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  Jonah’s hands sweated, but he kept a firm grip on the 9 mm he had aimed at Susan.

  Annie backed away from Susan until her back came up against the wall. “Daniel!” she yelled. “Call 911!”

  Susan lurched forward, grabbed Annie’s arm. “Sorry, honey. Daniel left twenty minutes ago. Pulliam sent him home when he and Farrout arrived.”

  While Susan’s attention was shifted to Annie, Jonah pushed smoothly to his feet.

  Susan jerked her head back toward Jonah and poked her revolver behind Annie’s ear. She tightened her grip on Annie’s arm, and Annie winced. “Stop right there, Jonah. I don’t want to hurt her, but I will.”

  Annie grew still, her eyes pleading with him. Now what do I do? her gaze asked.

  Jonah dug deep for the professional detachment he needed. He had to treat this situation like any other he’d encountered on the force. Let training take over. Keep his emotions out of it.

  But he’d never been in a standoff with the woman he loved caught in the crosshairs. How could he live with himself if anything happened to Annie? What would he do without her in his life?

  A ball of cold realization settled in his gut. By ending their relationship and walking away, he’d already cut her out of his life. Because he feared the unknown. Because he couldn’t bear to revive memories of his childhood. Because he was a coward.

  Yet Annie had found enough courage to face her past, her demons, her fears. Enough to leave her abusive husband. Enough to give a future with him a chance. Enough to help him stop Farrout and his men.

  Because she loved her children. Because she loved him.

  Jonah’s heart constricted. Annie had trumped fear…with love.

  If he loved Annie, how could he do any less?

  He ground his teeth together, battled down the doubts and questions jabbing him. He had to focus on freeing Annie. If he could keep Susan occupied, distracted, he had a chance. If his plan was falling in place as arranged, backup was coming. He just had to buy a little time.

  “What are you doing, Susan? Why are you involved in this?” Jonah asked.

  Annie chewed her bottom lip, tried not to think about the muzzle jabbing her skull. Her children needed her. She couldn’t die here. Wouldn’t leave her babies without a mother. She might not know how to get out of this macabre turn of events, but she had faith in Jonah. She trusted him with her life. And if she found an opportunity to help the situation, she’d act.

  Susan snorted in answer to Jonah’s query. “I’m not stupid. I know easy money when I see it. Why wouldn’t I want my cut? Besides, you could say it’s my family legacy.”

  Jonah furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

  Susan shrugged, and the gun poked Annie harder. “My father runs the operation. He let me in on the action. Working at his diner is just my cover, so I can keep an eye on the people who work for him.”

  “Your father is the Pop of Pop’s Diner?” Jonah’s tone was calm, conversational. But Annie saw the cunning and purpose that blazed in his eyes.

  “That’s right. Pop himself. I’m the one who found out what Hardin was up to.” Susan gave a smug-sounding chuckle. “I knew Hardin had been in trouble with the cops recently for some drug violation. When those charges went away a little too easily, I got curious. And Hardin started acting funny.”

  “Define funny,” Jonah said, his weapon never wavering.

  Annie watched him, amazed by his cool confidence, waiting for some clue from him as to what he needed her to do.

  Susan grunted. “Hardin started acting nervous and looking crappier every day. Like he wasn’t sleeping. Like the stress was eating his lunch.

  “I warned Pop something could be up, and Pop had someone follow him. Pop’s guys saw Hardin take a bunch of files from the diner to the bus depot. Then a little eavesdropping gave me enough information to help arrange someone to intercept the transfer of cash and gambling records to his police contact. We had all the proof we needed to justify eliminating Hardin. He’d become a liability.”

  Annie tensed. “Y-you killed Hardin?”

  Susan scoffed. “Hell, no. Not me. Pop has men on his payroll to do that.”

  “Farrout and Pulliam.” Jonah nodded to the men unconscious on the floor.

  “Maybe. Or the guy who jumped Annie in the alley. Maybe someone else. I don’t know who. Don’t care.”

  Annie felt Susan shift her weight, draw her body up and press the gun harder against her head. She blew out a frustrated huff.

