“Get up, you bitch!” An angry voice shreds into my dream of Eli and Maria playing at the park, pushing a little girl with long dark hair and icy-blue eyes on a swing set. “Get up. I don’t have a lot of time.”

I come to with something cold and hard pressing into my temple. As I blink away sleep, I notice two things at once. Misty is standing over me, and a gun is pressed painfully against my head. As if on autopilot, I sit up. The gun follows me, but I don’t care. I look to my left, where Cora had fallen asleep. She was so snuggly and warm I nodded off holding her against my side. She’s not there now.

“Where’s Cora?” I ask with zero concern for my own safety.

Misty snarls. “Like you really fucking care now that you’re going to be pushing out your own Carson mini-me.”

I’m certain my eyes go wide, because Misty keeps talking. “Yeah, I know you’re pregnant with his child. Of course you are. You couldn’t stop at stealing my man, my future husband. No, you had to steal Cora’s daddy too.” She swings the gun around before pointing it directly at my face.

I swallow down the fear and forge ahead. “Misty, where’s Cora?”

She snorts and runs a hand through her mangy hair. The woman is a mess. Normally, she’s clean, dressed to the nines, makeup on, and not a hair out of place. She’d always put herself together as though she needed to be perfect. Right now, that person is not here. In her place is a woman wearing dirty jeans, and her stringy blond hair looks like it hasn’t been washed in a week. She has shadows under her eyes and is at least ten pounds lighter.

I’m aware of her mental status now, and it’s clear this woman is no longer in touch with reality, if she ever was.

“My daughter… My daughter is fine. I put her to bed like a good mother does. Unlike you, who can’t even lift her into her crib. What do you think you’re going to do when your child comes, huh?”

How would she know that? She must have been watching us. For how long? The thought sends a shiver of disgust through me. Still, I ignore her taunts and breathe easy for a moment, knowing Cora is safely in her crib. She can’t get out yet, so no matter what happens here tonight, she’ll be safe. Carson will get to her.

“Uh, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I’m stalling to keep her talking. If she’s talking, she’s not shooting me.

The phone rings and the noise makes Misty flinch. Her hand wraps tighter on the gun. I shift to the side as she shakes her head, puts one hand to her temple, and winces. The phone rings two more times, and with each ring she seems to get more agitated, bouncing from foot to foot. Her eyes are large and wild, pupils so dilated all I can see are black, empty holes of rage.

Another ring and she pulls at her hair, opening her mouth in a silent scream when the machine picks up.

“Kathleen, Carson told me you were home…” Chase says on the machine.

I glance at the phone longingly, wishing I could run to it and tell him to call the cops.

“Fucking shut up!” she screams at the phone. She points her gun at it and shoots. The gun’s blast rips through the room, and the answering machine explodes into little pieces when the bullet hits its target.

I wrap my arms around my belly to protect my baby and try to run for it when she’s not paying attention. Cora screams from the other room.

Misty follows me into the hallway, hot on my heels. “You get back here, you bitch! You’re fucking dead! You hear me, homewrecker? You’re dead!”

I run as fast as I can and make it to our bedroom, where I know my cell phone is charging on the end table. I just barely grab it when I’m pulled back by my top and smashed upside the head with Misty’s gun. Blood sprays from my face as I fall to the bed and scramble across it to the other side. I lift a hand to my face and find my cheek is split open and blood is gushing out.

Misty points the gun at me, her back facing the doorway. Cora is screaming at the top of her lungs. The situation is dire. I know she’s going to kill me and leave my dead body for Carson to find. This would utterly destroy him. I can’t have that happen. He can’t see what she’s about to do to me.

Suddenly I come up with an idea. “Misty, I’m sorry I, uh, stole your man. He’s really not in love with me.”

“You think?” Her hand shakes wildly as she points the gun at me.

“Still, you don’t want him or your daughter to find me dead in your home, right?”

Her face contorts into a menacing glare. “My home. My fucking home. The one you took away from me!” she screeches. “He was going to kick me out on the street!”

Technically not true. He had an apartment lined up for her, but I’m not in any position to argue. I have to keep her talking, and I need her to get me out of the house and away from Cora and Carson. He’ll be home soon, and I don’t want him caught up in this. Cora needs her father.

Our baby needs us both, a little voice deep inside my head mutters. The pang of guilt rips through me, but I have to hold on to what I can save right now. Getting away from Cora and leaving this house is priority number one. I don’t want this insane woman anywhere near Cora and Carson.

I swallow down the bile that’s creeping up my throat. “He told me he loves you. That’s when I went after him,” I lie. “He doesn’t love me. This baby isn’t even his. I had sex with someone else.” Another lie. Whatever it takes to get this psycho to take me far away from here. “So you see, you need to just take me. Get out of here, and come back and get your daughter and man.”

