“I thought of that. I don’t want you going to work tomorrow.”
“Ryan—”
“No, listen to me.” He pushed back to look down at her, his fingers gripping her shoulders with intent and compassion. “This is bigger than we thought. Millions of dollars were dumped into Tabofren. People were pissed when it was pulled. Your chart shows it was administered long after the FDA yanked the plug. Someone was testing it, either because they had a buyer, or they were trying to get around the FDA. Either way, your snooping around won’t sit well with whoever was behind this.”
She didn’t like what he was implying. “I thought Jake was behind this.”
“I don’t think he did this alone. I don’t think he could have. People at the nursing home knew. Someone at the publishing house knew.”
His words settled in the air between them. A clock ticked on the wall across the room. “Did you know him?” she asked quietly.
His eyes held hers, but she couldn’t read his thoughts. “I met him a few times. I didn’t know him well.”
Her eyes fell closed. They’d met. They’d talked. Her being with Jake wasn’t a coincidence.
He tightened his grip on her shoulders. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, but I need you to be careful. Your face is going to be all over the papers. People will know you aren’t dead.”
One more thing to worry about. “I…I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I want you to see a doctor. Tomorrow.”
She swiped at her cheeks. “I’m fine.”
“Don’t argue with me on this.” The tone of his voice told her not to even try. “Tabofren was never tested long-term. We don’t know what the long-range effects could be.”
“I had a CT scan just before Jake died. It came back normal.”
“It was done by the doctor in Houston who disappeared, right?”
“Yes.” Her stomach rolled all over again. “You don’t think he’s involved too, do you?”
“I don’t know. But we need to be cautious. We’re not taking any chances here.”
“Oh, God,” she muttered again, sinking back into him. It was getting worse. Every new clue, every bit of information made her question just what she’d gotten herself into. What she’d gotten Reed into. What she’d dragged Ryan and Julia into.
He wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek against her hair. Warmth, safety, strength cocooned her. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Held tight against him, she wanted to forget everything they’d found, to cling to the lifeline that had become his body, to believe his words. His scent wafted in the air, brought a familiar sense of déjà vu. Closing her eyes, she turned her cheek against his chest and held him right back.
The rhythmic thumping of his heart reminded her she was alive. And in the silence, she could almost imagine what life with him had once been like. What he’d been like before…before losing Annie. Happy. Whole. A man who would move heaven and earth for the woman he loved.
But this wasn’t then. Neither of them were the same people they’d once been. And even though she wanted to lean on him and let him be her rock, there was still so much she didn’t know. About what had happened to her. About him. About how all of this—him included—was connected.
The truth would set her free. She couldn’t let this break her. She wouldn’t. She’d already come so far. The only thing she could do now was search for the answers she knew were out there.
And deal with the fallout when it happened.
***
“This cluster fuck just gets bigger and bigger.” Mitch stood at the wet bar in Ryan’s office and tugged a hand through his hair.
“Tell me about it.” Ryan poured soda into a glass and glanced across the room at Annie and Simone, both of whom were sitting on the floor near the windows, quietly talking. Annie had put on a good face when Simone and Mitch had shown up, but he didn’t miss the way her hand trembled whenever she reached for her glass of wine or picked at the Chinese food they’d brought back. “She won’t come back to my place tonight, she’s too damn stubborn, but I don’t want her alone all the way out at that beach house.”
“You really think someone would go after her?”
“Thanks to that press conference today, her face has been plastered all over the media. She’s been snooping around that nursing home for weeks. Someone saw her and wouldn’t let her in. They know she’s