  “Damn it, enough talking. I didn’t mean to say that much. Now…put your gun down, Jonah, or I’ll…I’ll hurt Annie.”

  Jonah’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly when Susan hesitated. Annie could swear she saw the wheels in Jonah’s brain turning.

  Rather than lower his gun, Jonah curled his finger around the trigger. “You don’t want to hurt Annie, Susan. She’s your friend. She’s a mother. She’s not involved in my investigation.” He paused, narrowing his eyes again. “On the other hand, I have no qualms about shooting a woman.”

  His penetrating gaze met Annie’s eyes then and held. Drilled her with their bright intensity. A chill crawled down Annie’s spine, certain he was trying to tell her something.

  Still holding her gaze, Jonah said calmly, “If you hurt Annie, I won’t hesitate to drop you in the blink of an eye.”

  His gaze clung to hers another heartbeat, before he shifted his lethal stare back to Susan. His unflinching green eyes blazed with intent.

  Then he blinked.

  Annie dropped like a rag doll.

  A single blast shook the room, and Susan screamed.

  From the floor, Annie glanced back to see Susan clutch her shoulder, drop her gun and slide down the counter to the floor.

  “You bastard!” a male voice growled. “What have you done to my daughter?”

  A familiar-looking, silver-haired man stood in the door to the kitchen.

  Pop had arrived.

  Jonah reaimed the gun toward the new arrival.

  And his pulse kicked when recognition dawned. “Frank?”

  The gym owner snatched up the gun Susan had dropped and swung it toward Jonah. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am to see you here, Devereaux. You’re one of my best sparring partners. I hate having to kill you. You’re gonna be missed at the gym.”

  “You own the diner? You’re behind the gambling and money laundering?” Jonah heard the disbelief in his voice and shook off the lingering shock to focus on the problem at hand. Namely, the gun in Frank’s grip.

  Jonah cut a quick glance to Annie. She’d grabbed a clean towel and pressed it to the wound on Susan’s shoulder. Ever the caregiver. Even though her patient had just held a gun to her head.

  Frank strolled closer to Jonah. “Folks were all the time wagering on sports at my gym. I saw a way to make a profit and took it. I’d bought the diner years back, and it proved the simplest way to clean the money, filter it into special accounts. But as an operation like mine grows, problems come up. People you thought you could trust turn on you to save their own skin.”

  “Hardin?”

  Frank jerked a nod. “Good riddance. The man had proved unreliable at best. He got greedy. Got careless. I should have taken him out years ago.”

  Jonah drew a slow breath for composure. “And Michael Hamrick? You fleeced him. Before he died, he told me the operation he’d gotten tangled up with had welched on paying him what he was owed on winning bets. That you duped him into investing his life savings on high-stakes games.”

  “No one held a gun to his head, if that’s what you mean.” Frank smirked. “He took care of that himself.”

  White-hot rage exploded in Jonah. Ducking his head, he charged at Frank. “You son of a bitch!”

  “Jonah, no!” Annie launched from the floor, threw herself at Frank.

  Grabbed for Frank’s gun.

  A flash. An earsplitting blast. A gut-wrenching cry.

  With a gasp, Annie collapsed against Jonah, t
he front of her apron marred by a bright red stain.

  “Annie!” Jonah sank with her to the floor, horror ripping through his chest.

  Frank reangled his weapon.

  Glass shattered. Men in uniform breached the front door. Guns at the ready, Lagniappe’s finest swarmed the diner.

  “Freeze! Police! Lower your weapon and lie facedown with your hands out!”

  As the police filed in, Frank sighed defeat, set his gun on the floor and lay down spread-eagle as ordered.

  Jonah shot an angry look at the man leading the charge. Joseph Nance. “About damn time! Annie’s been shot! Get an ambulance now!”

  Chapter 20

  “Mommy?” The sweet tiny voice cut through Annie’s drug-induced haze. A small hand touched her cheek, and she blinked Haley into focus. On some level she knew she was in the hospital. The beeping monitors and medicinal smells told her that much. But her daughter held her attention, made her heart swell.

