Jonnas: Baby girl, where are you?
Fresh tears burned her eyes. God, even now, he sounded worried about her first. Dani slid down against the stairwell wall and covered her face with trembling hands. Maybe she should leave—really leave. She could transfer hospitals and disappear before she destroyed everything he’d worked for, because if the hospital board thought he’d abused his authority—her stomach twisted violently, and she couldn’t even finish that thought. No, she couldn’t do that to him.
Another text came through from Jonnas.
Jonnas: Dani, talk to me.
The concern in those three words shattered her, because Jonnas still didn’t know yet that his whole world was going to be turned upside down. He didn’t know that thehospital was already turning them into gossip, or that people were questioning his integrity because of her. Dani suddenly understood something awful—love wasn’t what scared her most anymore. It was the possibility that loving her might ruin him. Yeah, that terrified.
Dani stayed hidden in the stairwell for almost twenty minutes before the door slammed open hard enough to make her jump. She didn’t need to look up to know that it was him—Jonnas. His eyes found her instantly, where she sat curled against the wall, and relief hit his face so fast it hurt to look at him.
“There you are,” he breathed. The roughness in his voice nearly shattered her. He looked furious, but not at her. He was pissed at whoever made her cry, and that somehow made it worse.
Dani wiped quickly at her face and stood too fast. “You shouldn’t be here.”
His entire expression darkened immediately. “What happened?”
“I’m fine,’ she lied.
“Dani.” That firm, steady tone usually grounded her instantly, but right now it just made tears burn harder behind her eyes, because she couldn’t let him fix this. Not when he was the one who might lose everything.
Jonnas crossed the stairwell toward her slowly, eyes scanning her face with growing concern. “Talk to me.”
She shook her head immediately. “You need to go. You can’t fix this, Jonnas.”
“No,” he growled. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Jonnas—”
“No.” His voice sharpened slightly. “You don’t get to disappear on me every time something goes wrong.” The words hit hard, because God, she wanted to disappear right now. She wanted to run before she ruined him completely.
Dani looked away quickly. “There’s an HR complaint about us.”
“What kind of complaint?” he asked. She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t stand seeing his face when she said it.
“They think—” Her throat tightened painfully. “They think you used your position to pressure me into sleeping with you.” The silence afterward felt endless, and Dani finally forced herself to look up. Jonnas had gone completely still. He didn’t look shocked. Instead, he looked to be in control. He was too controlled, and that somehow scared her more.
“It was Jessica,” she whispered. “She reported it before rumors got worse, and we somehow hurt the hospital.” Something cold flickered across his face—not at her, never at her, but anger rolled off him in waves now.
Dani’s stomach twisted violently. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes snapped to hers instantly. “Why are you sorry?” he asked.
“This is my fault,” she insisted. The fury on his face disappeared immediately, replaced by disbelief.
“Dani—” She held up her hand, stopping him before he said something sweet and caring to her that she wouldn’t be able to recover from.
“You could lose your job because of me,” she said.
“Stop,” he breathed.
“You worked your entire life for this hospital, and now people probably think you’re some creepy old man sleeping with younger nurses and?—”
“Enough,” he growled. The sharp command cracked through the stairwell hard enough to silence her instantly. Jonnas looked furious now.
“Do not,” he said roughly, “stand here and blame yourself because other people decided to twist something good into something ugly.” Fresh tears instantly burned her eyes. God. Why did he still sound worried about her?
“I should’ve stayed away from you,” she whispered. The second the words left her mouth, Jonnas’s expression changed completely, as if she’d physically hit him.