“Luck,” he answered.
“I know you’re in here,” Phillip called out.
Coop held the gun with both hands and aimed it at the door.
The knob of the closet door turned, making Cara gasp.
“I can hear you,” Phillip spoke as the door swung open.
Coop pulled the trigger.
He never missed a target.One bullet through the head. Phillip was lying broken and dead on the floor as Coop pulled Cara against his chest and eased her out of the room and over the body. He sat her on thebed and clicked the comm in his ear. “I’ve got her. Second floor. She’s hurt. Call EMS and the coroner’s office.”
Howard came bursting through the door with a phone pressed against his ear. “We need an ambulance. Female, age thirty-two, looks like a knife wound to the chest.” Howard glanced to the opposite side of the room. “The assailant is dead.”
Howard shook his head. “No, I don’t know the address. Shit.” Howard cursed as he left the room.
Coop pulled the shirt over his head and sat next to her, pressing the fabric into her wound. She looked dazed, as if the pressure and pain were making the room spin around her.
“Cara, stay with me.”
She shook her head as her eyes slipped closed.
Coop carried Cara, cradled against his chest, down the stairs, refusing to lay her down. He held her until the ambulance arrived and carried her inside, placing her on the gurney.
He kept touching her, afraid if he stopped and she woke, she’d get visions of the paramedics working to access the damage. The paramedics were asking him questions about allergies and her medical history, none of which he knew. When they asked if she might be pregnant, that question made him pause. “Possibly.”
He’d never considered having children, maybe because he’d never met the right woman. Coop’s gaze caressed Cara. Coop had caused his own damage to her that needed repair. One problem at a time.
Chapter Fifteen
Cara kepther gaze focused out the window the entire plane ride back to Florida, ignoring her Aunt Betty. Cooper had stayed on the island, to help settle the chaos that had ensued, and to give statements. Cara didn’t care. Her body was numb, her heart unfeeling. It was surreal. Everything she’d experienced, everything she’d learned.
“Cara, don’t be mad at Coop. Give him a chance to explain.”
Cara turned toward her aunt. “There’s nothing to explain. You knew; he knew, and neither one of you told me.”
Cara turned back to the window and got lost in the haze of the clouds. She closed her eyes, hoping that Aunt Bettywould take the hint. She did. For once in her life, she did. There were no witty remarks, no trying to make things right. Cara let the silence consume her until the plane jolted as the wheels met the tarmac.
The limo her father sent greeted the plane, and the ride to her mother's was quick. It was the last place she’d wanted to go, but she needed her car.
Coop’s sister, Angela, was waiting on the porch with Cara’s mother and sisters. Cara took a deep breath before getting out of the car.
None of them rushed to her side. They stood stoic, as if afraid to move.
“Cara,” her mother said, stepping off the stairs. “We have something to tell you.”
Her words made Cara pause. “Can it wait, Mom?”
“No, dear. It can’t.” Her mom guided Cara to stand in front of the others. “Tell her.”
“Tell me what?” Cara asked.
“We lied,” Harper said, sitting on the steps. The others followed and sat down too.
“All of us,” Becca amended.
Aunt Betty moved to stand beside Cara. “It’s my fault. I dragged them into it. If you’re going to be angry, be angry at me.”