Misty’s eyes lighten, and a small smile overtakes her lips. I can tell the wheels are turning in her head. She lowers the gun, and her face softens. She’s considering my suggestion. I breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s too soon. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a figure enter the room on silent feet.

Chase.

No! I shake my head, close my eyes, and pray Chase won’t do anything stupid. I should have known better. His gaze goes to Misty’s hand holding the gun, and he walks up silently behind her.

Please no. God, don’t. Don’t.

My heart stops beating as I watch him get closer to her back. The room is dead silent. I can’t even hear Cora screaming anymore. Misty’s eyes flick to me and then to the picture hanging over the bed. I follow her line of sight and see reflected in the glass with sickening clarity Chase creeping up behind her. Her eyes widen, and she turns around as fast as a spinning top, the arm holding the gun rising instantly.

Chase lunges at her, grabbing the gun with his hand. The sickening sound of a gunshot blast reverberates through the room. Chase’s body jerks once, but he shoves Misty back, his hand now holding the gun. Misty falls to the bed as Chase stumbles back, blood spreading on his white dress shirt. He falls to his knees, the hand not holding the gun clutching at his belly. In a nanosecond, he lifts the gun just as Misty finds her footing and stands. Her face is maniacal and she snarls, screaming out while pushing forward and lunging for the gun.

Chase squeezes the trigger once, catching Misty in the chest, and then fires a second time, the shot entering directly over Misty’s heart. Her body jolts and falls back to the bed, eyes open and lifeless.

I dash over to Chase as he falls to his back. The bloodstain on his shirt is bigger than a dinner plate already and pouring out from his abdomen. His body jerks as he coughs. I rush to his side and fall to my knees, using both my hands to put pressure on his wound. It’s the hardest I’ve ever pushed my injured hand. Still, blood is oozing over my fingers, warm and slick.

“Chase, Chase, honey stay with me. Please, please, stay with me.” Tears spill over my cheeks. “We need help. Hold on, please!”

He looks at me, his eyes filled with agony. “Gillian, the kids…” He gasps and winces. “My reason.”

“Yes, Chase. Gillian and the kids, they’re your reason for living, so live! Don’t give up! Don’t give up!” I’m yelling and pressing harder on his wound. “I need to get you help!” I scream to the empty room, thinking I need to get to my phone. Call someone. Anybody.

That’s when Carson runs into the room. “What’s going on?” He drops the bag he’s holding. “Oh my God! Kathleen! Fuck, Chase!” He falls to his knees by my side. “Are you okay? The baby?” His voice is stern and assessing.

“Fine, fine. We’re fine, Chase. Call the police. Now! He’s been shot in the stomach.”

Cora is still screaming in the other room.

Carson runs to the phone, calls it in, and before long sirens are blaring. Time seems to stretch, ebbing and flowing wildly. Carson has Cora in his arms just down the hall, not where she can see her mother dead or Chase on the floor bleeding out. When the paramedics finally arrive, Chase is unconscious and barely breathing.

“Back away, ma’am. Let us do our job.”

“I can’t let go. He’ll bleed to death.”

“Ma’am, we’ve got this.” A big paramedic grips me around the biceps and physically pulls me off. “We’ve got him. Let us help him.” He sets me aside and goes to work. The scene as they work on him floats through my conscious mind as if in a dream.

Finally, they are on the move, and I follow them to the ambulance, blood coating my pajamas, arms, and hands.

“Kat…” Carson says, broken. “Baby…”

“I’ve got to go with them,” I say, swiftly slipping into my flip flops at the door as they maneuver through the entry.

“Sorry, ma’am. Against protocol for a GSW. You’ll have to meet us at the hospital.” The paramedic jumps into the back of the ambulance and slams the door so fast a gust of air hits me.

Carson puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “The cops need your statement, and you need to change before we go to the hospital,” he says while looking down at my blood-soaked clothes.

That’s when I start to shake. A small tremble in each limb turns into a full-body shudder. My stomach twist and turns until vomit roars up my throat. I rush to the nearest bush and empty the contents in several body-racking heaves. A female cop holds my hair back and soothes a hand down my back as Carson stands helplessly to the side, calling out kind words while holding Cora tight.

This is pathetic! I lock my fear and anguish down. I need to be present for Chase. He saved my life, my baby’s life. I owe him everything. I’ll keep it together until I know he’s going to live. I wipe away the tears and the moisture coating my mouth and vow not to lose it again. I’ll be strong for him, for all of them.

That’s when I start to pray.

