But what could any of them actually do for this? Jace Lockwood was a billionaire who ran a corporation. He solved problems with money and power, not blood-soaked mysteries in the woods. Axel Pierce had his own business empire, which meant lawyers and press teams and a reputation to protect, and Knox was locked up in that very penitentiary whose lights I could see glowing through the trees.
None of them could help me. Not with this.
But Ryker … Ryker was a criminal defense attorney. He defended people who?—
People who what? Stand over dead bodies, holding murder weapons?
The thought punched through my chest.Yes. Exactly that. I was in a shit ton of trouble—that much I knew. And Ryker would know what to do. He’d know whether I should call the police or run. Whether this nightmare had any hope of an explanation that didn’t end with me in handcuffs. He dealt with crime scenes and evidence and blood …
Even in the limited moonlight, I could see it painted across my skin. Blood coated my legs, my arms, my dress.
And my head … it was pounding and piercing, all at the same time.
I brought my free hand to my throbbing skull again andpulled it back, slick with fresh crimson.Myblood. The realization hit like ice water: my blood was mixing with his, creating a trail that would lead investigators straight from his body to me.
Oh my God, what was wrong with me? I was thinking aboutevidenceright now? Seriously? How twisted was that?
As if trying to answer my question, my skull throbbed with fresh crushing pain, and my vision began to blur.
You cannot pass out. Run, Faith. Now. Before it’s too late!
I took off sprinting toward my brother’s mansion. My breath came in ragged gasps as I pounded across the cold, damp earth. My bare feet slapped against roots and stones (why were my feet bare?), but I barely felt the pain. All I could think about was reaching that mansion, praying my brother and his friends would be there tonight.
Praying that Ryker could save me from whatever the hell I’d stumbled into.
But suddenly, I froze.
Maybe running was a terrible idea? I mean, you don’t flee a scene unless you’re guilty, right? And with this splitting headache, I had no idea what had just happened in these darkened woods. Plus, I reminded myself that with my head bleeding, I was leaving a DNA trail, clear as breadcrumbs, leading from the guy to me.
Maybe I should just stay.Or find someone to call the police after all.
Without Ryker there to protect you? Come on, Faith. You’ve learned the hard way police have never had your back! Why would they start now?
Plus, protecting myself from this didn’t just affect me.
I ran a program for aged-out foster teens. I’d opened my own safe house, literally saving kids from the system that had failed me. Kids like Brooklyn, who’d been bounced through seven homes before landing on my doorstep with cigarette burns on her arms and terror in her eyes. Kids like Todd, who hadn’t spoken for three months after his last placement until I sat with him every night, reading until he finally whispered, “Thank you.”
Just last week, Todd had laughed. Actually laughed at something stupid I’d said while making dinner. It had taken eight months to get there. Eight months of patience and consistency and proving I wouldn’t leave.
If I went down, what would happen to them?
They’d be homeless, unprotected. Thrown back into the hell on earth they’d been in before they’d found me.
I couldn’t let that happen.
So, I turned and ran toward the only man I trusted to help me.
Ryker.
The man whose silvery-blue eyes had been finding mine across crowded rooms for months now, holding just a beat too long before we both looked away. The man who’d planted both palms against that bastard’s chest in Axel’s penthouse lobby and shoved him backward when the guy wouldn’t stop crowding me. The same day we’d kissed for the first time, his mouth hungry and his hands in my hair.
The man I’d been trying so damn hard not to want.
But racing through the woods, I felt the truth crack wide open in my chest: I didn’t just need his help.
I neededhim. That quiet intensity he carried like a weapon, the one that made me feel safer and more exposed, all at once.
The mansion loomed ahead, all stone and shadows. The front door was unlocked, and I burst through it and into the warmth of the living room.
