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“I couldn’t dare drive out to you, and I didn’t know what strings West might have gotten to have my phone tapped, so the next morning, I packed up and left.”
Fury was a smoldering volcano in my gut, ready to erupt. “Remind me to rip that bastard’s throat out.”
“But the tape—”
“I don’t give a shit about the tape,” I said harshly. “We’ll figure it out…just come back home, come back with me.”
“I think I—”
“…Should go home?” I asked. “What is in Fredericksburg for you? Family? Friends?”
“Nothing but an old house,” she replied dully. “There is nothing else there but my father’s old house that I was going to use to figure out my next steps. I ran to make sure you would be safe, John, to ensure you and your children were never in trouble. Or live under any scandal.”
“I will not let West bully me into cowering away like a mangy dog,” I said. “We’re going home, and we are not going to let West hold this over my head. Come back with me.”
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“I know, but nothing will stop me from protecting you,” I said. “Come back home, Rayna, come back to me.”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Rayna
Apprehension was a lead ball in my stomach as John’s car wound through the town that night. We’d arrived at Hill Country after a long flight, and all I wanted was to shrink down the seat and hide my face until we got to his house, because I was not sure what tricks West had up his sleeve.
“So, you said the police have new clues?” I asked.
“Yes,” John’s hand rested on my thigh, and his touch was comforting as he drove. “Blood and skin. Detective Juliann said the cut is deep enough that whoever got it would need medical attention, but there is not much word about that person yet.”
I understood his words but was more preoccupied with what we could do to stop West from ruining our names when he realized I was back in town. How much of a window did we have?
“Stop worrying.” John’s hand tightened on my thigh. “We’ll figure it out. West is not going to beat us. Not over my dead body.”
I wished he had not said that because I was sure that was what West wanted, John dead. I knew he would try his best to get it, too. “That’s what I worry about.”
“West would not dare attack me now that everyone knows he is my enemy,” John replied. “He would be the first suspicion if I ever get harmed.”
“A tree fell on the lane ahead, sir. It's completely unpassable until we get a team from the forestry guys up here. You do know the detour, do you? If you don’t, I can—”
“It’s all right, officer,” John replied. “I know the way.”
“Take care now,” the officer replied, stepping back.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine, but that detour takes thirty minutes out of our way,” he grumbled. “And it takes us through a long stretch of forest.”
“We’ll be all right,” I tried to assure him as he headed on the road ahead.
I don’t know why I had to keep reminding myself of that as I settled back into the soft leather seat with a sigh. As we drove, I stared straight ahead at the uneven one-lane road. It was pitch black out here, with a thick forest of dark trees looming over us on both sides of the car, casting even darker shadows over our path. There hadn’t been a streetlight in miles, and because of the trees’ canopies stretching and overlapping overhead, I lost sight of the moon.
As the car went on, I got sleepy and began to list off with my head dropping on the window right as John took a deep turn and stomped on the brakes. Jerked awake by the sudden stop, I turned to him, “What’s going on—"
His face was rigid and stony, his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel. “Thatbastard.”
“What—” I asked before my gaze turned to the windshield and saw the two cars parked parallel to each other, barricading the road—and Maria’s massive jeep was one of them. Dread curled in my stomach as West came from the other car, and both held guns.
John jammed the lock on the car, then flew the car into reverse before looking over his shoulder and began to drive away…but a bullet shot off and shattered one of the headlights, and he had to jerk to a stop.
