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She wanted Josh and Grim. She wanted to be safe in theirarms, away from all the proof of the mistakes she’d once made. She had to bethe Nicole they’d fallen in love with, not the Nora who could barely stand upfor herself. “The cops will be here soon, Micah. Won’t they be surprised. Youcan’t exactly pin my own murder on me.”
“Don’t have to,” Micah replied. “Once we get you back home,I’m going to bury you so deep in the woods no one will ever find you. Nowyou’re going to walk out of this parking lot if you don’t want me to shoot yourfriend there. Drop the gun, lady.”
“You’ll kill me anyway,” Harlow replied. “Nicole, you needto run.”
Then Harlow was moving, her foot going back to catch Ted inthe gut. He went down, his gun going off, the shot wild. Before he could hitthe concrete, Harlow was turning, ready to take out Micah.
Who fired first. The sound rang in Nicole’s ears, and horrordawned as a red stain colored Harlow’s white T-shirt. Chest. He’d hit herchest. Harlow dropped to her knees and fell forward.
She’d killed Harlow. The world seemed to slow down and speedup all at once, fear and regret choking her.
“Get her,” Ted ordered. “We need to get out of here. Someonewill have heard that and called the fucking cops. We need to get into the carand figure it out from there.”
If she got in the car, she would die. They would kill her,and she would never see her men again. They would come looking for her and findHarlow’s body… Harlow…she couldn’t comprehend what had happened.
And then she saw it. Harlow’s back moved slightly, proof shewas still breathing. If she was breathing, she had a shot, and that meantNicole needed to lead them away from her. Landon would be back soon, and hecould bring the police and EMTs.
Would they kill her right here? It no longer mattered. Whatmattered was making sure her friend kept breathing.
Nicole made her decision. She took off across the parkinglot, moving behind the big pillar at the end of the building. It was brick andgave her cover. Nicole’s heart raced as she heard another shot go off. She’dbeen faster, but she couldn’t hide here forever. She needed to put distancebetween them.
“Nicole? Are you all right? I called the cops,” a voicewhispered. Claudine. She was in her room, the door barely open as she peekedoutside. “Come inside. I’ll lock us in.”
It wouldn’t work. They would simply shoot until they gotinside. They had no other choice. At this point they had to eliminate her ortheir whole game was over. Nicole shook her head. “Can’t. When you see Josh andGrim, tell them I loved them so much.”
“Nicole,” Claudine said, her voice cracking.
“Tell them,” Nicole said, and then made her move.
The motel was on the outer edges of town, one of the reasonsit was used by the more criminal elements of the area. The woods behind themotel were thick and went on for miles. There wasn’t a fence for her to getover. It was her best bet.
Those woods would lead her close to the ranch. Jack hadtaken her out there, showing her how to ride a horse on different types ofterrain. He’d spent an afternoon teaching her how to lead her horse through thewoods, stopping for a lunch by the river that eventually ran through the southfield of the ranch, supplying them with water. They’d sat and talked aboutcamping and how to forage. He’d told her about his childhood, listening to hersas well.
It had been the first time in her life she’d felt like shehad a father.
She was not giving up without a fight.
Nicole took off and then a loud sound boomed behind her.Something scraped by her arm, fire lighting her up, but she kept moving. Nicoleforced herself to sprint despite the fact she could feel the blood on her leftarm. It didn’t matter. They were following her. They were focused on her. Itwould give Claudine a chance to help Harlow.
The light seemed to dim as she moved from sunshine to theheavy canopy of trees that made up this part of the woods. Mighty oak treesrose high above her, blocking out the sun and heat of the day. Nicole hidbehind one as she heard the men enter the woods behind her.
“Where the hell did she go?” Ted asked, his breathing heavy.
“How am I supposed to know? You think I spend a lot of timein fucking nature, brother?” Micah shot back. “You’re the one who couldn’thandle a single female.”
They didn’t try to hide the sounds of them moving throughthe woods. She could hear them shuffling along, trying not to miss a hidingspot.
“We should regroup,” Ted said after a moment. “Someone hasto have called the cops by now, and we don’t know if anyone was watching out oftheir windows. We need to get the hell out of here.”
Nicole prayed they couldn’t hear how hard her heart wasbeating.
She took a long breath like Harlow had taught her. Panic wasthe enemy. She needed to be cool and assess the situation. Panic would send herrunning from a hiding place that was working for her. Three breaths in and fourbreaths out. Slow. Quiet. Calm.
“And let that bitch go to the cops? Not on your life,” Micahreplied. “She can’t have gotten far. I’m not leaving until Nora is dead. Youshould have killed her the first time around.”
“You know why I didn’t. Our parents would have hadquestions.” Ted didn’t seem to feel the need to be quiet. His voicereverberated through the woods. “I did what I had to do to keep them off ourbacks.”
“No, you didn’t. You could have done what I told you to do,”Micah argued.
