I need to know.

“Whit, wait!” Jackie yelled, but I didn’t listen.

My brain buzzed with static and only one thought—find out what’s going on as quickly as possible.

Lincoln met me as the automatic doors slid open. He reached out and grabbed my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. “I don’t give a shit what happened earlier. I’m not letting you face this alone. I don’t give a damn what anyone says, including you.”

All the anger I’d been harboring from our fight had already been obliterated by fear. My head bobbed a few times, but I couldn’t find any words to reply.

He squeezed my hand, and I found a tiny measure of calm in the riot of emotions pummeling me.

Together, we walked through the doors and into the emergency room lobby. Everything was so white and bright, at complete odds with the storm raging outside.

As soon as the woman at the triage desk saw us, her face paled. “Mr. Riscoff, your family just arrived. They’re waiting for you in a private room, sir.” Her gaze shifted to me, but it was clear she had no idea who I was.

“My parents were in the accident too. The Gables.”

Lincoln squeezed my hand again as Jackie slid to a halt behind me, her shoes squeaking on the wet floor.

The woman’s gaze cut from my face to Lincoln’s and back to mine. “Oh. Okay. Ah, if you would just have a seat—”

“My brother and his wife, Clayton and Shelly Gable,” Jackie snapped at her. “Where are they? I got a call that they were here.”

The woman nodded before reaching for her phone. “One moment, please. I’ll get someone to come help you right away.”

“Lincoln Bates Roosevelt Riscoff. How dare you come in here with her? She’s not allowed to set foot in this place! I want her gone!” Lincoln’s mother shrieked from a doorway near the entrance to the emergency area. His brother, Harrison, clung to her arm.

“Mother, please calm down. You’re going to—”

Mrs. Riscoff’s face crumpled and she burst into sobs, and Harrison pulled her against his side.

Lincoln looked at me, torn. “I’m sorry, I have to—”

“Go.” My voice shook as I released his hand, hating that I immediately missed his strength.

Jackie slipped her arm around me.

“I’m sorry,” he said again before he strode toward his family.

The triage woman finally made her phone call. I tried to look at her instead of watching Lincoln, but of course, I failed.

Lincoln’s mother reached out and wrapped a hand around his arm, like she was securing him and making sure he wouldn’t come back to me. She tugged on him as Harrison led her into a room beside the emergency sign, and the door closed behind them.

“If you could please come with me. There’s a private room over here where—”

“Where are my parents? What happened to them?” I blurted out the questions because I couldn’t wait another second without knowing something.