  “Hey, darlin’. How’s my girl?” she rasped, her throat raw and aching.

  “I’m okay.” Her daughter snuggled closer, bumping her ribs. Annie gasped as a sharp pain ripped through her chest.

  “Say, princess, why don’t you sit here with me? Remember I told you your mommy didn’t feel good?”

  Annie angled her head, searching for the man who’d spoken.

  Jonah sat in a chair beside the hospital bed. Unshaven, clothes wrinkled, hair mussed, he’d never looked better to Annie. His eyes met hers, and she read the questions there. The doubts.

  “I don’t know if I can be what you need.”

  Fresh pain, unrelated to the bullet that had ripped through her, slashed her heart. Despite the dramatic events at the diner, nothing had been resolved between her and Jonah.

  Haley climbed onto Jonah’s lap, and he gave her daughter’s head a loving stroke and cuddled her close. “Don’t be scared,” he murmured to Haley. “Remember I told you how strong your mom is? She’s going to be fine.”

  Haley nodded and glanced back at her mother. “Mr. Jonah says you’re a hero, Mommy. You saved his life and helped catch a bad guy.”

  “He said that?” Annie raised her eyebrows and shot Jonah a querying look.

  “Don’t worry. I gave her the Saturday-morning cartoon version. I figured a well-filtered version of the truth was better than a lie.” He looked unsure of himself, and Annie tugged up a corner of her mouth.

  “You were right. Thank you for your discretion.”

  Jonah sighed, relief replacing a fraction of the tension lining his face.

  “Where’s Ben?” Annie croaked.

  Jonah whispered something to Haley, and her daughter slid from his lap to hand Annie a cup of ice chips.

  “Thanks, sweetie.”

  “Ben is with your friend Ginny. She offered to keep Haley, too, but nothing would do for Haley until she saw her mommy at the hospital.”

  A scuffle of feet drew Annie’s attention to her door. Ginny’s husband came in with two large cups of coffee. When Riley noticed Annie was awake, he paused and grinned. “Hey, welcome back, Sleeping Beauty. I don’t know what kind of drugs they gave you, but they sure knocked you out.”

  Annie wrinkled her brow. “How long was I asleep?”

  Jonah checked his watch. “About thirteen and a half hours.” He grinned sheepishly and added, “Thirteen hours and thirty-six minutes to be exact. Longest thirteen hours and thirty-six minutes of my life.”

  Riley handed one of the coffees to Jonah and tousled Haley’s hair. “So now that you’ve seen for yourself your mom’s okay, what say we let her rest and go give Ms. Ginny a hand with your brother?”

  Haley gave her mother a dubious frown, but with a few more reassurances, she allowed Riley to lead her from the room.

  Then Annie turned to Jonah, nailing him with an expression that was all-business. “You stayed with my children overnight?”

  He nodded. “I wanted to here with you, more than anything. But I knew your priority would be your kids, so I stayed with them. Burned up the phone line calling the hospital every five minutes to check on you, but…”

  Annie grinned. “My hero.”

  He pulled his eyebrows into a skeptical V. “I don’t know how you can say that. I let you down. You wouldn’t be here if—”

  “I’m here because I was dumb enough to try to get Frank’s gun away from him.”

  “No, you were brave enough to act when my life was at risk. I owe you one.”

  She shrugged carefully, but even the small movement caused her ribs to burn. “You’ve saved me more than once. Call us even.”

  Jonah’s cheek twitched in a weak grin, and he lowered his gaze to his hands.

  Annie broke the awkward silence. “What did my doctors say? Last thing I really remember is the EMT giving me something for pain. Then I passed out.”

  “The bullet’s angle was shallow, but it hit and broke a rib. You’ll be in some pain for a few weeks, and they want you to take it easy to allow yourself to heal.”

  Annie gave a soft laugh. “Did you tell them there’s no such thing as rest for the mother of two young kids?”

  Jonah shot her a warning look. “Annie…do as your doctor says. Ginny, Rani and I will help with Haley and Ben.”

  A seed of hope lodged deep inside her. “You?”

