He sank back down into the chair and let out a sigh. It was never easy with her. No matter what he did, no matter how he tried to look out for her, he always seemed to find some way to mess it up and hurt her in the process. How much longer was she going to let him keep doing this?
How much longer was she going to stay in his life?
Chapter Seventeen
As Bailey piled clothes into her bag, she dashed away the tears that had started to fall from her eyes. She didn’t need to be emotional right now. There were more important things to deal with.
Like getting out of here.
She’d made the decision after her conversation with Aaron earlier in the day. She just couldn’t stay at the sanctuary, not as long as he was there. She felt her old emotions rising up again, the attachment to him deepening faster than she could stop it, and she just couldn’t let herself go through it all again.
He wanted to protect her, but what he didn’t realize is that she didn’t need him to fight her battlesforher, she needed him to fight her battleswithher. As much as she loved him, she couldn’t be with someone who was going to make decisions for her and treat her like she wasn’t capable. It broke her heart to leave so soon after they had found each other again and confessed their feelings, but she wouldn’t stay to be treated like some damsel in distress.
She knew he had reasons for wanting her to sit this out and let him and the other men handle it, but it didn’t feel good to be pushed out of a situation that was so important to her. And while she appreciated that he cared about her safety and her future career, she needed to be involved in taking these bad men down. She was the one who had nearly died at their hands, and she was expected to just…step aside, let someone else take care of it forher? No. That wasn’t who she was. It wasn’t who she had ever been, and she wasn’t going to start now.
She’d seen the screenshots they’d had laid out on the desk, so at least she had something to work with. If they had been able to find this information on social media, there was a good chance she would be able to do the same thing. Once she figured out who this woman was, she could go talk to her and get any information she was willing to share. Hopefully, it would be enough to get a warrant.
And she could go back to the Bay, see if any of her friends there were willing to work with her. She had been too scared to even think of it before, but now it seemed like a pretty sensible idea. She could go to them, explain everything that had happened, and with the information she managed to glean from Benning’s ex-girlfriend, they could make a move and end this corrupt circle for good.
Her mind had been racing all the way through dinner, where she had played nice with everyone, not wanting anyone to guess what was going on inside her head. She didn’t want them to keep an extra watch on her. She was going to sneak out of there in the middle of the night, and then she could start out on her own again.
All on her own. A pang hit her chest hard, and she had to stop and take a deep breath to gather herself. How was she going to manage that? All alone? It just didn’t seem fair or right. She had come here because she had wanted Aaron’s help, and while he had given it to her, it had been the same kind of betrayal he’d done before. Even if he had his reasons, and even if she understood them to some extent, she couldn’t let him do this to her again.
Once she had gathered a few supplies, clothes, and some food she’d snuck from the kitchen, she opened her bedroom door as quietly as she could and stepped into the corridor. She shot alook one way and then the other, making sure nobody was out there. It was just past midnight, and the physical work everyone did during the day meant they slept pretty deep. There was no reason anyone would be up and about at this time of night.
Which meant there was nobody to stop her.
She started to creep down the corridor, and something at the back of her mind silently wished someone would catch her doing this. Then she could make her excuses and stay. They didn’t want her to leave, and she knew she was going to miss so much about this place—the views, the horses, and the women she had grown friendly with.
And Aaron, of course. Mainly Aaron.
He was going to be devastated when he found out she was gone—she wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to catch up with her and bring her back. She hoped that he would just let her leave. She didn’t have the strength inside to hold off against her attraction to him, and if he came for her, she might just go back with him.
No. She had to be strong, she had to be sure of herself. She couldn’t let these ridiculous doubts get caught up in her mind. She padded down the stairs and to the front desk, where she grabbed a set of truck keys hanging on a rack behind the counter for one of the older vehicles on the property. She felt bad for stealing from them when they had been so good to her, but she didn’t want anyone to immediately realize she was gone and track her truck. And she knew Aaron would do it, too. He’d follow her and try to convince her to come back. Besides, she wouldn’t keep theirs forever, she’d bring it back when she was through with it. Her own had sentimental value and she’d want it back eventually. Hopefully, no one here would hold the theft against her.
She just had to bring down the dirty cops, once and for all. And she would—with or without help. She’d show them all she was capable.
Outside, the night was still. The only sound was the grass rustling around her as she made her way up the main path that led from the central building. Her heart was in her throat as she quietly unlocked the truck door and climbed in. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. A part of her was screaming to turn around and go back. She could go back upstairs, slip back into her bed, and act like this never happened. Wake up tomorrow, go down to breakfast just like usual…
No, she couldn’t do that. She pushed the key into the ignition, her eyes blurry with tears. Gritting her teeth, she felt the engine come to life beneath her. Glancing over her shoulder to back up, she put the rusty old truck into motion, her first step on her journey out of here.
Then, something caught her eye. For a moment, she thought she had imagined it—a tiny movement at the very edge of her vision. If she hadn’t been so hyperalert, she might not even have noticed it. But she looked around and saw some movement at the top of the path that led through the forest and into the paddock.
“What the hell?” she muttered to herself, and she pushed the door open and slipped her feet back to the ground again.
It must have been an animal, something like that. She tried to soothe her panicking mind, and she was about to climb back into the truck to leave when a scent wafted by her on the wind. She sniffed the air. What was that?
Then her heart dropped. It was oil. That was the smell of oil.
Before she could react, the sky lit up in a flash of flames, and she could see the paddock in the distance bursting into a fireball. Her eyes widened, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. The horses had been moved to another paddock while the buildingswere being finished up to be weathertight, but if that fire spread, it could easily reach them—or the main building, if it was left long enough.
“Fire!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Fire!”
She felt as though she was frozen to the spot, trapped exactly where she stood as she tried to pull herself together. She couldn’t just walk away from this. Someone was targeting them, she was sure of it. The fire was spreading unnaturally fast, and whatever accelerant they had used was clearly working exactly as they had intended it to.
Bailey leaned on the truck’s horn and yelled for help. Within a few minutes, the residents of the lodge were pouring out onto the grass around her. Cade shielded River from the sight, and she pressed her face into his chest as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Get as many buckets as you can from the supply closet!” Xavier yelled, springing into action. “Hannah, get a hose hooked up and call the fire department—come on, we need to move!”
