The love. The terror.
The desperate need to keep her safe, to give her the future she deserves.
When I pull back, she's crying.
"Three more days," I tell her. "And then it's over. And we start the rest of our lives."
Three more days.
I can survive three more days.
I have to.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Vanna
Friday morning arrives gray and cold, the sky heavy with clouds that threaten snow.
I wake to Garrett's hand on my stomach, his palm warm against the swell where our baby is growing.
Twenty-one weeks now.
More than halfway.
The baby's been active this morning, kicking and squirming like it knows something's coming.
"Hey," Garrett murmurs, his voice rough with sleep. "How are you feeling?"
"Nervous." There's no point in lying. "I don't like you going out there tonight."
"I know." He shifts closer, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. "But this is the best shot we've got. Ounce has been setting this up for days. Virgil took the bait. Tonight, we end this."
I want to believe him.
I want to trust that by this time tomorrow, Virgil will be dead and we'll be free.
But there's a knot in my stomach that won't loosen.
A whisper in the back of my mind that something's wrong.
"What if it's a trap?" I ask.
"Then we handle it. We've got numbers, we've got firepower, we've got the element of surprise." He turns me to face him, his dark eyes serious. "I've done this before, Van. Not this exactly, but situations like it. I know how to stay alive."
"I just—" My voice breaks. "I can't lose you. Not now. Not when we're so close to having everything we've ever wanted."
"You're not going to lose me." He cups my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away the tears that have started to fall. "I'm going to walk into that motel, I'm going to put a bullet in Virgil's skull, and then I'm going to come home to you. That's a promise."
"You can't promise that."
"I just did." He kisses me—slow, deep, like he's trying to memorize the taste of me. "I love you, Vanna. You and this baby are everything to me. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm not going to take unnecessary risks. I'm going to be smart, and I'm going to come home."
I cling to him, my fingers digging into his shoulders.
The baby kicks between us, a reminder of what's at stake.
"I love you too," I whisper. "So much it scares me."