  He met her eyes warily, a heartbreaking sadness dimming his eyes. “If you’ll let me. I know I hurt you, Annie. Everything I said the other night…I…” His eyes closed, and he dragged a hand over his face, the picture of misery.

  “Jonah, before you tell me you don’t know how to be a husband and father, think about what we’ve already done together.”

  His gaze found hers again, and he cocked his head. “Go on.”

  “Every time I thought the worst had passed the other night, that the nightmare was over, something else would happen. Susan showed up with a gun. Then her father did. I didn’t know what to do, how to get us out of the pickle we were in, but I had faith. Between us, we got through it. We survived by working together, and the bad guys were caught.” She paused, frowning. “They were all caught, right? The whole mess at the diner is over. We don’t have to worry about anyone else popping out of the shadows?”

  Jonah nodded. “The four at the diner were arrested and taken in for questioning. Farrout and Pulliam, hoping to buy lighter sentences, started singing like birds. Names, addresses, the works. As we speak, the rest of Frank’s cronies are being rounded up.” He nodded. “It’s really over.”

  Relief washed through her, and she closed her eyes, replaying the moment the police had swarmed the diner. One face in particular stood out. “The smarmy businessman,” she mumbled. She jerked her gaze back to Jonah. “Joseph Nance? He’d been in the diner before. I recognized him, because he’d watched me so close every time he came in, it gave me the creeps.”

  “Hardin had contacted him but had been really vague about what he wanted with the police. So Nance got suspicious when Hardin was murdered. He’d started his own investigation by the time I called him.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “So that’s how the cops knew what was happening last night? Somehow I didn’t think that was coincidence.”

  “Naw. After going through Hardin’s files, I decided it was time to bring in the authorities. I called Joseph Nance, showed him what we had, and we made a plan. I was wearing a mic last night. They heard everything and knew when to step in.” He paused. “Detective Nance has offered me a job with the Lagniappe PD.”

  Annie caught her breath. “Will you take it?”

  He nodded. “I plan to.”

  Annie sank back in her pillows, digesting it all. “I guess all this means I’m out of a job, though.” She chewed her lip, wondering how she’d make ends meet now.

  “Think of this as opportunity knocking. You can do whatever you want with your life, Annie.”

  She curled her fingers into the sheet, letting her deepest desires filter to the light. “Ginny told me once the women’s c
enter offers scholarships for women who want to finish their education. Maybe I’ll go back to college. The local university has a student worker program and family housing I can look into.”

  Jonah smiled. “I like that plan.”

  One problem had been resolved, but the greater threat to her happiness remained.

  “Jonah,” she started again carefully, her heart rising to her throat. She had to convince him their love was worth taking a risk. “Considering all we’ve been through already, how can you doubt our ability to make a marriage work? And I say our ability for a reason. Because you won’t be alone anymore. We’ll be a team.”

  Jonah caught his breath, and she saw warmth flash in his eyes, chasing away some of the shadows darkening his expression. The seed of hope in her chest planted roots.

  He rose from the chair and sat on the edge of her bed. He stroked her face gently and held her gaze. “We do make a good team.”

  She covered his hand with hers. “I know the idea of family brings back painful memories, but I want to be there to help you face down those ghosts from your past…if you’ll let me.”

  He answered her by kissing her palm.

  Encouraged, she forged on, “I know that our life together will have bumps and potholes along the way, problems to overcome. Every marriage does. But last night—for the past several weeks, in fact—we’ve met every challenge we faced together and seen it through. We can do the same as a family, no matter what life throws at us.”

  He leaned close and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Last night when Susan had that gun on you, I was terrified she’d hurt you and I’d lose you. Then I realized I’d already lost you, because I’d let fear rule my heart instead of my love for you, and I was ashamed of myself.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “You deserve so much more.”

  She tensed. “Jonah, don’t let fear keep you from being part of our family. I’ve seen how you are with my children. You’re kind and gentle and protective, but you’re also appropriately firm and instructive when you need to be. You have good instincts with them. You know what they need to hear to ease their fears without misleading them. The fact that you knew they needed you last night more than I did speaks volumes to me. You put them first. Trust those instincts, and you’ll be a wonderful father.”