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“Lucy!” I heard the man scream, and I barely had time to recover before his body slammed into mine. I automatically rolled, taking the man with me. Despite the fact that I still had ahold of my own gun, he came at me with punch after punch. But the guy clearly didn’t know the first thing about fighting because every swing failed to make contact with anything that would have caused me enough injury to loosen my hold on him or my gun. His struggles irritated me more than anything else, so I did the only thing I knew would end the whole thing and put my gun to his head. As expected, he froze instantly, his eyes going wide with fear. I used his stillness to study him as best I could, considering the heavy snow that was falling around us. I guessed him to be my height and older than me by at least ten years, but he was leaner than me. Not skinny, just average build. His hair was dark brown and he was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt…like the girl, he was completely underdressed for the elements. The only feature on his face I could make out with any real clarity were his startlingly green eyes, even though one was swollen shut. Nearly his entire face was covered in bruises and his lip was swollen and split. Dried blood clung to a gash near his temple and I sucked in a breath when I saw the bruises on his throat.
Bruises I’d seen more times than I could count when I was a child.
Whoever had put the marks on his neck hadn’t just been trying to hurt him…they’d been trying to choke him. Either into submission…or worse.
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that at least some of the blood Ronan and I had found in the house had come from this man. And I knew Ronan had likely been right…he wasn’t running from the law. He was running from something much, much worse.
“Do it,” the man whispered harshly, his voice sounding scratchy…an aftereffect of being strangled probably.
I forced my eyes to his. His hands were fisted by his sides and he was sucking in deep breaths.
“Do it,” he repeated. I stiffened when I saw his hand reach for my gun, but I knew by the way he was moving that he wasn’t trying to disarm me. His cold fingers closed over my hand and I felt one finger press against the one I had resting on the trigger. I could say that after all the things I’d seen in my life, not much surprised me, but between the girl holding a gun on me and this moment, I was pretty much incapable of speech.
“Because that’s the only way I’m going back to him this time,” he declared. His voice dripped with a curious mix of determination, fear and resignation.
Before I could respond, I heard the girl yell, “Ethan!” and then she was coming at me, though her moves were sluggish as she continued to struggle to catch her breath. I easily caught her arm as she took a swing at me and I shifted off the man in one swift move and dragged the girl back against my chest, pinning her arms by wrapping one of mine around her.
“No!” the man shouted and he struggled to his feet, though he swayed wildly once he managed to stand. “Please,” he whispered.
The girl struggled in my grasp. My patience was nearing its end and I snapped, “Be still.”
I had no idea what the fuck was going on and I was freezing my ass off.
“Please,” the man implored. “Don’t hurt her…just…just leave her here and I’ll go back with you. Tell…tell Eric I won’t run again. I swear it.”
“Ethan, no,” the girl cried out.
“Sweetheart, stay still, okay? It’ll be over soon.”
The girl was shaking her head against me and I could hear her crying. Frustration coursed through me as I tried to ignore the girl’s anguish and the terror in the man’s eyes as he silently begged me.
I was about to explain to both of them that I wasn’t whoever it was they believed me to be, but the man – Ethan – suddenly lost his balance and crumpled to his knees. His eyes rolled backwards just as the girl shouted “Ethan!” and I quickly released her and lunged forward to catch him before his head could make contact with the ground. The girl was by my side in an instant, tears streaming down her face.
“Ethan,” she cried as she brought her hands up to his face, but seemed to struggle with where to put them.
“Lucy,” I said as I tucked my gun in my waistband and lifted Ethan enough so his face lolled against my chest. “Lucy, look at me,” I said when the girl didn’t respond.
