We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,123
school eventually. She loved animals of all kinds and Oliver was more than welcome with her whenever Izzie had to work. Josey was taking over Annie’s house, now that Turner had satisfactorily dealt with Annie’s problems with City Hall.
Oliver would be fine.
Izzie had just disconnected when someone entered the waiting room.
She looked up.
Into Jennifer Henedy’s brown eyes.
Izzie jumped to her feet. This was not what she wanted at all. Not now. Then she looked beyond the councilwoman. Into the face that still haunted her nightmares.
Izzie screamed.
He raised his hand and fired. Just like he had before.
106
The surgery had gone well. Nikkie Jean had to admit the man who’d taken the other side of the table from her seemed to know what he was doing.
He’d taught both Rafe and Allen, after all. Allen had told her personally that he had no question about the man’s skill, or brilliance, it was his personal choices that made him such an asshole.
Nikkie Jean had to agree, even though Jeoffrey Stockton appeared reasonably pleasant to her. Izzie had one hundred percent of her loyalty.
Baby Alien Alvaro—as the kids had named the baby—kicked her hard. She strongly suspected it was a boy, who would be as big as his six and a half-foot father someday.
And probably huge at birth.
Nikkie Jean was starting to get nervous. She had another ultrasound scheduled in the morning. They’d find out more then.
Jillian, her friend and future sister-in-law was one week further along. The fathers were identical twins. Yet Jillian was only half the size of Nikkie Jean.
People in the hospital were taking bets that Nikkie Jean’s baby would be a ten-pounder.
That was so going to hurt.
Dr. Stockton called her name.
Nikkie Jean turned.
Just as someone screamed outside the door. As something loud cracked on the other side of the walls.
Nikkie Jean would never forget that sound.
Dr. Stockton grabbed her shoulder. From behind. Nikkie Jean flinched. She’d always hated that.
There were others in the room. Stockton nudged Nikkie Jean back toward Sarina and the four others in the surgical suite. “Stay here, Dr. Netorre. None of you are to leave this room until security tells you differently. Lock the doors. Barricade them if you have to.”
She looked straight at him. “Izzie’s out there.”
“I know. I’m going to go find her.”
He didn’t hesitate for even a moment. He was out of the suite in almost an instant.
Nikkie Jean hit the panel to lock them all in.
They weren’t going anywhere.
107
Izzie flinched. Her hands rose in front of her, and she screamed again. Wallace cursed. “Sit down, Lizzie. I’m not here to hurt you, honey.”
The girl was shaking, terrified. No wonder.
Wallace looked at Jennifer. “Well, you’re a mother. Help her calm down. I need to think.”
“She’s not our daughter, Wallace. She’s definitely not a child if she’s been screwing around with Allen Jacobson,” Jennifer said in a calm, even tone. She had always managed to handle herself in times of turmoil. Much better than Wallace ever could. “We buried Elizabeth twenty-six years ago, remember?”
“Of course, I know that.” He did. It was just…too hard now to keep it straight. “I killed her.”
Jennifer’s expression softened. “No, you didn’t. It was just bad luck. What do you call it? A genetic anomaly. Nothing we could have done would have changed it.”
“But I…should have been able to fix it. Did you know…it’s curable now? Dr. Lanning found a procedure that works now. Not like it was twenty-six years ago. I helped him. I helped him. I wouldn’t have, if it hadn’t been for Elizabeth.”
It was Wallace’s greatest accomplishment. He liked to think he’d helped save thousands of children’s lives. Maybe his life wasn’t going to be completely wasted.
“I know. What are we doing here, Wallace? I really don’t want to talk to one of your whores.”
He pulled in a breath. “Don’t call her that. She’s just an innocent kid I hurt. When I was angry at you.”
Wallace had his hand on the trigger. He lifted it. Toward the two women he never wanted to hurt again. But…
He had a mess to clean up. This was it. “Tell her, Jennifer. Everything that you did to hurt her. Everything.”
Izzie was still frozen. He had her trapped, and he knew it.
Wallace stepped toward. She screamed again. Izzie tried to run. He could almost feel his little girl’s terror now.
He raised the gun one more time. “No! Don’t move. Sit down.”
108
Allen knew something was happening the instant he started out of the ER after Virat had arrived to take his place.