If Rylie had been in town, she would have gravitated toward familiarity. Toward protection she trusted.
But she wasn’t.
Which meant Trigger.
The thought landed with precision.
Eli “Trigger” Jennings didn’t stay put. Didn’t guard storefronts or stand watch over crowds.
He disappeared.
Thomas leaned closer to the tavern window, eyes narrowing.
Trigger wasn’t there. I knew it as much as I knew I would take another breath.
Of course, he wasn’t.
Thomas exhaled slowly, the cold air burning his lungs.
“You see this?” he asked quietly.
Rick nodded. “Town’s crawling with them. There are a lot of ex-Army Rangers around here.”
“Yes,” Thomas said. “But not the one who has her.”
He straightened and turned, scanning the dark road leading out of town—the one that vanished into trees.
“She’s not here,” Thomas said. “She’s not anywhere she can be found by accident.”
Rick frowned. “Then where—”
“Someplace quiet,” Thomas interrupted. “Someplace he thinks no one would look.”
Rick swallowed. “You think she chose him?”
Thomas laughed softly.
A humorless sound.
“She doesn’t get to choose,” I said. “She adapts. She survives. That man”—his voice sharpened—“is temporary. We are getting married, and I will run the District Attorneys office and my Law Firm.”
But the doubt crept in anyway.
Not about Rylie.
About Trigger.
Because Trigger hadn’t just hidden her.
He’d taken her away from everything Thomas controlled.
That was a declaration.
Thomas climbed back into the SUV and started the engine.
“Go home,” he told his men. “For now.”
Rick hesitated. “That’s it?”
