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Pierce pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest, and for the first time in his life, he felt whole. The weight of his past, the guilt, the fear—it all seemed to fade in that moment, replaced by the steady, grounding presence of Rhiannon in his arms. She was everything he never knew he needed, and now that he had her, he wasn’t going to let her go.
thirty-one
epilogue
Rylan stoodin the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, his fists clenched at his sides. He’d given himself a few days before doing this, given himself time to calm down, but his mind was still a whirlwind, his thoughts crashing into one another as anger boiled beneath the surface.
He needed to confront her.
Needed her to explain how she could have done what she did.
The woman who had betrayed them.
The woman who had betrayedhis sister.
Izzy emerged from the front doors, flanked by two deputies. She was in civilian clothes and carried a box in her arms, her eyes red-rimmed with tears.
Fuck. He hated seeing her tears.
And that just made the fury burn brighter inside him. The deputies escorted her to her car, an old sedan with a dent in the side door and rust on the bumper.
He waited until they left her there before striding toward her. His boots scraped against the pavement, and she turned at the sound. Her eyes widened in surprise. The box teetered precariously in her arms as she faced him.
“Rylan, I... I can explain.”
He stopped a few feet from her. His jaw clenched so tight he was half-afraid he’d break a molar.
“No.” He cut her off, taking a step forward, his jaw tight with rage. “You don’t get to talk. You don’t get to make excuses.” His words were clipped, each one sharp like a blade. “You put us in danger, Izzy.My friends. My sister.”
Izzy flinched at the accusation, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “I didn’t have a choice,” she whispered. “They threatened my family. They had a gun to my mama’s head when she called me. I had to protect them.”
“You didn’t have a choice?” Rylan’s voice rose, and the anger he had been holding in for days finally spilled over. “You always have a choice—and you still chose to hand Pierce over, knowing damn well that could’ve killed us all, your family included.”
“I wasn’t—” Izzy’s voice cracked. “I thought?—”
“You thought what?” His laugh was cold, humorless. “Youknewwhat kind of people you were dealing with. You knew what they were capable of. You’ve been dealing with the fallout for the last week. But you still gave them what they wanted.”
“I was scared.” Tears spilled down her cheeks.
He would not let those tears sway him.
He stepped closer, his voice low and dangerous. “We were all scared, Izzy. Every damn one of us. But we didn’t sell each other out.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. Because of you, half of Ethan’s team is out of commission. By all accounts, Gage should be dead, but by some miracle, he survived. Everyone from Redwood Coast Rescue sustained serious injuries. And Pierce and Rhiannon almost died to protect the world from the weapon.They almost died, Izzy.”
Izzy’s shoulders shook as a sob escaped her. She set the box on the roof of her car and pressed trembling hands to herface, but Rylan wasn’t moved. He couldn’t be. The image of Rhiannon trapped inside that vent as the world exploded around her haunted his dreams. It twisted inside of him, a constant reminder that his sister had come so close to being lost forever for the second time this week.
And it was because of Izzy’s betrayal.
“I thought they’d keep their word,” she said, her voice trembling. “I thought they’d just take Pierce and let everyone else go. I didn’t want any of this to happen. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“You should have thought about that before you sold us out,” he snapped. “You should have trusted us. Trustedme.That’s what hurts the most. You could have told me what was happening, and we would have figured it out together. But instead, you went behind my back and put everyone in danger.”
She hung her head, her dark hair falling like a curtain around her face. The sight of her looking so broken, so defeated, stirred something deep inside Rylan. A flicker of the feelings he had been trying so hard to bury.
But he couldn’t let himself feel that now. Couldn’t let himself be swayed by the anguish in her eyes or the tremor in her voice.
