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It only lurked, waiting around in the fringes of my mind and spirit, reminding me Evelyn would never truly be safe until it was done.
But each day here with the two of them made it harder to do.
This place that had become a fairytale.
A sanctuary in the storm.
But I needed to return to it before I became complacent.
I felt the truth of it as I bounded downstairs and stepped out into the blinding rays of light.
Could feel it on the breeze that wisped through the branches of the trees.
A vileness that crept up from the darkest places.
A shroud that had gathered in the moments of peace that I’d allowed myself.
Blood thugged through my veins, heavy and hot.
As if she felt the extremity of it, Paisley’s attention snapped my way where she was hugging Evelyn to her chest.
Questions raced through her features, and I squeezed my hands into fists to keep the chaos at bay.
It didn’t work, though, it only followed my every step, growing as I strode down the walkway and hopped into the front seat of the grimy work truck waiting for me at the drive.
Confused concern knit Paisley’s brow, as if she could feel the apprehension radiating from me in noxious waves.
I didn’t know what it was, but I felt pieces of myself flaying.
Fraying.
Wanting to come apart.
Manny gunned the accelerator, and I forced my attention out the windshield.
I struggled to reel in the disorder.
But I couldn’t shake it as we sped down the dirt road.
About halfway up the long drive, he made a sharp left onto what could hardly be considered a path, just two worn tire tracks that led over the rolling fields and alongside the copse of trees before it opened up about three miles to the east at pasture nine.
“Here we are.” Manny skidded to a stop, and I jumped out, striding through the gate that sectioned off this area. Four cowboys loitered at the top of a hill, their stances grim as I moved their way.
I couldn’t help the spark of annoyance that Nate was one of them.
He wanted Paisley. I knew he did. So what if I was a selfish, possessive bastard for wanting to ram my fist in his face for it.
Tamping the irritation down, I edged to where they were gathered around something on the ground.
Vultures circled overhead.
A stench filled my nostrils the closer I came, and that dread grew in the pit of my stomach with each step that I took.
I shouldered through the group as the irritation rose.
Only I came to a quick, horrified stop, rearing back as nausea spun my guts in disgust and bile rose up the back of my throat.
I gagged at the sight and smell, while revulsion spiraled through my consciousness.
It was a black horse.
A black horse that had to have been laying there for days, its belly bloated where it had been gutted.
But what made me want to drop to my knees was it’d been slashed across the throat.
Visions flashed through my mind.
Kimberly.
Kimberly.
Her eyes vacant.
Her body mangled.
The slash across her throat.
My body tilted to the side, knocked from its axis.
He’d been here.
He’d been here.
Fuck, he’d been here.
I grabbed onto the back of my head with both hands to try to control myself while foreboding whirled through my mind.
Mert scrubbed a gloved hand over his mouth, gray hair sticking up at the back, his hat hooked on his knee. Disgust dug trenches into the lines that were already on his weathered face. “What do you make of that, sir?”
“I think some monster killed this horse,” I forced out through the crushing awareness.
A message for me.
A warning.
A reminder of the sins I’d committed.
The things I had done.
Rage screamed through the fear.
“How long has this horse been like this?” I demanded.
Mert shook his head. “Four, maybe five days.”
Shit.
He could be anywhere by now.
Violence burst in my blood, this sticky dread dumping into the vat of rage that boiled in the darkest recesses of my soul.
“Shit,” one of the other hands spat, fighting his own anger. “Who would do somethin’ like this? Horrible. Mean.”
Terror pierced through me, as sharp as the knife that had slain this horse.
“You got any enemies?” Mert asked, still crouched beside the animal.
Grieved laughter stuck in my throat. “Yeah.”
I forced myself to shove off the shock and focus on what needed to be done. Because I couldn’t sit idle. Not when the threat loomed alive.
So close.
Too fucking close.
“Who has access to these fields?” I demanded, shifting into action.
Mert gave a half shrug. “About anyone could sneak on. You have miles and miles of land. Gates are locked, but it doesn’t take much to go through one of these fences. Fences are intended to keep the horses and cattle in, not keep people out. Just like we had that cut fence a while back.”
I began to pace, roughing an agitated hand over the back of my head that was dropped between my shoulders.
