Keelan scurried through the hatch as fast as her quaking limbs would take her. She jumped up the steps and on to the deck. She had a desperate need for fresh air to clear her head. Her mind screamed in torment from the brutal realizations pummeling her. She paused at the rail and gulped in several deep jagged breaths. She’d had her suspicions, but deep down she didn’t want them to be true. Deep down, she had known.
Garrison. Murderer.
They had trusted him. Papa had helped and encouraged him to develop his practice. He’d preyed on them and their charity. Garrison killed Papa and hired pirates to kidnap her. Those actions had nothing to do with infatuation as she had errantly surmised. In the several months prior to arriving in Charleston, he’d played the part of an awkward physician with
