If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

entire life if I would have let her. Every chance I could, I did exactly what she
didn’t
want me doing. Things like playing baseball without the safety glasses I should have been wearing. I got hit. That’s all it took.” She finished with a wry smile.
    How in the hell could she tell that story with a smile? Nia gaped at her, stunned. “My God, I’m so sorry.”
    Lena laughed. “Why?
You
didn’t make me not wear the glasses.”
    “You were
ten
,” Nia snapped.
    “Yeah. I was ten. Kids never think anything bad can happen.” She sighed and slid her glasses back on. “Actually, plenty of adults think nothing bad will ever happen. But it does. It’s not like it was the end of my world, though. I can’t even say it ruined my life. It
changed
my life, but considering how my life is going? I have to say it changed it for the better. How do I even know I’d bewhere I am, married to Ezra, with a career I love if my life had gone a different way?”
    “You’re one hell of an optimist,” Nia muttered.
    At that, Law laughed.
    Nia shot him a look.
    He glanced up from the chessboard, a smirk on his face. “She’s about the most
un
optimistic person I’ve ever met. She’s just realistic.”
    Lena made a face in his direction. Then she shrugged. “He’s right. I’m hardly ever optimistic. But I love my life—I wouldn’t do anything that might change how it’s going now. Especially if it meant that I might not have Ezra in it.”
    “That’s so sweet.” Hope smiled.
    “Yeah. I’m sugar, all right.” Lena snorted and picked her PDA back up.
    “It
is
sweet. Romantic.” Hope shrugged and looked back at the chessboard. “I mean, there are probably a lot of people who couldn’t say that—they’d
want
a chance to go back, undo what the ten-year-old kid did, you know? Your life could have been easier. But you don’t care, because Ezra’s worth it.”
    “It’s not
just
about Ezra,” Lena said self-consciously. Then she shrugged. “But yeah. He’s worth it. And hell, would
you
change things if it meant you wouldn’t have Remy? You had to deal with more hell than I ever did.”
    Hope glanced at Lena. Then away. “Remy’s worth everything. Anything.”
    “When it’s real, when it’s right, that kind of love
is
everything.” Lena focused on her PDA again. “And now I want to read—this much mushy talk is going to make me want to wear pink and dance on mountainsides or something stupid.”
    Envy, longing, stirred in Nia’s heart.
Everything
 …
    Feeling the weight of his stare, she looked up and sawLaw looking at her. Her heart skipped a beat and then started to race.
    Everything
 … Yeah. She could believe that. Maybe she wouldn’t have a few years ago. Even just a few months ago. But Law was changing all sorts of things.
    Remy tore at the door to the kiln, wrenching at the complicated mechanism even as Ezra tried to grab his arm. “Get the fuck away,” he snarled. He got the door open just as Ezra managed to jerk him back.
    Ezra froze as he saw what Remy had glimpsed through the kiln’s tiny peephole.
    It was Roz.
    Bound hand and foot, her head lolling against the side wall of the kiln.
    “Dear God,” Ezra whispered.
    Remy barely heard him.
    He had to crawl inside to get to her. It wasn’t one of the bigger kilns, but it was too big for him to pull her out without getting in. Part of him was terrified to touch her. He couldn’t tell if she was breathing. Couldn’t tell if she was alive. And he wouldn’t know until he touched her. But he couldn’t live in denial anymore.
    There was only one way she could have gotten here.
    Ezra had been right—Remy had been horribly, terribly wrong.
    And he was going to kill Carter.
    His hand was shaking as he reached out, touched Roz’s neck, checking for a pulse. Her skin was warm and under his fingers, he felt a thready, erratic beat. Heaving a sigh of relief, he awkwardly eased her body out. “Thank God,” he whispered.
    “There’s a pulse?”
    “Yeah.” Remy cradled her against his chest. “Roz? Roslyn, sweetheart.”
    She didn’t move. Didn’t seem to hear him.
    He heard Ezra talking and glanced over, saw him on his radio. Calling it in, he realized.
    Shit. This was really happening.
    Carter—
    Dazed, he looked at Ezra and shook his head. “I can’t believe this is happening, man. I … what in the fuck is going on?”
    Ezra paused, lowered the radio. “I don’t know.” He looked at Roz’s still form, and then