“I don’t think your ankle is broken, but it’s certainly injured. Gabriel, why don’t you get us all a cup of tea and maybe some cookies?”

Gabriel pulled his knuckles out of his mouth. “I won’t leave her.”

“It will just take a minute. I want to speak to Julia.”

Gabriel nodded reluctantly and disappeared in the direction of the cafeteria.

Richard couldn’t help but notice her neck. The bite mark was obvious, the love bite less so. His eyes flickered to where his son had stood a moment before. The love bite was old, obviously from a day or two ago. Clearly, things between Gabriel and Julia were more intimate than he thought.

“Grace used to volunteer at this hospital. Did you know that?”

Julia nodded.

“Over the years, she served in a lot of capacities but most of her work was with victims of domestic abuse.” He sighed. “She saw a lot of sad cases, some of which involved children. Some of her cases ended in fatalities.”

He looked into Julia’s eyes. “I will tell you what Grace used to tell her patients. This is not your fault. It doesn’t matter what you did or what you didn’t do, you did not deserve this. And at this moment, I don’t know when I’ve been more proud of my son.”

She looked down at her injured ankle and remained silent.

A moment later, a pleasant-looking Asian gentleman walked up to them.

“Richard,” he said, extending his hand.

Richard sprang to his feet, shaking his friend’s hand. “Stephen, I’d like to introduce you to Julia Mitchell. She’s a friend of the family. Julia, this is Dr. Ling.”

Stephen nodded and directed a nurse to help Julia to an examination room. He followed shortly thereafter, assuring Richard that he would treat her as if she were his own daughter.

Knowing that Julia was in good hands, Richard decided to walk to the cafeteria to join his son. As he entered the hallway, he could hear Gabriel arguing with Tom Mitchell. Loudly.

“I think I’m a better judge of character than you are.” Tom was in Gabriel’s face, trying to physically intimidate him, but Gabriel met him toe to toe.

“Well, clearly you aren’t, Mr. Mitchell, or I wouldn’t have had to drag that animal out of your house before he raped your daughter in her own fucking bedroom.”

“Gentlemen, this is a hospital. Take it outside.” Richard was stern as he walked toward them.

Tom acknowledged his friend briefly then turned back to Gabriel.

“I’m glad Julia is okay. And if you rescued her, then I owe you. But I just got a phone call from a police officer telling me that you beat the shit out of Senator Talbot’s son. How do I know you didn’t start the whole thing? You’re the drug addict!”

“I’ll take a drug test.” Gabriel’s eyes flashed. “I have nothing to hide.

Instead of worrying about the senator’s son, don’t you think you should be a little more concerned about your daughter? Protecting Julianne was your job. Your job as a father. And you’ve been doing a lousy fucking job of it her whole life. Christ, Tom. How could you have sent her back to live with her mother when she was a little girl?”

Tom clenched his fists so hard he nearly burst the blood vessels in his hands. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, so you need to shut the hell up. You’ve got some nerve lecturing me about my daughter. You’re just a cokehead with a history of violence. I don’t want you anywhere near her, or I’ll have you arrested.”

“I don’t know what I’m talking about? Come on, Tom, get your head out of your ass! I’m talking about all those men traipsing in and out of the apartment in St. Louis, fucking your ex-wife in front of your little girl. And you did absolutely nothing. In fact, you finally rescue her before she becomes another statistic for child molestation, and then you send her back. Why?

Was she a delinquent nine-year-old? Was she too needy? Or were you too busy being volunteer fire chief!”

Tom looked at Gabriel with an expression of utter hatred. It took all of his self-control to keep from either punching Gabriel’s lights out or grabbing his hunting rifle from his truck and shooting him. But he wasn’t about to do either around the corner from a waiting room full of witnesses. Instead, he swore at Gabriel a few more times and stomped over to the Admissions desk to make arrangements to pay for Julia’s hospital bill.

By the time she returned on crutches, Tom had calmed himself. He stood by the door of the emergency room with his hands in his pockets, swimming in guilt.

Gabriel walked to Julia immediately, his eyebrows furrowing when he saw her bandaged ankle. “Are you all right?”

“It isn’t broken. Thank you, Gabriel. I don’t know what I would have…”

Julia swallowed her words as tears fell down her face for the first time that evening.

Gabriel put his arm around her shoulder and tenderly kissed her forehead.

Tom watched the exchange between his daughter and the violent but valiant cokehead and walked over to Richard. The two friends spoke for a minute before they shook hands.

“Jules? Do you want to come home? Richard says you’re welcome to stay at his place if you’d rather.” Tom shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

“I can’t go home.” Julia pulled away from Gabriel and hugged her father with one arm. He immediately teared up and whispered an apology in her ear before walking out of the hospital.

Richard bade the couple good-bye, leaving Julia to dry her tears.

Gabriel turned to her immediately. “We can pick up your prescrip-tions on the way back to Richard’s. I’m sure Rachel has clothes that you can borrow, or I can lend you something. Unless you’d rather go home and pack your suitcase.”

“I can’t go back there,” she whimpered, curling in on herself.

“You won’t have to.”

“What about him?”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore. The police have already picked him up.”

Julia looked into his eyes and almost lost herself in the warmth and concern that radiated from them.

“I love you, Gabriel.”

At first he didn’t react to her statement, he simply stood there as if he hadn’t heard. Then his expression softened. He drew her into his side, crutches and all, and kissed her cheek, saying not a word.

After dinner, Scott had dropped by a friend’s house for a visit. When he arrived home, he was shocked to discover two police cruisers in the driveway. Officer Jamie Roberts was interviewing Julia in the living room, while Officer Ron Quinn was interviewing Gabriel in the dining room.

Richard had already been questioned.

“Will someone please explain why there are cops in the house? What did Gabriel do now?” Scott stood in the kitchen staring down his sister and their father.

Aaron walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a Samuel Adams. He opened it and handed it to Scott, who drank it gratefully. “Simon Talbot attacked Julia.”

Scott almost spat out his beer. “What? Is she okay?”

“He fucking bit her,” said Rachel. “And he almost broke her ankle.”

“Did he…” Scott’s voice was matter-of-fact, yet he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

Rachel shook her head. “I asked her. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did. And she said no.”

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Scott slammed his beer down on the counter. “Well, where is he? Let’s go, Aaron. Someone needs to teach him a lesson.”

“Gabriel got to him first. Ron told me that they had to take Simon to the hospital to have his jaw wired shut. Gabriel smashed his face in,”

Aaron explained.

Scott’s eyebrows shot up. “The Professor? Why would he do that?”

Aaron and Rachel exchanged a knowing look.

“I’d still like to pay the asshole a visit.” Scott cracked the knuckles on his right hand. “Just to talk to him.”

Aaron shook his head. “Listen to yourself. You’re a prosecutor; he’s the son of a senator. You can’t tune the guy up. And besides, Gabriel finished it.