, or I was leaving him here and heading straight for the information desk. I didn’t have time for him to take his time.

“Room 345. Go on. I need coffee,” he said, as if he could read my mind.

I didn’t even turn back and look at him before I broke into a run.

Captain

Keeping my eyes open was fucking hard. The pain meds they had me on were intense. I’d felt the bullet tear through my leg when the jackass went down with one last pull of his trigger. My mind hadn’t been on the fact that my leg was shot though. All I’d cared about was that I was going to live. I wasn’t leaving Addy and Franny.

It wasn’t the first time I’d been shot, but it was the first time I didn’t want to die. I had something to live for now. That changed everything. I had killed two men tonight. Cope had taken out the third when I’d gone down with my leg.

This was my end to it. I had a family now, and this life was not what I wanted for them or for me.

“Addy is on her way up,” Alexa said, rising from her chair. “I’m gonna go find Cope and help him get some coffees. He had to deal with the police questioning, but he’s handled it, and they’re gone now.”

I couldn’t nod, because my head felt like it weighed a million tons. “Thanks,” I whispered. I didn’t want Addy walking in here with Alexa sitting by my bedside. She didn’t understand this world or what I had done.

I was going to have to come clean, though. If I’d died tonight, she wouldn’t have known why. They would have never explained it to her. My secret would have died with me. Addy needed to know. She deserved to know.

I had to trust that she loved me enough to forgive me for all I’d done.

Alexa walked to the door, then stopped and looked back at me. “She got into a truck with Cope, a guy she’d never met, just because he told her you were in the hospital. She took a chance with her life because she was so worried about you. And we both know how Cope looks. She’ll forgive anything.” She headed out the door without another word.

They all knew my past with Addy now. I’d had to clue them in, but Cope had already researched her and knew everything. He’d even known Rose was Addy before I had. Bastard was a fucking genius.

The door had only been closed a few moments when it opened up again, and Addy came into the room, her eyes wide and her face flushed, like she’d been running.

“River,” she said breathlessly. Then her hand covered her mouth, and she let out a small sob as she walked over to me slowly.

I wanted to get up and pull her into my arms, but I couldn’t move.

“Come here,” I said, using all my strength to lift my arm for her to come lie on my chest.

She didn’t pause before doing exactly what I wanted.

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m OK,” I assured her.

“You were shot,” she said on a choked sob.

This was why I had to tell her. She needed to know. I had to face it, but at least it was done. I was done. This would never happen again. Benedetto had promised me that. “Yeah, but I’m going to be fine. I promise.”

She sniffled. I hated that she had been crying. “What happened? Why weren’t you at work? Or were you?”