---

The only sound in the room is the ticking of the clock, a low murmur from outside in the hospital corridor, and my sniffles. I grip his hand as tight as I can with my gnarled one, but he doesn’t so much as flinch. He always comments on how the strength in my hand is getting better, patting the top of it while gifting me with a tiny curl of his lips. Right now, nothing. Just me and him. I’m not sure where Gigi ran off to. I expect she’s resting, since they finally kicked her seven-month-pregnant ass out. After four nights of touch and go, she and the baby need it. Hell, we all do.

Only, I can’t sleep.

Every time I close my eyes, I see Chase falling to his knees, blood pooling red on his stark-white dress shirt, his eyes widening and his lips firming while one of his arms comes up, the track lighting glinting off the gun. One shot, then two, right into Misty’s chest. Then he falls back, his mouth opening in a silent scream, but nothing comes out.

Then I wake up. Every night. I slip out of Carson’s warm arms—we’re sleeping in the guest room for now—being as quiet as possible. I change into yoga pants and a sweatshirt and come here. To the hospital. I need to make sure Chase is alive. That he’s still breathing.

When he breathes, I breathe. Usually it’s just me watching through the blinds outside of his ICU room as Gillian and Chase sleep. Tonight though, she’s gone. So I’ve slipped in to sit by his side.

It’s weird to see him unmoving. Completely still. On an average day, Chase is such a large presence. When he enters a room, everyone notices. His magnetism is that strong. People watch him. Women devour him with their eyes. Men are either scared of him or revere him. Not now. Now he’s lying silently, sleeping, his abdomen wrapped heavily with gauze and his chest bare. I watch him breathe. Every time his chest lifts, mine does as well. With each inhalation, a piece of me settles, relaxes, allowing me to survive another day.

A warm hand curls around the cap of my shoulder. “Hey, honey, it’s late. Three in the morning. What are you doing here?” Gigi whispers, even though Chase hasn’t woken up yet. They have him on a respirator and under heavy sedation so he doesn’t feel the excruciating pain a gunshot wound to the gut entails. She pulls a chair directly next to mine and sits in it, facing me. She grabs my other hand and holds it in both of hers.

I suck in a breath, and for the first time since it happened, my eyes fill with tears that fall over the edges of my lashes. “I love your husband,” I say with my heart in my throat and my fear spilling from my lungs.

“I know.” She blinks prettily, her green eyes so soft and welcoming in the dim light of the hospital room.

With every ounce of shame and pride I have inside, I repeat what I’m trying to say. “I really love him.” I squeeze her hand as best I can, trying to make her see. To understand what he did for me, for my baby, for Carson and Cora. I’ll never ever be able to repay that. Never. And this doesn’t include all he’s done for me over the past three years. I can’t lose him.

“I know,” she repeats.

I swallow, and the depth of my feelings comes out in a rush. “No, Gigi. I love him…like…like he’s my brother.” My voice makes the words sound scratchy and hard to get out.

“Honey, he is your brother,” she says simply, matter-of-factly, and pulls me into her arms. I go willingly.

“He could have died. And it would have been my fault.” My voice cracks, and I choke on each word, but I need to tell her. To admit the horrible pain that is swallowing me whole. “I could have lost him and you at the same time.” I hiccup through my tears, my body trembling violently as she holds me.

Gillian’s arms tighten around me. “There’s nothing in this world that could take you away from me. And Chase is too strong to leave this earth without one hell of a fight.” She runs her hands through my hair. “And sweetie, he made a choice, one I’m very thankful for. Had he not taken that chance, you and the baby would be dead. Misty would have killed you. There’s no question in my mind.”

“But Chase could have died, and it would have been my fault.” I sob against her neck, the shame flowing over me like a tidal wave.

Gigi holds my hair and pets my back. After allowing me a few minutes to wallow in my misery, she finally speaks. “Do you blame me for your burns? For losing the ability to use your hand fully?” Her question is as soft as a prayer but hits me as hard as a hammer.

In fact, the question flashes straight through me like a lightning strike. I push back and focus on her eyes. “Goodness, no. What happened to me was the direct result of a madman. You are not responsible for Danny. Have you thought that for the past three years?” My mind whirls with the possibility that my best friend has carried this tremendous weight all these years.

Gillian ignores me. “Misty was a mentally ill woman. She quite literally lost her mind and her ability to judge what was real and what wasn’t. You are not responsible for her actions.”

“But…” I try, and she cuts me off.

“No. Kathleen, I’ve not thought you blamed me for what Danny did. Not for a long time. At first I did. I worried all of you blamed me for what happened. But I worked through it with Dr. Madison when the situation went down. And it sounds like you are going to need to as well.”

I nod and let my head fall forward.

“Chase is going to be fine. The doctors say he will make a full recovery. Sure, he’ll need to be babied, but he’s got four women and a host of house staff falling all over themselves to help him.” She pats my hand the same way her husband does when he’s trying to get a point across to me. “He’s going to be fine. Knowing you are alive, the baby you’re carrying is okay, is all he needs to motivate him.”

