“I’m not going to force something on him that he doesn’t want. I understand that he’s choosing distance.” My voice wobbles. “But I don’t accept that as the end of the story.”
The truck crests a small rise, the compound still miles away.
“The truth is, I’ve fallen in love with all three of you.” Thewords feel terrifying and freeing at the same time. Maybe it’s the cover of my disguise that gives me the courage.
Both of them reach out to touch me. Boyd says my name, his voice husky.
“Fear shouldn’t decide who belongs and who doesn’t, and I’m not willing to leave someone I care about behind. Not him. Not any of you.”
They’re both quiet as the scenery slides past us. Then Andrew nods, his lips tight with thought. “All right,” he says.
Boyd’s hand finds mine. “We’ll figure it out.”
The mountain road stretches ahead of us, uncertain and bright all at once.
CHAPTER 38
GRIZZ
“Grizz. You need to see this.”
When the radio buzzes, I’m up to my shoulders in the engine bay of the plow truck. My hands are greasy, and I’m nowhere near a good stopping point, but the tone of Atlas’s voice sets off alarms.
I set my tools down immediately, wipe my hands, and head out.
The others are already in the ops center when I arrive. Kira’s perched on the edge of a chair closest to the monitors. Her hands are folded over her stomach, and her posture is disturbingly still. On the screen in front of her, aerial footage shows a jagged mountainside scarred by a landslide.
“… authorities confirm the vehicle belongs to Brianna Thomas, a close friend of Preston Vaughn’s pregnant fiancée, Kira Parker, who’s been missing?—”
I move instinctively, coming up behind Kira and bracing my hands on the back of her chair.
“The car was discovered at the base of a landslide triggered by storms earlier in the season. Officials believe the vehicle went over the cliff days after it was last seen.”
Kira swallows as Atlas kills the volume. “They found it two ridges south of where she crashed,” he says.
When she fled the city, no one knew which direction she went. Now they do. The wreckage site is close enough to our compound to allow the wrong people to narrow a search radius.
Viper is standing off to the side with his arms crossed. He hasn’t looked at Kira once since I came in.
The news anchor’s mouth moves soundlessly as the footage zooms in for closer images of the wrecked car. Kira’s headshot and the tip line number are posted in the top corner.
Then the chyron changes.
MISSING BRIDE’S BEHAVIOR UNDER SCRUTINY
The feed cuts to Vaughn. Red-eyed, unshaven. He’s playing the character of a man holding himself together by sheer will, but I’ve seen better acting in low-budget B-movies.
After a concerned glance at Kira, Atlas turns the volume up to a barely audible level.
“My fiancée was under tremendous stress,” Vaughn says, voice breaking in all the right places. “The pregnancy was unexpected. The pressure was … a lot. We were worried about her mental state even before the wedding.”
One of Kira’s hands balls into a fist as she makes a small, strangled sound. I reach down and rest my hand over hers.
The smug bastard continues. “Dissociation can make people unpredictable. Dangerous, even. Especially when a child is involved.”
I stroke my thumb over Kira’s hand as Atlas moves closer to her.
On the screen, the scene has switched again. A reporter is shoving her microphone into the face of a bewildered-looking young woman, who’s identified as Brianna Thomas. Kira draws in a sharp breath.
