“We’ll start digging tomorrow, see if we can find out what’s going on and who’s after you. If there’s something to be found, we’ll find it,” he says, confidence lacing every word. When I don’t respond, he returns to reading his Bible, and I fall quiet, sipping my tea and watching him every chance I get.
I know God exists.
I know that He created us.
That He sent His Son to die for us.
What I don’t know about is the grace they say He offers.
I know my sins.
The weight of them crushes down on me daily.
And if I can’t forgive myself, how can I expect my Creator to forgive me?
Chapter 9
Zane
After a night of tossing and turning, I called Ryker and asked him to sit on the boat to keep watch over Tessa. I’d needed room to breathe. To let my racing thoughts quiet if only for a few minutes.
The side of my face is a bit nastier than I let on last night. I’ve definitely had worse, but I probably should have gone in for stitches. Every movement of my mouth, whether to drink coffee, talk, or eat something, sends stinging pain through my cheek. Still, a run was my only chance to burn off some of this steam.
Bright sunshine sneaks over the horizon, bathing the world in gold as I pick up the pace, pumping my arms faster. The sand is cool beneath my bare feet as I sprint along the coastline. Sweat slicks my skin despite the chill hanging in the air, but I keep pushing on, hoping to outrun the myriads of emotions slamming into me every single time I see Tessa.
The fear in her eyes when I threw her to the floor in her dad’s trailer last night.
The scream that ripped from her throat the moment the bullets started flying.
The bruising on her face that first night she’d shown up here.
Anger fuels me like a hit of adrenaline, and I run faster, sprinting until I can hardly breathe. Only then do I slow down and take a pause, giving my racing heart a break. Dropping down onto the sand, I raise my knees and rest my forehead against them.
Lord, I don’t know what to do here. Why is she back? Why did she leave in the first place? Is her return part of Your plan? How can I forgive her for leaving all those years ago? How can I protect her now?
My chest tightens, but no answer comes.
So I push back to my feet, ready to run back toward my boat so I can shower and move on with my day. Before I start, though, my cell rings. I pull it out of the zipped pocket of my joggers and stare down at Tucker Hunt’s name on the screen.
“Knox,” I answer.
While I don’t know Tucker well, I trained with his cousin, Silas, and his twin brother, Dylan. When Dylan was in trouble last year, I helped them rescue him and his now-wife, Emma. They’re good people, and he has a knack for getting into places not even law enforcement can legally get into. At least, not without a body weight in red tape.
“Hey, this a good time?”
“It is if you’ve got answers for me,” I reply, slightly out of breath as I start walking back toward town.
“You sound like you’re out of breath.”
“I was running. What do you have?”
“Fair enough. Okay, so your girl?—”
“She’s not my girl,” I interrupt.
Tucker is quiet for a moment, but doesn’t argue when he keeps talking. “Noted. Even though I wasn’t able to find anything on that company she was working for, I did get some info on her whereabouts over the last eighteen years.”
“Great. What do you have for me?”
