Unseen (Will Trent / Atlanta Series)

you.” She gave a surprised laugh that echoed down the empty hallway. “Hey, I guess you make mistakes after all.”
    “You think I don’t make mistakes?” Sara’s voice shook with rage. She could barely restrain herself. “I was the one who told Jeffrey to hire you. I was the one who told him to promote you. I was the one who thought you could do your goddamn job and keep him safe.”
    Lena was backed against the window. Sara loomed over her. She couldn’t remember moving, couldn’t understand how her finger had jammed into Lena’s chest or how her hand had clenched into a fist.
    Slowly, Lena turned her head, offering her cheek. “Go on,” she said, her voice smooth as silk. “Take your best shot.”
    There was a weird tickle in Sara’s feet. She felt as if she was standing at the edge of a bottomless pit. She forced herself to look over Lena’s shoulder at the rows of newborns swaddled in blankets. The cheerful rainbows and clouds painted on the ceiling above them.
    Sara couldn’t let Lena win. Not this time. Not like this. She stepped back from the edge. She dropped her hand. She straightened her spine. Sara held up her head as she walked down the long hallway.
    Lena asked, “That’s it?”
    She just needed to make it downstairs. Once Sara was outside, once she had fresh, cold air in her lungs, she would find a way to put this behind her. The last five minutes were not going to erase the last five years. Lena had no idea what Sara had been through. How she’d struggled. How she’d carved out a new life for herself. She didn’t know Jeffrey and she sure as hell didn’t know Will.
    The sound of slow clapping echoed down the hall. Sara forced herself not to flinch. Each clap sounded like a gunshot.
    “Good for you, Doc.” Lena clapped louder. “Ride your high horse right on out of here.”
    Sara didn’t turn around. She couldn’t turn around. She’d end up giving Lena the catfight she’d been spoiling for.
    She pushed open the door to the stairs. Her hands would not unclench. Sara rounded the landing at a jog. Each step she took only served to ramp up her anger.
    Of course Sara had loved Jeffrey because he was tough. There wasn’t a woman alive who didn’t want a strong man in her life. That didn’t make Sara responsible for his murder. She had begged him not to trust Lena, to just once let her hang herself with her own rope. And the idea that Sara could just slot in Will for Jeffrey was preposterous. The two men had nothing in common, exceptthat both of them would’ve kicked Lena to the curb if they’d heard her talking to Sara the way she just had.
    Sara almost wept with relief when she reached the main floor landing. She found herself in another dimly lit hallway. There were no stragglers or visitors at this time of night. Sara followed the green line on the floor, knowing it would take her to the elevators, to the exit.
    Too demanding.
    Too perfect.
    If only.
    Sara couldn’t stop herself from making mistakes. She was overwhelmed with mistakes. Little ones. Big ones. Life-altering, earth-shattering fuckups had followed her for the last five years of her life, culminating in her drive down to this godforsaken hospital.
    Her cell phone rang. Sara didn’t answer. She passed the closed gift shop. Mylar balloons were pressed against the ceiling. The cooler was chained shut. Sara’s phone stopped ringing. Almost immediately, it started back up again. She let it ring out, go to voicemail. There were a few seconds of silence, then the ringing started up again.
    Sara checked the caller ID.
    JASPER, GA.
    Will.
    A few hours ago, his phone said he was on the coast. Now, it said he was in the mountains.
    Sara answered the call. She fought to keep her tone even. “I can’t talk right now.”
    “Where are you?”
    “I’m at the hospital.”
    “Upstairs?”
    “No.” She wiped away tears. The main entrance was up ahead. The lights from the parking lot gave the lobby an ethereal luminescence. “I’m leaving.”
    “To go to the hotel?”
    “To go home.” Sara didn’t realize until she’d said the words that they were true. Her purse was locked in the back of her car. The keyfob was in her pocket. The rest of her stuff was at the hotel. She’d brought a change of clothes and some toiletries she kept in her locker at Grady. None of it was worth postponing her escape. The hotel cleaning staff could throw it out or keep it. Sara didn’t care. She would call the front desk on her way