Page 107 of Four Cards Exposed

Of course, there would have to be a party.

Natalie had been beside herself by the time Susan called her from the hospital. She’d wanted to fly to Texas to be with Susan, and it was only with Lorraine’s help that Susan had been able to stop her. By then, they’d already known James was expected to make a full recovery.

That first day in the hospital had been the worst. James had been unconscious most of the time, carted from test to test, nobody saying much to Susan because she wasn’t next of kin. She’d been allowed to stay in the room with him, at least, technically resting in the bed next to his, and she’d spent all night awake, listening to his ragged, pained breathing, wishing there was something—anything—she could do.

All in all, he’d spent three days in the hospital with a chest tube behind his ribs. He was lucky it hadn’t required surgery. Lucky seemed to be the word of the week, the whole time they were in the hospital. Lucky that the internal bruising from the beatings he’d taken hadn’t been worse, even though he’d been pissing blood for days. Lucky that the knife hadn’t severed the tendons in his arm. Lucky, and this one applied to both of them, since the blisters of her feet were so raw, that infection hadn’t set in.

They’d both gotten pumped with all sorts of antibiotics.

Just in case.

James had been put on leave for four weeks, the time it would take for his broken ribs to properly heal. He’d proceeded to ignore that and go straight back to work as soon as he was released from the hospital.

Susan’s heart hurt. It’s not that James had been cold with her, per se—hell, every time she held his hand she’d felt the same fierce electric current that told her they weren’t over, not by a long shot.

But she also knew where his priorities lay at the moment. From the moment he first regained consciousness, his thoughts had been on the cartel. She could see just how badly he needed to finish the mission. And she respected that. But a part of her wanted to yell at him—they’d only just barely escaped with their lives, and they shouldn’t be testing their luck again.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Lorraine had told her. “And he’ll have a team by his side this time.”

Susan pulled herself back to the present. That had been three days ago, and she hadn’t heard anything since. She could only pray that James and Lorraine were both okay.

Susan smiled wide, then brought the smile down a notch, staring up at the rear-view mirror in front of her.

Better.

But still not perfect.

She’d never needed to practice smiling before.

But then, she’d never been through something like this before. She still hadn’t told anyone the whole story. The basics, yes, how she’d been locked up in a box, then chained to a wall. That she hadn’t been hurt, physically at least, unless you counted the fact that she’d been starved and dehydrated.

What she hadn’t told anyone, and didn’t know if she’d ever be ready to talk about, was the fear. Fear with a capital F—that she’d die there, and nobody would ever find her body again. Fear that she’d never get the chance to tell James how she really felt.

At first, she’d also been afraid that Mendoza would stick her back in the box, just because he could, just because he saw how much it pained her.

Then, when she’d seen James, she’d willed herself back in the box. Anything to stop what she knew was going to happen. Anything to not have to see him get hurt.

Susan sighed and put her smile back in place—looked in the mirror again. This one looked better, so she kept it on as she stepped out of the car. Hopefully, it would be convincing enough that her friends wouldn’t see right through her.

It was, by all possible definitions, a great day for a party. A sunny, late spring day, warm enough for short sleeves, but not so warm that her clothes would be sticking to her body by the end of the day.

Susan inhaled deeply as she opened the gate into Hunter and Natalie’s patio. She could already smell the grill their food would be cooked in.

Natalie ran towards her as soon as she arrived.

“Susan! You’re here!”

Her boss and friend hugged her like she hadn’t seen her in years, which was hardly true, since she’d been the one to pick her up at the airport two days earlier and take her home. She’d also called her about twenty-five times since then, just to check up on her.

Behind her, Hunter stood, holding their baby in his large arms. Susan’s eyes stopped on the baby—who wasn’t a baby at all anymore.

“What? She’s got hair!” Susan said, before she could help herself.

Hunter chuckled. “That she does. She’s also crawling—if we set her down on the floor, she’ll reach that gate before you can blink.”

“She’s cute. She was always cute,” Susan corrected herself quickly. “She’s just even cuter now.”

As people realized she was there—and there were a lot of people there—everybody gravitated towards her.