At that, Olivia smiled wide, too. They hadn’t known each other all that long, but she felt very comfortable around him. He was handsome and sweet. He was also protective. All very much like Jake. Which made her wonder...
“So, tell me,” she said, wanting to get to know the man more. “Why isn’t there a Mrs. Matthews waiting at home somewhere?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Guess I just haven’t met the right girl, yet.”
“Well, I don’t get it. You’re good-looking, intelligent, and a total badass. I know I’m getting super-personal here, but you know pretty much all there is to know about my crazy life. So, it begs the question...how in the world are you still single?”
Trevor smiled again, but this time it didn’t quite light up his face like before. Olivia feared she’d crossed some invisible, no-trespassing zone and instantly regretted asking something so personal.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket to text Jake, if for no other reason than to let Trevor off the hook for having to answer. Looking down at her screen as she walked, Olivia started typing a message to let Jake know they were leaving the hospital.
Still typing, she opened her mouth to apologize for prying when the loud pop of a car backfiring filled the otherwise empty air. Olivia involuntarily jumped, tossing her phone in the process.
“Shit!”
It landed a few feet in front of her, and she quickly moved to pick it up. Thankfully, it hadn’t cracked. She stood and looked up ahead of them in the same direction the sound had come from.
“Holy cow, that was loud. That car must need some major work—”
Olivia turned to face Trevor as she spoke, only then realizing Trevor was no longer standing next her. She glanced down and gasped.
He was lying on his back, eyes closed, and he wasn’t moving. Her heart nearly stopped cold when she saw where the bullet had torn through his shirt.
“Trevor!” Olivia screamed as she bent over his body.
“Help!” she yelled out. She spun her head around, trying to look for someone...anyone who could help, while assessing any immediate threat. “I need help, here!”
Olivia screamed the order at the top of her lungs, just as she had countless times while working in the E.R., but it didn’t matter. The other doctors and nurses weren’t around to rush to her aid this time. No one was around.
Looking back down, Olivia’s voice broke, “Trevor?” He didn’t respond.
With her heart in her throat, she checked for a pulse, and nearly cried with relief when she found one. “H-hang on. You’re going to be okay. Just hang on.”
Eyes still closed, his body was unmoving, but she couldn’t seem to find any blood. At first, she didn’t understand why.
Flashbacks from the attack at Toamasina threatened to consume her, but she forced them away. Trevor needed her here, not lost in the nightmares of her past.
Threat forgotten, Olivia’s medical training took over, her sole focus on doing what she could to help him. With both hands, she grabbed the front of his dress-shirt and pulled, tearing it open.
Buttons flew around them, but she paid them no attention. Swiftly shoving his white undershirt up from the bottom hem, Olivia blew a sigh of relief when she saw the shiny gold end of a bullet sticking out from the black vest, just over Trevor’s chest.
The Kevlar had kept the bullet from penetrating his heart, and she was so thankful he’d taken the precaution.
Fear continued to race through her veins, however, because even though the bullet hadn’t gone into his body, Trevor was still unconscious.
Her years of working at the hospital in Dallas had taught her the kinetic energy from a shot like that could cause serious internal damage, even with the vest.
“I’m going to get you help,” she told him loudly, praying he could hear her.
Needing her phone, she stuck her hand in her pocket, but came up empty. Her mind raced.
Where the hell was it? Then, she remembered picking it up just before realizing Trevor had been shot.
Unsure of what she’d done with it after seeing him lying there, Olivia frantically searched the ground around her. A few agonizing seconds later, she started to stand and realized it had been under her the whole time.
With shaking fingers, she picked it up and began dialing the emergency room’s direct number. She’d entered five of the seven numbers when a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind. The phone clattered to the ground.
Terrified, Olivia started to scream, but the sound was cut off when one of her attacker’s gloved hands pressed hard against her mouth. With his other arm wrapped around her waist, the man yanked her to her feet and began moving them both backward. Away from Trevor.
This can’t be happening. Not again.
Olivia’s heart pounded so hard inside her chest, she thought it would explode. Terror threatened to consume her, but she refused to let this happen to her again.
With as much force as she could muster, she twisted and bucked against the man’s tight hold, but it was no use. The guy was too strong.
Turning them, the man drug her between a compact car and a white panel van. Olivia nearly laughed at how cliché it all was. Parking garage. White van. Bodyguard shot with no one else around to help.
The van’s side door was open and the middle seats had been removed, leaving a dark, empty space. Oh, God. Do not let him put you in there!
As the man forced her closer, Olivia’s feet scrambled to find purchase on the smooth, slick floor. Her heart sank when she glanced inside the van again, and saw a pair of handcuffs and a roll of duct tape lying on the vehicle’s metal floor.
No! She’d