I take a long, slow breath and glance at him. He’s sleeping. And he will have years and years to continue razzing me.

“You know, Kat, Chase would do anything for his family. And you’re part of that. Not only are you family through our bond, the two of you are close. Friends in a way the rest of us are not. That’s special, and I want him to have such a special connection. He’d have been devastated if you and the baby were hurt.”

She is right. Chase puts family above all else, and he was happy about the baby. Ecstatic, even. The more Davises the better, according to Chase.

Gillian’s phone buzzes from within her cardigan pocket. She pulls it out and lifts it to her ear. “Hello?” A soft grin overtakes her lips. Her gaze flits to mine. “Yeah, she’s here. I’ll send her home to you. Yes, she’s okay, just checking on the big guy again.”

Again? She knows.

Her lips turn into a slow smile. “Yeah, I think she’s worked through something that was keeping her from resting. I’ll make sure she leaves in a few minutes.”

“You knew?” I ask when she ends the call and puts her phone back in her pocket. “How? You were asleep.”

She stands up and pulls me up with her. “The nurses told me. I had to approve you coming into the ICU. How do you think you got in every night?”

Huh. It hadn’t entered my mind. I was just thankful when I pressed the button and told them who I wanted to see, they automatically buzzed me in.

“Honestly, I didn’t question it. Are you mad?”

“That you came and checked on my husband? That you love him and me so much you couldn’t sleep until you saw him alive? No, honey, I’m not mad. I’m grateful to have you in my life. Grateful for your love and friendship. Family is everything, and you’re my sister.” She pulls me into her arms, and I let the tears fall again while I hold her.

She keeps me close until our tears have dried up and I’m ready to go back home.

---

Carson pulls back the covers when I enter the room. “How’s he doing?”

I shrug, pull off my yoga pants and sweatshirt, and slip into bed beside him in only my cami and undies. “Gillian says he’s going to make a full recovery.”

“Of course he is.” He pulls me into his warmth and holds me close. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you keep leaving my bed to go to him?” His voice carries a hint of something I never expected from him.

Jealousy.

“I…I need to see him breathe.” I split myself open wide and let all of my worry spill out.

“You feel responsible?” He holds me close. I rest my head on his chest right above his heart.

“Yeah.”

“But she was my mistake. Not yours. I’m the one who fucked up.” The way his voice sounds, this is something he’s been carrying around with him for a while as well.

I sigh and nuzzle into the smattering of soft chest hair. “We both messed up, but we’re fixing that. And besides, now we’ve got Cora, and our baby on the way.”

Carson runs a hand down my back over my waist until he tucks it around me. “You have to marry me before this baby comes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Surprise and awe coat his tone. “That’s it? Just okay?”

I shift my shoulders and sigh sleepily. “No reason to wait. Just as long as Chase walks me down the aisle.”

“That could take a few months,” he whispers.

“Then we have time.” I’m not at all concerned with his need to rush a ceremony.

“Where do you want to get married?”

“On the beach in front of our house. Just close friends and family. Barefoot. Ocean. The girls and a flowy white dress designed by Chloe,” I mumble, imagining it already.

“Sounds perfect. There’s just one thing left.” He lifts and scoots to the side of the bed, opens the nightstand drawer, and pulls out a box. I can barely see what he’s doing in the moonlight, but he opens it, claps it shut, and something sparkly catches the light. “Give me your hand.”

I lift my left hand over his chest. “Are you going to ask me?”

“No.”

“What?” I push up as he slides a ring on my finger. Of course, it’s a perfect fit.

“No. I told you. This is it. No going back, no pushing, no running, no anything. You could have died. We could have lost the baby. We are not fucking around. You are marrying me the second Chase can walk you down the beach. End of discussion.”

Holy fucking shit. Carson has never been so forceful and serious in his entire life.

“And furthermore, the next time you slip out of my arms and our bed, you kiss me goodbye and tell me where you’re going. After what’s happened in the past few months, hell, the past few years, you owe me that much. So, if you’re going to slip out to ease your conscience by checking on my cousin and his wife, you give your man a heads up. Okay?” He lifts my hand and kisses the ring on my finger.

I lift it up to the moonlight and smile as streaks ricochet out in all directions. It’s a perfect oval diamond with two matching ovals on each side. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.

“The big oval diamond is you, right in the center. And the two diamonds on each side, that’s you accepting Cora and me as your family. The three of us until we bring home our newest member. Until death do us part.”

“Until death do us part.” I slide over his body, straddling him so that my heat is centered over his. He groans, cups both cheeks, and grinds into me. “I love you.” I lean forward, seal my mouth over his, and set about showing him just how much I love him, this ring, and our future.