Holt watched me, his own posture shifting. He knew this version of me. It was the version that didn't stop until the job was done.
“Boss?” he asked quietly.
“We’re done playing nice,” I said. I looked Dani dead in the eye. “You were right to come here.”
She exhaled a shaky breath, her shoulders finally dropping a fraction. “Thank God. I thought you’d yell at me for interfering.”
“I’m not mad at you, Dani,” I said truthfully. “I’m pissed at him.”
“Good,” she said, wiping a stray tear. “Because I can’t protect her from a man like this. I’m just a city girl with a loudmouth.”
My stomach twisted at the raw honesty in her voice. “You shouldn’t have to.”
I turned back to Holt. “We watch the roads. We watch thefence lines. Nobody—and I mean nobody—gets near that ranch without us knowing.”
Holt nodded, his face hardening. “Done. I’ll pull the night shift on the ridge.”
“And Dani,” I added, my voice softening but remaining firm. “She can’t know about this. Not yet. If she finds out you broke her confidence, she’ll shut us both out. Right now, she needs to feel like she has some ground under her feet.”
Dani nodded reluctantly. “Okay. But Wyatt, she likes you. Even if she’s too stubborn to admit it. Please don't let this scare you off.”
I blinked, the comment catching me off guard. “This isn't about me.”
Dani’s lips twitched with a ghost of a smile. “That’s exactly why I said it.”
I ignored that, pushing the thought aside. “Go home. Stay inside. Don’t travel alone for a few days.”
She nodded and turned to leave, but stopped when Holt called out to her.
“Hey, Dani?”
She paused, looking back.
Holt rubbed the back of his neck, a rare flush creeping up his tan skin. “If you, uh, need someone to walk you to your car in town. Or whatever. My number’s on the visor.”
Dani raised an eyebrow, a bit of her usual spark returning. “Oh? Cowboy’s got a soft spot?”
Holt scowled, looking at his boots. “Just bein’ polite.”
Dani smiled, a small, real one. “Thanks, Holt. I might take you up on it.”
She walked back to her car, and we watched until the dust trail faded into the horizon. The silence in the barn was heavy, charged with the shift in the stakes.
I picked up the photos again, my thumb brushing over the one of Tessa on the porch. My hands curledinto fists.
“What now?” Holt asked.
“Now,” I said, folding the photo and tucking it into my pocket, “I find Colin Winters.”
“And then?”
I met his eyes.
“Then I make sure he never looks at her again.”
Twenty-Three
Tessa
