Max clenched his teeth and held them together while he pulled Kara’s limp body out of the wrecked car. Police cars and ambulances surrounded the area when he brought her to the water’s edge. A crowd of people had gathered off to one side to watch everything. Two medics took her from his arms, strapped her on a gurney, and then took her vitals.

“Is she okay?” His breath came out in shallow pants. The roaring of blood in his ears made it hard to hear what was said.

The female medic spoke while she took Kara’s vitals. “We can’t be sure what your wife’s state is until she’s had tests done, so we’re going to get her to the hospital right away.”

His wife, she’d said. Not yet, but soon. With a clenched gut, he watched the paramedics clean the cuts on the side of her head. Her normally golden blonde hair was matted with blood. His lungs constricted at the thought of a different outcome to her crash. He’d aged ten years when he saw her hit the tree and lose complete control of the car.

“Can I speak to you for a moment, Mr. Richards? My name is Detective Ortiz.” An older Hispanic man stood a few feet away from him.

He frowned and watched the medics bandage Kara’s head with multiple layers of gauze, place a neck guard around her throat, and insert oxygen tubes into her nose. “Can this wait? I want to go to the hospital with her.” He wasn’t going to leave her side until he knew she was 100 percent fine. Fuck, he wasn’t going to leave her side ever.

“I need to ask some questions to get the investigation going. If I have other questions, I’ll come see you at the hospital. When you called you said she couldn’t stop the car because the brakes weren’t working?” The man pulled out a pad and a pen and wrote notes while they spoke.

“That’s right. I was following her, and when I called her to ask why she wasn’t slowing down, she said she couldn’t. She’d been trying, but nothing was working. Her door locks seemed to have been stuck and so was her seatbelt. It’s all too strange to be a coincidence.” Had someone tampered with her brakes? Anger made it hard to speak in a calm voice.

“Is there anyone you can think of that might have a problem with your wife, sir?” The detective watched him with a keen eye while they spoke.

“Kara isn’t my wife, yet. And she’s never had any problems with anyone that I know of. She’s never been in any kind of trouble, so I’ve no idea if someone would want to mess with her car.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Richards, we’ll find out if someone is trying to hurt your fiancée. I’ll contact you with further questions.” The detective moved off, and Max got into the back of the ambulance.

 

 

“How is she?”

Max turned to see Meghan running down the hospital corridor in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Her curly hair was tied at the top of her head in a haphazard ponytail, tears streaming down her face. It was clear she’d been asleep when he’d called.

“They’re x-raying her skull and then taking her to a private room. Apparently, she only hurt her head, the rest of her seems fine.” Anger and frustration pulled at him. He’d called Brian and told him what happened. Brian had gotten on the phone with his contacts at the police department. Someone was looking at the brakes on the car for any signs of tampering. If someone messed with Kara’s brakes, they wanted her dead. The thought of someone out to kill her made Max see red.

Meghan hugged him and then looked up into his eyes. He knew he looked like shit. His shirt was torn and stained with Kara’s blood. When he’d broken the rest of the glass out of her window to get her, he’d cut his hands in multiple areas on his fingers. He didn’t care about the cuts or the pain. He’d sacrifice himself a million times for her if it meant getting her out safely. A nurse had bandaged his hands and removed the small bits of glass.

She patted him on the side, and they moved to sit in a waiting area. “She’s going to be fine. I know Kara. She’s a fighter.”

He knew Kara was a fighter. No sane person would’ve crashed their car on purpose to give themselves a chance to live. His Kara was strong. A survivor. It was the unknown on the brakes that bothered him.

He hated to ask, but he needed to know if his suspicions were correct. “Do you know if Kara has had any problems with anyone? An ex-boyfriend maybe?”

Meghan frowned. “What do you mean problems? Kara’s never had any problems with anybody. When Barry broke up with her, she didn’t even fight it because she knew they were not going anywhere.”

“I think someone tampered with her brakes. I just don’t know why.”

Meghan gaped at him.

The more he thought about it, the more he was sure someone was after her. It was the why that was driving him crazy. He needed to know in order to help find who did it and stop the bastard before they tried to hurt her again.

His cell phone rang. When he pressed the accept call button, he saw Brian’s photo on the screen.

He went straight to the point. “What did you find out?”

Brian’s no-nonsense tone came through the other end of the line. “First off, the parking brake is now a small lever you pull up on to make it work. You push it down to deactivate it. Secondly, we have a problem. Kara’s in danger, bro.”

This was no accident. His eyes flickered to a male nurse. The nurse pointed to the room Kara had been taken to.

“I have to go. Find out whatever else you can on her ex or anyone in her past. Whoever is doing this is going to have to go through me to get at her again.”

Tortured thoughts of what might have happened if she’d gone home alone or during a busy traffic hour filled his brain and made him seethe. Meghan’s grip on his arm pulled him out of his anguished visions.

“Max? What did Brian say?” Her words came out shaky, and he knew she was having a hard time holding it together.

He voiced his suspicions. “We need to find out who wants Kara out of the way. Her brakes were cut.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. Why would anyone do that? Kara has never done anything to garner that kind of hate.” She whispered the words and covered her mouth with a shaky hand.

“Come on. She’s in her room. Let’s go see her.”

A knot the size of a small country formed in his throat when he walked into the hospital room and saw Kara’s deathly pale face and gauze-covered temple.

An older female doctor walked in and looked from Max to Meghan.

She frowned and stared pointedly at Max. “Are you Ms. Masters’ family?”

“Yes.” At least he would be if he had his way.

She looked at the pad in her hands and then back to him. “She’s heavily sedated, but she’ll be fine in a week or so. She has a concussion, but that’s the worst of her injuries.”

His heart raced in his chest. “Is there anything we can do to help her?” Worry made his voice rough.

The doctor gave him a gentle smile. “Make sure she doesn’t do any more crazy stunts in the future.” She patted him on the shoulder and walked out.

Meghan sat by Kara’s bed and cried while holding her hand. Kara’s limp body lay motionless on the pristine white sheets. The contrast of color only added to the paleness of her face and made her bruises stick out.

He watched Meghan brush Kara’s blonde hair from her face. Suddenly, Kara’s face creased in pain. She opened her mouth and whispered something.

Max took quick steps to get closer, and Meghan leaned into her. “Kara?”

“Max,” she mumbled. Her eyes were still closed.

He moved forward and around the bed. As if she were the most delicate china, because to him she was, he picked up her limp hand and laid it over his own.

“I’m here, baby.” His heart filled with emotion.

A frown marred her brows. “Don’t go. Please. I’m scared.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” she whispered and fell back asleep.

She trusted him to take care of her, and he wouldn’t let her down. Goddamn it all to hell! When he got his hands on the fucker that did this, the bastard wouldn’t live to regret it. He’d find the asshole trying to hurt her and make him stop. Once it was all over, he wouldn’t take no for an answer from her on moving their relationship to the next level. No way in hell was he going to be away from her again. He’d be damned if now that he finally had her, someone was going to hurt her.

Meghan looked up at him with teary eyes. “She’s never admitted to being scared before. Her dad always told her she had to be strong on her own. Never depend on anyone because she only had herself in life.” She gave him a watery smile. “It’s clear she cares more about you than even she realizes.”

His heart expanded at the implication. She was his. He wouldn’t be letting her go for anyone. Kara had owned his heart from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. She was the first woman, besides his mom, to make him want to be more than some company head. They belonged together. And it would be one blizzard day in hell before he let someone take her away.