“Then I’m coming.”
“Too risky.”
She shot her bestdo not argue with melook and followed him out the back door after he heaved a sigh and then jumped into action. The lock snicked the moment they were outside. Good that Rosie took it seriously. Not so good that they couldn’t turn around and go back inside if Silus was out here.
Blaize took off running toward a wooded area. She did her best to keep up as she fumbled with her cell. Rosie might not call law enforcement due to Sharon’s request, but Carys had no problem doing it. If the woman ended up in jail, so be it. For Rue’s sake, Carys hoped the courts would go easy on Sharon.
Silus was a different story altogether. That man needed to rot in a burning—
Dammit.
Carys dropped her cell. It was black as pitch out here. There was no way she could keep going and find it.
“Do you have your phone on you?” she asked Blaize as they half hopped, half ran through scrub brush, zigzagging in and out of trees. Branches slapped her face and torso as they bolted through the woods.
They ran long past her thighs burning. She was lost. It was dark. What if they ended up stuck out here overnight?
The shock of seeing Sharon alive and of Blaize being shot was something she might never recover from.
A glimpse of red taillights stopped Blaize so fast that Carys ran into his back.
As they moved closer, a familiar sound pierced her chest like a bullet through armor. Rue’s cries broke Carys’s heart.
From this distance, they could see that the driver’s-side door was open. Had he fled, leaving his daughter to fend for herself?
The question they should have asked wasWhy would Silus abandon the vehicle?They didn’t. Emotion overtook logic when it came to Rue.
“Stay here,” Blaize warned.
“Like hell I will.”
Carys bolted around Blaize on his right side and ran like hell toward Rue.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Anything that happened next would be on Blaize. He shouldn’t have brought Carys out here into the thicket. He shouldn’t have gone after Silus half-cocked with no weapon or plan. And he shouldn’t have let Carys get past him just now.
She’d chosen his injured side, so he couldn’t stop her from running toward Rue. He couldn’t blame Carys. He wanted to do the exact same thing.
It wasn’t the best move.
He winced as he expected to hear another round being fired. Either way, he wouldn’t wait. He took off after Carys and toward the abandoned vehicle.
The engine idled.
Silus had taken off in a hurry. What did that mean?
The answer came in the form of a downed tree lying across the road, blocking it. There was no way the vehicle could drive over it. He could have in his Jeep. But Silus would never get the sedan over the massive trunk.
Maybe his luck was turning. He’d had enough bad luck to last a lifetime. Were the powers that be finally giving him a break?
Carys got to the vehicle first. The loss of blood made him dizzy and move slower. He was halfway there when the crack of a bullet split the air. The world stilled, and everything moved in slow motion.
Carys dropped to the ground. Hit?
He instinctively dove for cover, then army-crawled toward her despite the biting pain in his arm.
“Did it…”
