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Before I could process it, he was in front of me, kneeling on one knee. He pressed the tip of the knife to my neck. With his other hand, he’d fisted my hair and yanked back my head, exposing my throat.
Terror shocked through my senses.
“Nate,” I begged. “Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends.”
He only tightened his hold on my hair. “You’re a slut and a tease just like her, aren’t you? You all are. Pretending like you’re interested then spreading your legs for someone else.”
Panic surged and the confusion flared, and my lungs squeezed so tight that I couldn’t breathe. I angled back, needing to get away from the blade trembling in his hand.
His fury distinct.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nate.”
“Kimberly, that whore.” Delirious rage poured from his mouth. “After I offered to give her everything, she said she didn’t want anything to do with me, Paisley. She lied and said Evelyn wasn’t mine. Can you believe it? My own daughter?”
My head spun. What was he saying?
“She fucked those guys at work. She thought I wouldn’t know. That I wouldn’t see. But I was watching, Paisley. For four years they kept me locked up. Did she really think I would have forgotten when I got out? I had to teach her a lesson for what she did, and those men deserved it for touching what was mine. But when I showed her what her actions had caused, gave her the chance for atonement, she started screaming. After everything she’d done, she was going to blame me?”
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
His confession careened through my consciousness.
Kimberly hadn’t been killed out of retaliation toward Caleb.
Nate had killed Kimberly and the men he knew she’d slept with.
“Then that piece of shit Greyson took my daughter, and he tried to take you, too. He’ll pay for it. I have to punish him, just like I had to punish Kimberly. Punish her for being a slut. Tell me I don’t have to punish you, too.”
Frantic, I shook my head. “No. You don’t. I’m right here.”
He laughed an ominous sound. “You know, Caleb Greyson actually thought he was going to find me. Pathetic. I was here the whole time. Watching. Waiting. Everyone thinks I’m the fool, but I know everything. I know who deserves to live and die. And I’ll make him pay for trying to take my daughter away.”
Oh my God. I tried to breathe through it, to figure out how to make him believe that I was on his side.
“He is a total jerk, isn’t he? Let’s go. You, Evelyn, and me. Right now. Let’s go. Leave this place.” I tried to smile, to nod in encouragement, to push the words out around the clot of horror that locked my throat.
Fear potent.
Greater than anything I’d ever felt.
I just had to get us out of here, and I’d figure the rest out later.
He stroked the pad of his thumb along the angle of my cheek. “Okay. We’re gonna have to take care of Greyson first, though.”
Sickness clawed at my stomach, then one second later, the door burst open. Dust flew through the tumultuous air.
Caleb stood in the doorway when it cleared, lit by the light that streamed in behind him.
In a flash, Nate was on his feet, and he yanked me to mine and pulled me in front of him, pinning my back to his chest while he kept the knife pressed to my throat.
Terror ripped through my consciousness, while all those blips of memories you see before you die flashed through my mind.
The things that meant the most. The things that counted. The love and the laughter you shared.
But in the end, right that second?
It all amounted to one thing.
One thing that mattered.
A promise of hope that spilled from my mouth and sealed my fate.
“Caleb, get Evelyn and run!”
FORTY-EIGHT
CALEB
Three hours had passed since Ezra and his team had shown. Three hours since Ryder had called. Three hours since terror had blotted out hope.
Everyone I knew had descended on the ranch, Ryder and Cody and a bunch of their friends. Six more officers had arrived from the next county over.
We’d embarked on searching every inch of the ranch, scouring for a trace, a clue, anything that would indicate where Nate had gone.
An APB had been put out on Nate’s truck, plus Paisley’s and Evelyn’s faces had been broadcast on every news channel and social media outlet, asking for any information.
Dakota and their friends were out talking to everyone in the town, showing pictures, begging everyone to keep an eye out and to report anything suspicious.
More officers had been sent to Paisley’s grandfather’s house. There was no evidence of an altercation. The only thing of note was her phone that Ryder had found on the sidewalk. It’d likely slipped from her hand or had been tossed out the window.
