Page 119 of Savage Surrender

I push upright in his lap. “My dad threatened Montgomery?”

It shouldn’t be the part I get stuck on, but my dad is one of the gentlest, most apologetic men I’ve ever known. I’ve seen him genuinely angry maybe five times in my life.

I shove the blanket off my legs and wobble as I stand. Weller steadies me.

“I need to go home. You came in the van?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Megan gets to her feet. “It’s down the road. We walked the rest of the way.”

“We can grab the other car,” Ezra says. “But we have enough room in the van to all get there.”

Megan looks down at my bare legs. “Do you own pants, perhaps?”

I roll my eyes and start toward the nest.

Megan brings me sweatpants and a buttery-soft shirt. Owen finds me in the hall and corners me. “You left me.”

I scoff. “I left you?”

“Drove like a maniac to get here. I’ve never been so scared.”

I lean into him. “I’m okay. Tristan found me. Colleen is safe.”

Freddie comes out of the bathroom, his curls flattened on one side and the crease from the blanket still pink across his cheek. “And my dad is dead.”

“Shit. Are you okay?” I grab his arm, and he wraps it around me.

“I’m relieved. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“What happened?”

“He tried to climb off the balcony while we were packing the equipment.” Freddie looks down at me. “I caught him, but then I shook him off.”

“He can’t hurt you anymore,” I whisper.

“Sorry about leaving like that, Princess,” Owen says, pulling a shirt over his head.

In the hall, Megan clears her throat. “This is touching as fuck, but we need to go.”

25

BIANCA

Packing takes less than five minutes.

As I cross the nest to leave, movement catches at the edge of my vision.

A man stands down the beach near the next dune access with binoculars raised. Tourist clothes, sun hat, nothing remarkable.

But when I step in front of the window, binoculars snap to me.

I race to where everyone is preparing to leave.

“Don’t go near the windows. There’s a man on the beach with binoculars. He saw me.”

“Where?” Weller asks as Ezra closes a cooler and Tristan shoulders a backpack.

“East, by the next access.” I point, though the wall is in the way.