It hadn’t been an accident.
Someone had tried to kill her.
And he’d just let her walk away.
His pulse bludgeoned a punishing beat in his throat.Focus. Think.He moved, muscle taking over where reason couldn’t.
Ellie first.
He lifted her into the back seat, strapping her in with hands that wouldn’t comply. The metal buckle clinked as he fumbled.Shit.
Ellie blinked up at him, wide-eyed. “Daddy… fright?”
He took a slow breath, smiled and kissed her forehead.
“No, baby-bug. Daddy’s just—” The lie stalled on his tongue. He dropped his forehead against hers, breathing in her little-girl scent. “Yeah. Maybe a little. But it’s gonna be okay.”
He straightened, pulled his phone from his pocket, thumbed Ivy’s name.
Voicemail.
He swore under his breath and tried again, jamming the phone to his ear until the plastic dug into bone.
Same result.
Sarah said something beside him—her hand on his arm, sheriff voice turned soft—but he couldn’t hear over the pounding in his chest. The controlled part of him was slipping its leash, overridden by the man who’d rebuilt his life from ashes. The one who’d sworn no one he loved would ever get hurt again.
Ivy’s out there.Alone. And someone had tried tohurther.
“Ryder.” Sarah’s voice cut through the haze. “Look at me.”
With effort, he did as she asked.
“I’m heading to the garage,” she said. “Mitch is preserving evidence. I’ll call as soon as I know anything. Find her. Tell her. And Ryder—be careful.”
She was gone before he could answer, boots crunching over the snow, red and blue lights washing across his truck’s interior as Ellie waved goodbye.
Ryder was frozen for half a heartbeat, cold biting through his skin.
No Ivy.
No answers.
Only the fear scratching up his spine—that every minute he wasted was a minute closer to losing her.
He drew one breath. Then another.
Adrenaline unleashed him.
Move.
He scrolled to his mom’s number, thumb hovering. Thirty minutes out of town.
Too far. Too long.
Every minute counted.
He pivoted fast, running through options like a mission checklist.
