“I’m riding with you,” Davis announced and followed us down the hall.

“I need you to drive,” I admitted.

Wordlessly, we jogged through the parking lot to Davis’s truck. We quickly piled in and Davis peeled out.

I alternated between calling and texting. I couldn’t see what Rhode was doing behind me but I’d bet he was doing the same thing—trying to get ahold of Brooklyn.

The next fifteen minutes were fucking torture. Pure goddamn hell. The last three weeks played through my mind. Sloane smiling and happy puttying walls. Sloane on her knees doing her best to sand the floors, fucking them up, and trying again. Her whispering in the dark, telling me stories about Elise. Sloane laughing on the phone with one of her girls. Meeting Remington for the first time and watching her fall in love with the kid. Decorating our disaster of a house for Christmas and insisting we get a tree even though there was nowhere to sit downstairs to enjoy it.

I couldn’t lose her.

I was going to fucking kill Will Evans.

25

“Sloane,” Brooklyn hissed from beside me.

“Listen to me, you and Letty are running back to the front. I’m gonna take off to the back. He wants me. Stay in the trees.”

“We’re not leaving you.”

“Letty is pregnant. Take her and go.”

“Sloane.”

“Serious as shit, right now, girlfriend, we do not have time to argue about this. This guy is a bad guy. A very bad guy. Please take Letty and go call for help.”

My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I was worried I was going to have a heart attack. I needed Letty and Brooklyn gone and safe so I could figure out how to evade Will. My only advantage was he wasn’t dressed for the weather. His thin coat would only keep him warm out here for so long. Plus he wasn’t wearing a hat.

Speaking of, I pulled my beanie farther down over my ears and wished I’d brought earmuffs as well, though when I’d put on my outfit I hadn’t planned on running through a tree farm playing hide and seek with a disgusting pig.

“Okay. I’ll take her, but only so I can call for help.”

Thank you, God.

“Stay in the trees,” I reminded her.

“Be safe.”

“Promise.”

Brooklyn dashed to the tree Letty was hiding behind. As soon as I saw her grab Letty’s hand and run I stepped out from behind the tree into the clearing. For this to work, I needed Will’s attention on me. There were a few issues with my plan. One, I didn’t know if Will’s partner was with him. And the other problem was I had no idea what the partner looked like. I never saw him, I only heard him.

I waited a few seconds, then took off running in the opposite direction from the girls, staying visible for now.

I heard snow crunching behind me and picked up my speed, careful not to slip on the ice. I zipped behind a tree, stumbled, but didn’t go down. The girls should’ve been far enough ahead of me that I could double back and run toward the front of the farm to safety.