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PROLOGUE

Rubbing her eyes, Lindsey Helm slowly stood up from her post at the nurses’ station in the hospital and walked down the quiet hallway to the back roohts, she loved the quietness of the calm hospital This wasn’t one of them

She was carrying a full course load to finish her nursing degree and working forty hours a week, and it was beginning to catch up with her She couldn’t reht out on the town, seen her best friend, Stor bath

But it would all be worth it in the end She’d inherited her faht her that the only way to succeed in life was to put in one hundred percent effort no ht to work hard, and she wasn’t going to start co handed so unless she’d earned it

Her brothers—her wonderful, a, over-protective brothers—always tried to help her, to carry her along, but that wasn’t what she wanted They’d ed to better their lives, just as her parents had wanted, and she needed to prove she could do the same

Though her fa up, they had always provided aed, thanks to the hard work of her brothers, the love re as ever

Leaning against the die wall, she rubbed her temples Was it terrible of her to hope for a trauma just so she could stay alert? Yeah, that probably wasn’t the best thing to hope for

Another lesson her ht her was to be careful what you wished for

A loud crashing noise, followed by the echoing shout of a h alert She took a step toward the door and a chill ran down her spine This wasn’t the sound of EMTs barreling into the ER

An uneasy fear gripped her She tried to tell herself that it was nothingto restrain Still, soht, which left her frozen where she stood instead of rushing ahead Even though, normally, she would be in professional mode, she felt as if she should stay exactly where she was

Ridiculous

A screah Lindsey’s entire body Moving away frorabbed it, took off the covering, and stuck the unsheathed blade in her scrub pocket She couldn’t just continue to hide in the closet, though It was three in the , and there was only minimal staff in the ER They would need her in there

Her coworkers were out there Patients needed her, and she had a responsibility to help She was trained for this and didn’t have tie, she cracked open the door She couldn’t see anything, but she could hear cries from down the hallway

Leaning against the wall, Lindsey slowlyfor further sound There was nothing The lack of noise had her o

When she reached the end of the hallway she peeked around the corner, but didn’t see a single person It was okay, she assured herself as she o down the next hallhich led to the ER doors

She was sure her friend Sandy was in there helping Dr Stamos with an unruly patient The paraht the patient in must have already had the situation fully under control since she’d taken too long in the supply closet

Pushing open the ER door, she didn’t i, she assured herself

“Dr Stamos,” she called out

The ER door sla her to jump at least a foot in the air

“Hmm What do we have here?” A man in desperate need of a haircut and shave took his ti her body from head to toe with beady eyes as he shifted from foot to foot in front of her “Had I known such hot doctors were in this hospital, I woulda come in a whole lot sooner”

Lindsey took a few seconds to assess the situation The , or rabbing distance of hi to nonchalantly put much-needed distance between them

He wasn’t necessarily acting violently at this point, but she al at her, as if he could see her body through the loose scrubs Where in the hell were the paramedics and the doctor? And where was Sandy?

“What are you doing in here?” Lindsey asked him with as much calmness as she could muster

His scabbed lips went up in a grin “I need so a step closer to her She shifted sideways and backward

“I’ to get away from this man and to a phone where she could call for reinforcements

His laugh sent a chill through her “This place seehost town to me, lil’ doc,” he told her

Lindsey weighed her odds of getting through the door she’d just come in, but the man was nearer to it than she was Plus, she wasn’t sure where Dr Stae

“There are plenty of staff here, sir If you just sit down over there, I’ll get soht away,” she said with bravado GUE