For three days, I’d been in a hospital bed, waiting for Sophie to come see me. She wasn’t answering my calls. Brock and Antonio said she was fine. They didn’t know why she wasn’t talking to me. She asked for an update every time someone came from the hospital.

The pain was still radiating through my body. The events at the warehouse kept coming back full force. When Sanchez had the gun pointed at Sophie’s head, I’d lost it. He used his own niece as a shield to get out of the warehouse.

The soft footsteps entering my room had me opening my eyes. I saw Sophie.

Her emerald eyes were sad. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t. I was thinking.” My voice was horse from the tube they had in my throat during surgery.

“Hi.”

I squeezed her hand. “Stop crying, Red. I’m fine. The doctor patched up the hole. I’m as good as new.”

At the mention of my gunshot wound, Sophie started to cry harder. “I can’t do this.”

“Can’t do what? We’re sitting here talking. Well, I’m lying down.”

She gave me a watery smile. “I did this to you. If you hadn’t been brought into the case, you wouldn’t have almost died.”

The shot to the leg was nothing. The shot that clipped my bulletproof vest and traveled upward, hitting my lung, was bad. The doctor said I coded twice on the table. That made me realize I need to live each day to the fullest. Every thought that went through my head was about Sophie. I wanted nothing more than to spend my life with her.

“The Director of the CIA was rogue. Zack would’ve called me in on the case sooner or later. I’m mad the fucker is in the wind.” When the gunfire started, Sanchez had used Sophie as a shield. Nobody was able to get to him in time. Brock traced his steps, but the man escaped the country.

Zack held a press conference denouncing the Director of the CIA. Sanchez was put on the most-wanted list. Every branch of the government was looking for him.

“Why is it so hard for you to take help from others? I wanted to help you, Sophie.”

“You have one of the most well-known families in the world. My parents were murdered, and I spend my time hacking. To top it off, the man I thought was helping me was the one that killed my family.”

I reached over, ignoring the pain in my chest, to run a finger across Sophie’s cheek, wiping the tears away. At my touch, she started to cry harder.

“Will you have dinner with me when I get out of here?”

She looked into my eyes, astonished. “Why?”

Reaching for her hand, I squeezed. “Because we have something special. I told you on the tarmac I wanted more.”

“I came today to thank you. You deserve someone that can give you everything.” She reached up to wipe the tears away. “I can’t do that.”

She kept saying she couldn’t give me everything. But, I didn’t need everything. She was perfect the way she was.

“I only need you. Explain to me what you think I need.” I was getting frustrated talking in circles with her.

Sophie jumped from her seat. “I can’t have kids. The bullet that was meant for my mom—I jumped in front of it. It hit my ovaries. They said I will never be able to have kids.”

The sob that broke through Sophie was gut-wrenching. I couldn’t handle her being so upset.

“Sophie, come here.” I pointed to the side of the bed. When she got close, I reached out to pull her closer.

“Kids are a discussion for a long way down the road. If we decide to have them, we can adopt.”

Sophie needed someone to protect her and let her know she was enough.

* * *

Sophie

It hurt too bad to talk about. Having the choice of having your own kids taken away was hard to deal with. Dr. Roseline, my therapist when I was a kid, said that when I found the right man, he wouldn’t care that I couldn’t have kids. Her words were echoing through my mind. No matter how many times I heard the words, it didn’t change the hurt.

“You say that now, but you don’t know.” I stepped back, distancing myself from his touch. It was hard to concentrate when he had his hands on me.

The longer I stayed, the harder this goodbye would be.

“Don’t do it,” he pleaded.

“What?”

It was easy to say that now. I was falling in love with him. When he wakes up one day and wants his own kid, I will be devastated when he walks out the door. I had lost my family and sister for years. I had revenge to fall back on, then. I didn’t have to grieve my family.

It was going to be gut-wrenching to walk away right now. If we spent much more time together, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to recover.

“Bye.”

“Don’t do it, Sophie. Don’t walk away from what we have.”

What we had would always be in my heart. No one would ever get in there again. I couldn’t go through this. “We have nothing.”

Anger flashed in Zane’s eyes. He pounded his fist on the bed. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. Stop running from us.”

