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19
Kate woke with a start,her heart beating too fast, like she’d been having a bad dream. She’d had crazy weird dreams when she’d been pregnant with Griffin, but that had been late in her pregnancy, when she’d been burdened with the stress and worry of impendingmotherhood.
Now she felt like she could almost hear the blood rushing in her veins, every nerve in her body on high alert. Something gnawed at her subconscious, something that told her a nightmare wasn’t theculprit.
She lay in bed, listening to the wind howl outside the big windows in her room, the roar of the ocean at the base of the cliff like a monster come to life from the pages of one of Griffin’sbooks.
A soft whoosh sounded from the first floor, the sound so subtle it might have been lost to the storm except for a lull in the wind. A second later she thought she heard something shuffle across thefloor.
She sat up and looked at her phone. 3:02a.m.
It was probably just one of the guards. There were two of them patrolling the grounds. Mostly they stayed outside, but her mother had given them free rein with the house and the food in the kitchen, and every now and then one of them would come in to get something to eat or use the powderroom.
She threw her feet over the side of the bed, and walked barefoot to the door while clutching the phone in her hand. It probably was just one of the guards, but she wouldn’t be able to sleep now, not until she made sure the sound was nothing tofear.
Cracking the door, she listened, training her ears to the sound underneath thestorm.
Nothing.
She stepped into the hall and headed for the stairs, instinctively being quiet, her nerves tingling with potential danger even though her mind told her there couldn’t be anyone in the house, not with the guards stationed at the gate and the ones patrolling theproperty.
Besides, Declan was at Connor Ferguson’s house making sure they would never have to worry about himagain.
She reached the top of the stairs, her self-talk almost doing the job of soothing her fear. She had her hand on the banister and was preparing to step onto the first tread when she caught sight of something at the foot of thestairs.
A black-clad leg splayed across the floor, the booted footstill.
One of the guards was down at the foot of thestairs.
Her hand flew to her mouth, her brain working to keep her silent as a scream rose in herthroat.
She backed away from the stairs. She jumped when her phone vibrated in her hand. She looked at the display, glad she always set the phone on silent beforebed.
It wasDeclan.
She couldn’t afford to risk answering. Couldn’t afford to do anything except save her son, herfamily.
She turned and ran for Griffin’sroom.
* * *
Declan pressed harderon the gas, wishing they’d brought the Tesla even though it would have painted a target on their back. He had to peer through the windshield of the Dodge, barely able to see even though the wipers were on the highestsetting.
“Slow down,” Ronan said. “Getting pulled over isn’t going to get us there anyfaster.”
“Fuck you,” Declan growled, redialing Kate’snumber.
It went to voicemail.
Again.
“Stop calling,” Nick said, from the back seat. “I know it’s hard, but if she can’t answer, you might be doing more harm thangood.”
The unspoken meaning made Declan want to punch something: Kate and Griff might be hiding at the house, might already be in the clutches of Ferguson’smen.
He shook his head, banishing the thought. They’d already crossed the bridge, had wound their way across the peninsula and were almost to the shoreline where the Walsh house perched over thewater.
They were going to get there in time. They hadto.
