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“Hello?” A voice called out. “Is anyone down there?”
chapter
eighteen
Rylan couldn’t focus.
He’d told Zak he’d look over his notes from his sessions with Pierce to see if the guy had mentioned anything that could help them find him, but his mind kept wandering. He skimmed the pages without absorbing a word.
He still couldn’t believe Rhiannon was gone. Dead. How was it possible he’d never see her again? Never hear her laugh, never see the playful light in her eyes as she teased him about needing a love life.
The weight of loss pressed down on him, making it hard to breathe.
He pushed back from his desk and crossed the room to the far wall. He traced his fingers over a framed map of Lost County down to where the coastal highway used to be, where Rhiannon had last been.
His sister’s face swam in his memories, her ready smile already dimming in his mind. How long before he lost her completely?
He shook his head, furiously blinking against the sting of tears. He hadn’t known it was possible to cry so much. Even after losing his arm and most of his SEAL team, he hadn’t cried like this.
No, this pain was different. It seeped into his marrow, clawing at the very essence of who he was.
His phone buzzed violently on the desk, and he pivoted sharply at the sound. He crossed back to it, but just as he reached for it, his office door flew open. Izzy burst in, her face flushed, her dark hair falling out of its usually neat bun, her eyes wide and shining with something he hadn’t seen in days—hope.
“Rylan!”
He spun toward her, his heart rate spiking. The way she said his name—filled with breathless anticipation—made him instinctively step toward her.
“What is it?” His voice came out hard, tight. He didn’t dare let himself believe. Not yet.
“They found her.” Izzy’s voice trembled as she spoke, the words coming fast. “Rhiannon’s been found. She’s alive.”
For a second, he couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. The words slammed over him like a wave, knocking the wind from his lungs, drowning him in giddy disbelief.Alive.He blinked, trying to wrap his head around what she was saying.
Izzy’s hands fluttered at her sides as if she wanted to reach for him but wasn’t sure how to close the distance.
He surged forward and gripped Izzy’s arms as if to anchor himself to reality. “What—where is she? How do you know?”
“Ash just got the call from the Mendocino County Sheriff. She was never on that highway! She got off at a rest stop just before the section that collapsed. There was a landslide, and she and fifteen other people were trapped in the gift shop there. They’re pulling her and the others out of the rubble as we speak. They’re alive, Rylan. All of them.”
His sister was alive. The news was too much and yet also not enough. He needed to see her, to hold her, to make sure she was really okay. He needed to call his parents. He needed to?—
Without another word, he pulled Izzy into a fierce embrace, his arms locking around her as he pressed his face into her shoulder. It was an instinctive reaction, a surge of gratitude and something deeper that he didn’t dare try to define. He exhaled shakily, feeling the sharp edges of the pain he’d been holding onto for days start to dull.
The scent of her shampoo—something faintly floral—hit him as he breathed in. He couldn’t think, couldn’t form words, but he needed this. Just for a moment, he needed to let go of everything—the fear, the anger, the crushing weight of not knowing.
Izzy stiffened for a brief second, then softened, her hands tentatively wrapping around his back. The warmth of her body seeped into him, and her breath tickled his neck.
Rylan pulled back slightly, his hand sliding up to cup her face of its own accord. His gaze roamed her features, taking in the flushed cheeks, the slight part of her lips, the way her dark lashes fluttered as she met his gaze. He could feel the rapid beat of her pulse beneath his fingertips, where they rested against her neck.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “For being here. For telling me.”
Izzy’s breath hitched, and she nodded, her hands still resting lightly on his waist. “Of course. Ash was going to call, but I couldn’t wait to tell you.”
The air between them seemed to thicken, charged with an electricity that made Rylan’s skin prickle. He became acutely aware of how close they were standing, of the warmth of Izzy’s body against his, of the way her eyes darted to his lips and back up to meet his gaze.
He leaned in. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she tilted her chin up, her lips parting slightly.
Their faces were so close now that he could feel her breath, warm and sweet, against his lips. Time seemed to slow, stretching out like honey dripping from a spoon.
