Reese blinks, then narrows her eyes. “If you heard that, then you also heard the part where I told Grayson I’ve seen the signs of abuse. So no, I’m not inclined to believe an abused womanwhen she tells me everything is ‘just fine’ while her abusers hover around.”
“Would it make you more comfortable to talk to her alone, then?”
“It would make me more comfortable to get her the fuck out of here.”
“Not happening,” Gray snarls. “She’sours.”
“Gray.” At my quiet command, my sister falls silent, though she’s still glaring daggers at the sheriff. Confident she’ll hold her tongue, at least for the moment, I focus on Reese. “I would need your word that you won’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Including sending her home with her parents if that’s not what she wants.”
“And if it is?”
Just the thought is enough to twist my stomach into knots. But I force myself to nod even though everything in me is crying out to hide my Little girl away where no one can touch her. “If that’s what she wants, then she is free to go.”
Our gazes lock for what seems like an eternity before Reese slowly nods. “All right. Melanie is an adult, so if she wants to come back here after I question her, then I’ll deliver her right back to your front door myself.”
Leaning forward, I hold out my hand. Reese hesitates only for a second before shaking on it.
“I’ll go get Lanie.”
Popping up from the couch, Gray follows me to Colt’s office. “You can’t be serious, Ax. If she gets Lanie away from us, she’ll never bring her back.”
“She shook on it.”
“Like that means a goddamn thing.”
Stopping in front of the office door, I turn to her. “It means something to me, and I imagine it means something to a woman like Reese Donnelly. Your personal feelings for her aside, she’snever given us any reason to doubt she’s anything other than an honorable person, Gray.”
“My feelings for her are annoyance, aggravation, and unadulterated loathing.”
Keep telling yourself that, sis.“Be that as it may, I’m going to keep my word.” I let my lips curve, a cold, wicked smile that has my sister’s eyes going round. “And if the sheriff knows what’s good for her, she’ll do the same.”
Gray nods once in acknowledgment. Taking that as all the agreement I’m likely to get for the moment, I push open the office door. “Sheriff Donnelly wants to talk?—”
But the words die on my lips as I look around the empty room. “Lanie? Are you hiding, babygirl?”
Striding over to the desk, I look under it, panic wrapping tight tentacles around my chest when I find it empty.
Where the fuck is she?
“Oh, hell. Axel!”
Jerking upright at the fear in my sister’s voice, I spin around to the window she’s staring out of. Just in time to see a tiny figure perched atop a giant snowmobile go racing down the hill.
Straight for the trees.
CHAPTER 24
LANIE
Alarm whips through me as the snowmobile barrels down the mountain. I’d nearly gotten caught twice on my way to the barn and I’d thought I was scared then, but that fear was nothing compared to the absolute terror I feel now, watching the treeline come rushing up toward me.
Leaning all my weight to the left, I just manage to avoid a collision with a giant pine, but I’m still going too fast, way too fast. Panicked, I run my gaze over the controls. Where the hell is the brake?
A red button catches my eye and I pry my fingers from the handlebars long enough to slam my palm down on it. The engine dies instantly, bringing the snowmobile to a sudden, jerking halt. And because I’m not holding onto the handlebars any longer, I’m thrown forward, face first into the snow.
“Lanie!” Daddy’s terrified cry reaches my ringing ears as I push myself up into a sitting position, the world spinning around me.
“Don’t touch her!” A woman’s voice now, not Auntie Gray’s, but familiar. “She needs to be checked for injuries. Where’s Ford?”
