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“Miles swears you’re safe there,” Quaid continued, clearly focused on business and her safety. Her brother loved her, but he was a man. “We have no indicators that your location has been leaked. I’ll get in touch with Jared and Clint and get their take on it.”
Clint was Jared’s oldest son, a standoffish military type who they claimed had never served in the military. He was the county sheriff, and the role fit him well. When Jacey first came to the ranch, he’d been dating a lady named Sheryl, became engaged, and then been dumped harshly. She’d never met Sheryl, but she never met anyone besides the Colevilles and a few trusted ranch hands.
“What are your feelings, Jace? Do you want to go into hiding with Anna? I’m working with Aiden Porter, and he’s been in contact with Navy SEALs Captain Jagger Lemuel and Lieutenant Hays West to see if we can’t use multiple resources and angles to help the FBI track down Catherine.”
“Hays West?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah. One and the same.”
“Can you trust him? He loved Elizabeth in high school, but Mother found out and …” That was one of the times she’d witnessed Elizabeth being beaten. She’d cried for her sister. Now her sister was chilly, distant, and evil. She shivered. She blamed her mother, but it still hurt that she’d lost her Lizzy. Her big sis.
“I know. He doesn’t have much love lost for Catherine or Elizabeth.”
“That’s good. What about Dad and Elizabeth?” She stood on shaky legs and started heading down the hill. Her freedom to run in the mountains was racing to its conclusion. The Coleville brothers would stand guard outside her bedroom door and window following this devastating news.
She wanted to think of ways to tease and laugh with Quaid, but this was not the time. Her gut churned and sweat she didn’t earn leaked down her back and chest.
Catherine Oliver. Escaped. How could Satan’s team win again?
Forgive me. I just don’t want her to hurt anyone else.
“They’re Catherine’s minions. There’s nothing you can do about that, Jace, and don’t you dare contact them.”
“I know who and what they are.” It was a miserable thing to admit, but then she got fired up. “I would never contact one of them or do anything to risk you, Anna, or any of the Colevilles.”
Sometimes Quaid acted like she hadn’t seen the murder and torture and manipulations he’d been subjected to. The years he’d been in the military, she’d experienced horrors she would never tell another soul about.
“I know. I apologize,” Quaid said. “It’s unnerving the power she has.”
It was. Their mother had unlimited power and loyalty created from years of using her money, manipulation, control tactics, and blackmail. She was horrifying. The witch wasn’t a strong enough title for her, but Jacey had given up her pet sin of cursing when she’d been rescued from purgatory.
“I need to call Clint,” he said. “He gave me this number for you yesterday.”
“I was your top priority? Thank you, brother. I’m touched.” At least she could try to tease.
“You should be.” His voice softened. “Be safe, Jacey. I love you.”
“I will.” She didn’t tell him she was high on a mountain trail all by her lonesome. Clint would probably let him know and she’d have Coleville brothers running in her direction the moment they found out the danger scale had gone from one to ninety-nine in minutes. Clint would descend upon her in the county’s helicopter. Easton and Walker would race up the mountain on their favorite horses. Rhett would climb in his big truck, leave whatever construction site he was on, and ruin this mountain trail with those ostentatiously big tires. Houston was in Nebraska finishing his residency and Miles was in San Diego with his Navy SEAL team. Two brothers down, at least.
Ah, brothers. She loved them and would’ve felt smothered, but they were keeping her safe from a monster.
She’d call them as soon as she hung up with Quaid. On second thought, she’d give them a minute to hear the news. Then she’d reassure them she would sprint down the mountain. They’d have her location with the phone, but no need to worry them. She liked to tease and she was naturally sassy, but she hated worry. She’d spent her life worrying about her Lizzy and her brother Thomas. Now Elizabeth had gone to the dark side and her brother was a hero named Quaid.
“Love you,” she said, then hung up.
Clinging to the phone, she raced down the incline. She’d been going for hours, farther than she’d run before and slower going mostly uphill into the valleys and the peaks of the mountains behind the ranch. It would be at least an hour to get back.
Descending toward the wide, picturesque valley she’d been admiring, she hated that her hands trembled and tears escaped her eyes. Petrified. Anger filled her next. She’d continued to tease and maintain her ‘spice’, as Lizzy used to affectionately call it, even through years of mind-manipulation and mental abuse. She couldn’t succumb to her mother’s power again.
If her mother found her, Catherine would use her as a lure to get Quaid back. For Quaid and Anna’s sake and her own sanity, Jacey had to stay free. The Coleville Ranch was massive and well-protected by an electric gate, cameras, sensors, men, and the natural landscape of trees and mountains. The Colevilles were tough, brave, and willing to battle for her, but Jacey had seen her mother’s men in action. Highly trained and either barbaric by nature or chained to her mother because of something she held over their heads, they’d murder everyone in their path to secure Jacey and carry out her mother’s orders.
What if they killed one of the Colevilles? She couldn’t live with herself. Should she leave this mountain paradise? The first place she’d felt safe, happy, loved, part of a family. To protect the Colevilles from a what-if? They’d say no, but she should make that choice to protect them.
Choice.
It wasn’t part of her skill set. Even the ability to eat what she wanted and choose her clothing each day had been a luxury this past year.
Her toe caught on an exposed root. Jacey screamed in surprise as she pitched forward. She tried to catch herself, but she flew off the side of the trail. Her scream grew louder as her leg slammed against a tree. Pain radiated through her thigh. The tree changed her trajectory, and she flipped head first. She was sliding down the viciously steep mountainside, but at least she wasn’t free-falling.
