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Stealthily, keeping my feet light in the squelching mud, I slip out from the shadow of the cabin wall.

The thunder detonates overhead, masking the sound of my approach as I creep up behind the deputy.

The officer pulls open the back door of the cruiser, holding Ryder by the shoulder to shove him inside.

Ryder’s dark eyes flicker toward the treeline—and he spots me stepping out of the gloom. His brow twitches in subtle, dark surprise, but he doesn’t utter a single sound, keeping his body perfectly still to hide my presence.

I raise the heavy piece of oak over my shoulder, taking a deep breath, and swing with everything I have.

Crack!

The wood connects flush with the back of the deputy’s head.

The officer lets out a choked grunt, his eyes rolling back as his knees instantly buckle beneath him. He collapses like a sack of stones, crashing face-first into the muddy grass at Ryder’s feet.

I stand over him, my chest heaving, the heavy log shaking violently in my wet hands.

Blood and rain splatter across my knuckles as I stare at the unconscious man.

I quickly drop the log into the mud and drop to my knees beside the officer.

My hands are trembling so badly I can barely function, but I manage to reach his leather utility belt, unhooking the small set of brass cuff keys.

I stand up, stepping over the deputy’s body, and walk up to Ryder, relieving him of my knife. “This is mine.”

Before inserting the key into the lock of Ryder’s handcuffs, I stick his blade into his pocket. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.”

A dark, lustful shadow takes over Ryder’s gaze. “You do a lot for me, pretty girl.”

My core burns at his words, but I ignore it.

As I unlock the cuffs, the steel springs open, releasing his wrists.

I yank the metal off him and toss the keys and the handcuffs onto the wet ground right next to the unconscious officer.

“Disarm him. Take his gun and lock him up inside the cabin so he can’t call for backup,” I say frantically, against the howling storm.

Ryder doesn’t move immediately. He rubs his thick, tattooed wrists, his dark, heavy gaze bearing down on me with a terrifyingly intense scrutiny.

He looks at the unconscious cop, then back at my shaking frame, his eyes narrowing as he processes what I just did.

“You could’ve escaped. You could’ve run into the woods, called the state police, and told them I killed a man on the porch,” he rasps, smooth and deep over the rain.

He takes a slow step closer to me, his chest rising and falling in heavy pulses. “Why save me, pretty girl?”

I pull my wet sweater tighter around my body, taking a step backward to keep my distance from him.

“I still owe Noah,” I say quietly with a cold, absolute finality.

Ryder tilts his head, his dark eyes flashing with a sharp, probing intensity in the dark. “For what?”

I don’t answer him. I refuse to give him another piece of my soul to twist against me.

“You better hurry,” I tell him sharply, nodding toward the officer lying in the mud. “Before he wakes up.”

Ryder holds my gaze for one more suffocating second, a slow, dangerous curve touching his lips. Then, he bends down, grabbing the deputy under his armpits with effortless strength, and begins dragging his heavy body back up the wooden steps toward the cabin door.

The second his back turns—the exact millisecond his focus shifts to the cop—I take my chance.