CHAPTER 47
Micah’s heartpounded in his ears as he let his statement hang out there.
“What happened?” Naomi finally asked, her voice soft with compassion.
“Her name was Caroline.” The words came out before he could stop them. “We’d been married three years and were living in Greenville, South Carolina. She was five months pregnant. We were having a baby girl.”
Naomi went still beside him—not in judgment but surprise.
Caroline’s face slammed into his mind. The way she’d glowed when she told him about the baby. The way her hand had rested on her stomach, protective and tender.
“Two years earlier, I’d spent eighteen months building a case against a trafficking operation running out of three counties,” he continued, his voice flat. “When it finally came down, we put nine people away. The man at the top got life without parole.” He paused. “His son blamed me for what happened. Said I’d destroyed his family.”
He paused to compose himself, to find the right words.
Naomi waited for him to continue, giving him space to collect himself.
“I was at work. Caroline was home. It was the middle of the day. We lived in a safe neighborhood. I had no reason to think—” He stopped and swallowed hard. “This guy . . . he broke in. Caroline tried to call 911—the phone was in her hands, and the nine had been pressed—but he shot her before she could.”
Naomi’s hand found his under the blanket, and her fingers curled around his.
“By the time I got home, she was—” His voice cracked. “She was gone. Both of them. Gone.”
Silence stretched.
Micah’s throat tightened. His chest ached.
He hadn’t talked about this in years.Years. He hadn’t let himself go back to that day, to the moment he’d walked into the house and?—
“I’m so sorry,” Naomi whispered.
He nodded but couldn’t speak.
Her hand tightened on his.
“I couldn’t protect her,” he finally said. “I thought she was safe. But I was wrong.”
He turned to look at Naomi then. At the way her eyes shone with unshed tears. He felt the way her hand held his like she could anchor him to something solid.
“I won’t make that mistake again,” he murmured.
Naomi’s eyes searched his face. “You didn’t fail them, Micah.”
“I did.”
“No.” Her voice was firm. “What happened to Caroline—to your daughter—that wasn’t your fault. You can’t be everywhere. You can’t protect everyone all the time.”
“I should have been there. I promised Caroline I’d keep her safe.”
“You didn’t know.”
“That’s the point.” His voice sounded rough. “I didn’t know. And because I didn’t know, I lost them.”
Naomi shifted closer, her shoulder pressing against his. “You lost them because of someone else’s choices. The only person you should blame is the person who pulled the trigger.”
He wanted to believe that. But he couldn’t.
And more than anything, he feared making that mistake again—except this time with Naomi and Grace. He cared about them far more than he’d wanted to admit.
