Reese looked at Tanner, barely able to make out the shape of his features in the dark room. “He’ll kill Garrett.”
Tanner stood abruptly, replacing his hat on his head. “No. He won’t. We won’t let him.”
“You can’t stop it,” Reese said. “No one can. Except for maybe me. If I’m not here. If I go back to Los Angeles or anywhere else, then Russell will have no reason to come here. Garrett will be safe.”
The door opened and Orly returned. “And what about me?” She asked. “How will suffering at the hands of your own step brother help me? Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I wasn’t sure if I should come in. Then I heard you saying you wanted to leave. Reese, I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m so glad that we’ve gotten to know each other and spend time together. You’ve become one of my closest friends and I don’t want you to leave. We need you here.”
It wasn’t like Reese wanted to leave. She loved her life with Garrett, and her friends. Orly, Hallie, and Skyla showed her what real friendship was all about, and Reese knew she’d never find anything like it again, no matter where she went. But Garrett’s life was on the line. Russell was going to kill him unless she did something to stop it. “I don’t know what else to do,” she finally admitted. “I can’t let Garrett die.” She hiccupped and swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I won’t survive that, especially knowing there’s a chance I could prevent it.”
A knock at the door had both women look up. Caden and Luke both stood in the doorway.
“What’s going on?” Luke asked. “Shouldn’t we all be outside getting ready for the ceremony?”
“Garrett asked me to check on you,” Caden said. “He told me what you did.”
Orly went into her husband’s arms. Luke enveloped her, not missing how she sought out his comfort and protection. “Orly? Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
Orly pulled away from Luke just enough to look up at him. “I didn’t get the whole story because Hallie needed my help fixing her hair, but Reese saw Russell kill Garrett.”
“Orly!” Reese whisper-shouted, but Caden held up a hand, telling her without words that this was not the time to keep quiet about things.
“She what?” Luke asked his wife as he held on to her tightly.
“Please,” Reese said. “I can stop it. I have to at least try. You just have to buy me some time. Go get married. Just keep Garrett here, okay?”
“What do you mean, stop it?” Caden asked. “I thought you couldn’t prevent people’s deaths?”
“She can’t,” Tanner said. “Her plan is to leave Dallas without saying goodbye to Garrett in the hopes that if she leaves now, Russell won’t come here looking for her.”
“It’s a good plan, and then Russell might be too busy with me to worry about you,” Reese said to Orly. “I mean, you’ve been here already for how long, but it’s me that’s going to bring him here. Not you. I’m his step sister and he knows what I can do. Now that he has photographic proof that I knew Molly Edgar, he’s not going to want anyone else to make that connection.”
“Reese, a psychic can’t testify in a court of law,” Orly said. “Even if you shouted what you saw from the rooftops, it wouldn’t stand up in court.”
“I know,” Reese said. “But that doesn’t seem to matter to Russell. He’s coming to Dallas, and if I don’t leave now, he’ll kill Garrett. I won’t stand by and let that happen.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Garrett nearly roared from the doorway. Reese hadn’t even seen him there, but now all eyes were on him. Everyone stood aside and let him pass, but Reese couldn’t face him. Not now. Not ever. She was the reason he was going to die a young, handsome man, having never married or had kids. Everything she wanted for him was never going to happen if she stayed. She had no other choice. Leaving was the only chance she had to keep him safe. To keep him alive.
Garrett came to stand in front of her and took her hands in his like he had by the creek. “I don’t care what you saw. I don’t care if it happens. I don’t care about anything right now, except making sure that you don’t leave.”
“It’s the only way to protect you,” Reese insisted. “Don’t you understand? I don’t want to leave. I have to.” She couldn’t keep the helplessness from her voice if her life depended on it. She loved this man and leaving him would be the hardest thing she’d ever have to do.
“No, you don’t. Come back outside with me and let's enjoy our friends’ wedding. Dance with me. Have cake with me. Talk to me. Just don’t leave me, Reese. Stay. Stay and let’s face this together.”
Reese shook her head. “If I stay, he’ll come. But if I leave -”
“Do you know for sure that if you leave, he won’t come?” Orly asked.
Reese had never felt more helpless in her life. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, wishing she had a better answer. “No, of course not. But me being here, with Garrett, makes Garret a target. If I’m not here, even if Russell does come, Garrett will be in the clear. Russell won’t care about him. He won’t kill him.” Reese barely choked out the last words.
Garrett kneeled in front of her, then stroked the side of her cheek, wiping away the moisture that streamed down her face. “If you run, I’ll run with you. If you leave. I’ll leave with you.”
“You can’t.” How did he not understand that she was trying to save his life? “I’m sorry, but you have to let me go.”
“Did you know that I ran from Russell and kept my identity a secret from Luke for months?” Orly asked. “We talked in our heads, but I wouldn’t tell him anything about me. I did that to protect us from Russell and the serial killer that was taunting me. But guess how well that turned out?”
Reese didn’t want to hear more about the horror that Orly and Luke had been through because of her stepbrother. She was already living in her own worst nightmare. “What do you suggest I do? And don’t tell me to stay and ignore what I saw, because I can’t do that. It will happen, and it’s soon, because -” She looked at Garrett, and even though she couldn’t see into his eyes right now in the dark room, she could feel his desperation and love for her, and it was nearly her undoing - “because you’re the same age as you are now. It could literally happen any day.”
“Then we prepare,” Caden said.
