Several men—at least ten—were quickly approaching. They appeared local and, with one exception, were all dressed in head-to-toe in camouflage. Each carrying an automatic rifle at their side.
Olivia’s initial thought was to fight, but going up against these men would be suicide. She was far too outnumbered, not to mention unarmed.
The well-dressed man headed straight for her. He wore all black, from his dress shirt down to his shiny, black shoes. He would have reminded her of a Wall Street businessman if not for the long, jagged scar running down the right side of his face. The puckered mark, paired with the set of deadly eyes now focused solely on her, sent new waves of terror pulsing through her veins.
Instinct told her this was the man in charge, and given the way he was looking at her now, Olivia knew she was as good as dead. Despite her odds, she refused to just stand there, waiting to be slaughtered. She had a snowball’s chance in hell of escaping, but she still had to try.
With one final look at Malani and her other fallen comrades, Olivia bolted toward the road leading away from their camp. She thought she heard laughter coming from behind her, but the sound of her own blood rushing through her ears made it impossible to tell.
Leg muscles burned as she forced them to work harder than ever before. Tears fell from her eyes as she thought of her dad and brother. Of the mother she never really knew.
Her entire family was already gone—taken from her far too soon—and Olivia found herself praying that when the bullets hit, she wouldn’t have to wait long before seeing them again.
Another image flashed before her eyes. One that nearly brought her to her knees.
Jake.
More tears came as Olivia realized she’d never see her best friend again. Never be on the receiving end of his sexy-as-sin smile or hear his deep-chested laugh.
Even more heartbreaking was the knowledge that she’d never get the chance to say everything she’d always wanted, but—even at thirty-one—was afraid to.
Why didn’t I tell him?
She should have shared her feelings with him years ago, rejection be damned. At least he would’ve understood how deeply she cared for him. That just thinking about him could make her smile, even at the worst of times.
A person should know that, right? Everyone needed to know they were loved. Especially, someone as good and kind as Jake. And now, it was too late. Oh, God!
A loud sob escaped her throat as she forced her tiring legs to keep moving. She was going to die without ever having the courage to tell Jake she was in love with him. That single thought was more painful than anything these men could ever do to her.
Though she’d never been shot, Olivia knew to the depths of her soul that a bullet piercing her flesh would be nothing compared to the pain searing through her heart at this very moment.
With more thoughts of Jake and a lifetime of regret, she glanced back over her shoulder. The scarred man was right behind her, now. He raised his gun, and Olivia screamed.
She tried to run faster, but it was too late. He was too close, and her body had nothing more to give. She squeezed her eyes shut and pictured the last thing she wanted to take from this world.
Jake’s handsome face appeared in her mind’s eye. He smiled, the movement deepening the shallow lines bracketing each side of his mouth. His piercing blue eyes sparkled back at her.
I love you. The words whispered through her mind just before a sudden, sharp pain exploded in the back of her head. And then...nothing.
****
Jake McQueen couldn’t think. God Almighty, he couldn’t breathe. The dizziness and nausea hit him like a freight train as he reached for the remote, desperate to block out the nightmare playing before him. He willed his thumb to press the power button, but his fingers refused to follow the simple order.
“The brief clip you just saw was from the memorial service held yesterday in honor of the eight men and women who were violently murdered in what authorities are still reporting as a drug-related raid. Five weeks ago, the group of American doctors and nurses arrived in Toamasina, Madagascar to offer volunteer medical aid to those in need. As I’m sure most of our viewers already know, Toamasina was one of the many areas devastated by the massive hurricane that hit Madagascar early last month.”
Ah, God, not her. Anyone but her!
Jake shook his head, his denial instant and final because no way, no fucking way was this really happening. The media, the so-called authorities...they had to be wrong.
He continued listening to the TV, searching for something, anything that said this was all just some horrible mistake. However, the longer he sat there, the more Jake’s unwavering wall of denial began to crumble. Everything he’d just seen and heard pointed to only one truth—Olivia was dead.
While he and his team had been completing their most recent mission, her entire group had been gunned down. Their bodies burned beyond recognition. A week ago.
Jesus.
Finally regaining some bodily control, Jake raised the remote. He refused to sit and listen to another goddamn word about how she’d been brutally gunned down and then fucking burned.
Just then, Olivia’s face filled the oversized screen. He froze in place. He couldn’t tear his gaze away now if his life depended on it.
Jake knew the picture well. He’d taken it the day Olivia received her nursing degree. She smiled back at him now from his TV, her laugh from that long-ago moment forever captured.
Gorgeous eyes with their mesmerizing swirls of greens and browns bore deeply into his own. They were eyes he’d always sworn he could get lost in, if given the chance.
Jake blinked, and her name appeared on the screen in bold letters beneath the picture—Olivia Bradshaw.
His best friend’s little sister. The girl he and her brother, Mike, had spent
