Hot tears slipped from my eyes, dripping down my face in relief. In the deepest and darkest crevices of my being, I’d never believed he’d be able to forgive me. A lump of anxiety formed in my throat, and I swallowed, but it only crashed into the pit of my stomach. His forgiveness wouldn’t keep me safe from Zach’s madness…wouldn’t keep him safe.

“He’ll come after us both. He’s insane and jealous—”

“You need to turn him in, Alex.” His hands fell from my face. “Zach belongs in jail. Fuck, I belong in jail. We’re gonna do something about it, regardless of what your piece-of-shit father has to say.”

My gaze darted through the window where trees obscured the bane of my existence. Those plans were terrifying—they involved getting into a boat again. They involved coming forward. I wasn’t sure which I dreaded more. “I won’t tell them what you did. If you want me to talk to the police, then you staying out of jail is my stipulation.”

“I won’t argue with that. I’d rather be here protecting you than sitting in a jail cell, so I guess we’d better get our stories straight.”

19. Bodyguard - Rafe

19. BODYGUARD - RAFE

I glanced at her in the passenger seat. The pallor of her skin worried me. So did the way she wrung her hands in her lap. She’d barely said two words since we’d left the island, except to insist on going to the sheriff’s department here in Dante’s Pass instead of filing the report in Portland. The boat ride had thoroughly rattled her, and I dreaded the trip back to the cabin. By the end of the day, I feared she’d hate my guts for making her go.

“The sheriff isn’t my biggest fan, Alex. He’s got everyone around here believing I’m a threat. I doubt he’ll hear you out.”

“Then I want to talk to him. This isn’t just about turning Zach in. I want to clear your name too.”

Overturning a prison sentence wasn’t going to happen by filing a police report, but I didn’t want to disappoint her. “I’m not even sure which law enforcement agency holds jurisdiction. Zach kidnapped you from the island, crossed county lines, and you ended up in a hospital near Mt. Hood.”

“The police don’t know he took me from your island, Rafe. I told them I pushed my car into the river before going to that cabin on my own.”

“He held you in a cabin?”

“An isolated place in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn’t even know how to get there. He said it belonged to a friend.”

I cursed under my breath. “So what are we going to say then?”