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I unlock it, as my heart thuds.

Is he coming to join us? Sending a love message? Explaining where he is?

Hope soars through me.

Then I stare at the number and disappointment mixed with fear flares through me.

Shakily, I stare down at the long, obsessive string of texts sent one after the other.

I have been ignoring Devlin’s other messages, but so close to the auction, I don’t dare to.

I clench my jaw, forcing myself to read the texts from the Alpha who has been terrorizing me since high school.

Paige, stop making this harder than it needs to be.

I can save the inn. Everything they can take from you, I can put back in your hands.

The only cost is you. You’re all I’ve wanted my entire life.

Nobody you love has to get hurt trying to protect you.

I reckoned you’d have learned by now how easily accidents happen when you resist me.

Fires.

Plane crashes.

The Coles act tough. They ain’t untouchable, Paige.

I swear to God, sweetheart, I will burn down the whole damn world before I stand by again and watch you belong to somebody else.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

County Courthouse, Oak Hollow

Rhett

Devlin prowls through the crowds in front of the courthouse toward me. His eyes are blazing with rage. They are also swollen and bruised, the same as his cheek and jaw.

His lip is split and busted.

Satisfied, I notice how stiffly he is moving.

Probably, several ribs are cracked.

I grin, satisfied.

The sight of him is enough to help me ignore my own exhaustion and hunger.

Since I left the cookout, I haven’t slept. I haven’t sat down or paused to stuff anything in my mouth. I only forced myself to gulp down some mouthfuls of water, when Angel sent me regular messages throughout the night insisting on it.

He also reminded me to eat, but I couldn’t stop work long enough for that.

It made me smile because it meant that he hadn’t slept either, as if he was by my side in Cole House, while I was arranging the sale of my parents’ precious heirlooms and jewelry.

It hurt, but less than Paige losing Acorn Inn would.

The items I have been hurrying to give up are only things.