Two weeks after Philip d'Autremont is acquitted of his wife's murder, it's time for him and his partner and lawyer, Charles Barnett, to start building their life together. But it turns out that not everyone in Atlanta is as ready to leave the trial in the past as Charles and Philip, and a surprise attack leaves Charles in the hospital and Philip's arm in a sling.<br><br>With thoughts of their own mortality fresh in their minds, Charles and Philip make a decision that will change their lives forever. Future plans and home renovations take their minds off the attacks, but the danger isn't over yet: the people behind the attacks are still at large, and they weren't acting alone.

Tribulation

I looked at Philip and said, “I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.”


AFTER I LEFT THE hospital, I got home as quickly as possible and was soon eating toast, drinking coffee, and handing tidbits to Lance, who’d come downstairs to investigate. I cleaned up the kitchen as best I could with one arm in a cast and went up to our bedroom, where I managed somehow to get my shirt off over the cast. Then I stripped and pulled on some gym shorts. I went downstairs to refill my coffee cup and found Bruce seated at the breakfast table wearing only a pair of boxer briefs.


“Good morning,” he said. “Is everything all right at the hospital?”


“Charles is doing fine and should be out of there in a couple of days,” I said. “Bruce, can you do me a favor?”


“Can you help me shower and shave? I was going to ask Richard, but you know how difficult he is to get up at this hour.”


“Sure,” Bruce said again, and followed me upstairs.


Chapter 29