As Skye drove the truck back toward the city, Lila’s voice drifted over from the passenger seat. “Thank you for coming to get me. I was waiting, praying for a chance to escape, but I was . . .” She swallowed. “I was beginning to lose hope. I will never be able to repay you for what you both have done.”

“Callie made you a promise. We’re just helping her keep it.”

Lila’s eyes welled with tears. “Stella’s dead. Riley Beeker killed her.”

Skye’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “I know. It was on the news. His real name is Rolland Beekman. Most of the men in Blancha Springs were using aliases. Their marriages weren’t real.”

Lila sniffed and wiped away the wetness. “Mine was. Raul Ramirez is my husband’s real name. My real name. We were married in St. Mary’s Church two weeks before Daniel hired him. We were both excited about his new job.”

“Callie said Daniel told you Raul was dead.”

Lila gazed out the window. “To me, he is dead. Raul left me with Daniel and never came back. I was a fool to believe he loved me.”

“Maybe Daniel’s men killed him,” Skye said. “Maybe that’s why he never returned.”

Lila turned to stare out the window at the dawn beginning to lighten the horizon. “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” Her hand curved over the front of the yoga pants and sweater she had put on, along with a pair of sneakers. The heater was running to keep her feet warm. “Raul abandoned me—and his child.”

Skye’s attention shot to the woman in the passenger seat. “You’re pregnant?”

“I have been late for two months in a row.” A faint smile touched her lips. “And something inside me feels different. I pray it is true.” Lila didn’t say more, and silence filled the truck cab.

A full hour passed before Edge awoke and demanded to take back the wheel.

This time Skye napped in the back seat. Or tried to. She kept thinking of everything that had happened since she and Edge had gone to Chamaya. She was supposed to be pulling away from him, protecting herself. Instead, she had given in to the wild hunger stirred by the fight in the bar. Whatever her intentions, her body had refused to listen.

She’d wanted Edge. Needed him. She still did.

Her thoughts went to Lila and Raul Ramirez, the man she had married, the man who had left her alone to bear and raise his child. One thing she knew—Edge might move on with his life, but if something happened, he would never abandon her. It just made her care for him more.

Not care, she corrected herself. She was way beyond that. She was in love with him.