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“So you’re giving up?” she asked. “The Slades won’t find us out here.”
“That’s the point.”
“Then they’ve won.” How to talk him into facing Porter? Every part of her urged her to find a way for Porter to stop them. That was their only chance out of this.
“Oh, honey, I’m notthatfar gone.” He kept moving them further out. Past the exit, she saw a silhouette of lonely scaffolding climbing into the dark sky. She’d heard that in the fall, this field held a corn maze. Someone must be making some early improvements to one of Harvest Ranch’s most beloved attractions. The building resembled a haunted castle. Not the most comforting sight to be headed toward.
The music was fading behind them just as she heard the loud vibration of Lacy’s phone. He dropped hers to the weeds while he scraped his out of his trouser pocket.
Her foot landed on the hard case to hide it from him. She’d make sure that he couldn’t use it against her again.
Lacy brought up his phone while a text lit up the screen andhis face. “Nash,” he breathed.
She read Nash’s text over Lacy’s knuckles. “Were you looking for me?”
“You bet I am,” Lacy growled out. He called Nash back. “Where are you?” he shouted. “Oh, you’re coming for me, are you?I’lllet you know when I’m ready to meet.” He hung up. Laughing like he’d just gotten the upper hand, he stepped closer to Cadence.
She scrambled back from him. Not this time. There were no innocent bystanders to threaten her with.
“Get over here,” he said.
She twisted around and ran through the open field, aware that he was larger and faster, but it was dark. She tried to use the night against him, keeping her movements as quiet as she possibly could.
His footsteps sounded loudly behind her. “You’re not going anywhere!”
Ducking down, she hit a patch of weeds and lowered herself to the ground. She pushed her rescued phone into her jean’s pocket, not wanting its light to give her away.
Lacy breathed loudly through the darkness. She saw his silhouette move past her. “You think you can just run from me?” He fumbled around. She saw the bright light emanating from his phone. The beam scraped over the uneven dirt and weeds then caught her. She squinted into the light and shot to her feet.
He came for her again.
A tall figure barreled him over. Lacy let out a shout. She gasped, seeing the broad shoulders of her rescuer, followed by vicious swings and the sound of flesh hitting against flesh in a satisfying series of punches.
Was this Porter? Or Nash?
Lacy had a gun! The realization froze her.
“Be careful!” she shouted. Standing, she took a page from Lacy’s bag of tricks and spotlighted the fighting males with her phone. She searched for the gun, but so far Lacy was holding it back from… Porter.
That was definitely Porter.
Instead of relief, she felt a shock of worry grip her. She stepped closer, not sure how to help him out. A small hand clasped her elbow.
Cadence let out a startled breath. “It’s me,” a female voice said. “Eva Trout.”
At the sound of that name, Lacy bellowed. He reached inside his jacket. The light glimmered over the metal from his gun.
“A gun! He has a gun!” Cadence warned. Porter reached for it, but he wasn’t quick enough. Lacy shot at them as they all scrambled back. Now Cadence was shielding Eva. Of all things! The daughter of that horrible oil tycoon! This couldn’t get any stranger.
“Get away from her,” Lacy ordered Cadence. “She started this! She’s trying to take me down!” He prowled around them. “Eva, you’re going to talk to your daddy, see, and you’re going to tell him that you’re a filthy liar. I didn’t touch you!”
Was that how they’d ruined Lacy? He reminded her of a bull in the arena the way he paced around them. He was past reason.
Porter held his hands up to try to stop Lacy from getting violent. “Get back! You’ll be up for murder. You don’t want this trouble.”
“I don’t?” Lacy shouted. “You sure about that?”
Eva’s phone now spotlighted him. Cadence realized she’d dropped hers when she’d jumped in front of the girl. Somehow the socialite kept a steady grip on hers, not too surprising—she was an influencer, who lived on her phone at every part of the day. Might even be livestreaming, too. Now,thatwould go viral!
