“Hersh!” Flick grabbed my arm instantly.
The fear in her voice hit me hard enough I stopped.
Barely.
I looked back at her.
Tears mixed with rain on her cheeks now.
Not weak tears.
Terrified ones.
The kind that came from realizing I was going to destroy this monster or die.
“Please,” she whispered.
That one word reached somewhere nothing else could.
I exhaled slowly.
Forced my breathing steady.
Then Shepherd laughed softly out in the rain.
“There he is,” he murmured. “Still choosing her.”
Wolf came down the porch steps beside me.
“You want the shot?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
Honestly?
It surprised me too.
Because I absolutely wanted Shepherd dead.
But not like this.
Not while Flick watched.
Not while Shepherd still thought he controlled the board.
Shepherd tilted his head slightly.
“You think this ends at the ranch?”
His eyes shifted toward Flick standing behind me.
“I know where she was born.”
Ice floodedthrough my veins.
Flick went pale instantly.