“I can’t do this anymore. Take care, Zane. I’m sorry.”

“I will come for you went I get out of here.”

A flicker of hope lit deep in my stomach.

“Please don’t. It will make it harder for us both. Bye.”

The devastation in Zane’s eyes was heartbreaking. It would be the last thing I remembered, but he deserved so much more than I could give him.

I turned and walked out the door. Zack was standing on the other side. He looked at me with both anger and disappointment.

It was for the best. I left the hospital in a blur. When I made it to my car, I lost it. I’d just left the only man I’d ever loved.

* * *

Zane

Losing my mom to cancer and watching her wither away in her bed was one of the worst moments in my life. I didn’t think I would experience another moment that would come close.

Sophie leaving me was something I didn’t think I would ever recover from. Her not being able to have kids was not something I was upset over. I would love to adopt foster kids that needed homes.

I wasn’t in the mood for visitors, but the click of dress shoes on the linoleum told me I wouldn’t have an option. Had he been standing out there the whole time? Did he hear the woman I fell in love with rip my heart out and leave it on the floor? Maybe she handed it to him on the way out.

If I had known heartache would be this bad, I would have told the doctor to let me code on the table. How can I go on living?

“I’m not in the mood for visitors.” I didn’t bother looking at the chair Zack occupied. I could see the three secret service agents at the door.

Zack leaned back in the plastic chair. “Will you give up that easily?”

I knew he had heard the conversation I had with Sophie. She didn’t want to be with me. She didn’t love me as much as I loved her.

“Didn’t you hear her? She doesn’t want to be with me.” The bitterness dripped from my voice.

The man had a country to run. Why was he sitting in my room, talking about my love life? If I wanted advice, I would contact Dr. Phil.

“I heard a scared woman.”

Sophie was the bravest woman I’d met. But Zack was right. She was scared to lose the people she loved. She’d had to watch her parents die in front of her at a young age. It took twenty-five years to get her sister back. When Sophie opened her heart, she opened it wide.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I won’t go after someone who doesn’t want me.” It was hard being rejected.

Zack ran his hand through his hair and looked up at the news broadcast. “For someone who has taken on some of the biggest threats to our country and chased people to the end of the world, you are giving up really easily.”

“She said not to chase.”

“Well, then this will be easier. I need you to come to DC once you are out and help me clean up the rest of the CIA.”

That would give me something to focus on. If I spent my time engrossed in work and didn’t think about Sophie, I could build a wall around my heart.

“Sure. I’ll be on the first plane out.”

Antonio stomped into my room. “I told you if you hurt her, I would kill you.”

“What you are talking about? I hurt no one.”

When Antonio stepped closer to my bed, Zack stood to take guard. I was so pathetic that someone who had bodyguards of his own was trying to protect me.

Zack pointed to the other plastic chair in the room. “Sit down. I put up with a lot, but you won’t touch my brother.”

“Zack, settle down. I can take on Antonio myself. I don’t need you fighting my battles.”

Both men grunted.

“When Kat and I were in the parking lot, we saw Sophie bawling. She said she came here to talk to you. What did you say? Kat is trying to calm her down.” Antonio was yelling by the time he was done talking.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I asked her on a date. She said we wouldn’t work and doesn’t want to see me anymore.”

Maybe there was hope after all if she was upset.

“That woman looks like she got her heart ripped out.”

Zack leaned forward. “Sophie broke up with Zane. She thinks she isn’t good enough because she has a medical condition.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

It was nobody business but Sophie’s. I glared at my brother for saying something he had no right to talk about. “It’s nothing life threating. She is still my world. The problem is that she doesn’t want to be in my world.”

“Grow the fuck up and go after your woman. Make her understand that you won’t leave her and will always be by her side.”

Antonio had a point. I needed to figure out a way to make Sophie believe that, no matter what, I would always be by her side.

“I think you have a good point. I’m not giving up.”

Zack stood. “Good. But you need to take care of things in DC first. Then you can fix your love life.” Zack exited the room before I had time to respond.

“Your brother’s an ass, but the stuff in DC does need to be fixed. I’ll watch over Sophie until you get back. Get better, man. You have a battle in front of you.”

That I did. I would get her back. It wouldn’t be right away, but she would be in my life again.