They weren’t just searching for Liam and Nimue anymore.
This had just become a multi-victim rescue operation.
She’d almost lost him.
The thought hammered through Nimue’s head with every step up the rocky trail.
Dusky shadows swallowed the path ahead, forcing her to feel for footing on stone that had seemed so solid an hour ago. Her legs trembled with exhaustion, each step a negotiation between muscle and will. Wet stone crunched under her boots, sending an earthy, damp scent into the air.
The sky was still light, but it had been a while since they’d seen the sun dip below the rim, and already the temperature had begun to drop. It would be a cold night.
Still, all she could think was…
She’d nearly lost him.
That moment kept replaying. Liam disappearing in the brown water, the rope’s frayed end floating downstream. Everything inside her had screamed, but no sound had come out. Just silence while her world tilted sideways.
Then his hand had broken the surface. His head. Gasping, alive, real.
She’d almost crumbled right there.
Two weeks.She’d known him barely more than two weeks, and this man had somehow smashed her defenses and made a spot for himself in her heart.
Her anchor. That’s what he’d become.
And losing him would have destroyed her.
What would that mean when this was over?
The way he’d held her in that cave. Those kisses that tasted like promises and hope. Everything pointed toward a future she’d never dared imagine. But what if she was reading too much into things?
Few people came into her life to stay, and even then…
Well, even Emberly had left her.
And sure, Boz and the rest of the Davidson clan—foster kids who needed family—were still around, but…
But she couldn’t lie to herself anymore.
She wanted Liam to stay.Shewanted to stay. Plant roots somewhere and build something real. Build a life of color and hope and…love.
But what did she know about relationships? About commitment that lasted longer than a few months? What could she possibly offer someone like him?
“Got bricks in here or what?”
Liam, carrying her pack, now readjusted it on his shoulders. The teasing lilt in Liam’s voice made her breath hitch.
The gold bar.
She needed to tell him. If they had any hope of a future together, that needed to start with being honest. Transparent. But if the gold wasn’t enough to satisfy Teresa’s demands, her life would become an endless cycle of hiding. Running from one safe house to the next, always looking over her shoulder.
Pulling him into the weight of that information felt like too much after just knowing her for fifteen days.
Plus, this was gold found on national park land. She wasn’t sure about the legalities, but what was that old saying? Better to ask for forgiveness than permission? This gold might be her only shot at freedom. But at what cost?
She didn’t like the person she’d turned into. Thievery might have been Emberly’s chosen profession—the specialty of the Black Swans—and sure, hacking might be a form of that, but she worked for the good guys.
She wasn’t a liar or a thief or a con artist.
