CHAPTER 56
Kori watchedthe barn door swing shut behind the man.
Her heart hammered in her chest.
Please keep Wyatt safe. Please . . .
She wanted to move. Every instinct pulled her toward that barn door.
But she forced herself to remain where she was. Thunder sat in front of her like a guard.
Wyatt was smart. He was trained for this. He’d walked into dangerous situations in these mountains long before she’d arrived in Blue Ridge Hollow, and he knew what he was doing. She had to trust that and resist her instincts to act.
Instead, she thought about Mackenzie.
She thought about what had happened between them. About the grievance she’d been carrying. It was gone, completely and without negotiation. All she wanted right now was her sister back. She’d give anything in this moment to tell her so.
Kori wiped the snow from her eyelashes and continued to watch the property.
The farmhouse door opened again.
She tensed.
No . . . not more people. If Wyatt was outnumbered . . . that would decrease his odds of getting out of there. Then what would she do?
Was backup really on the way? Had they gotten the message?
Another figure stepped onto the porch. He was tall, and something was familiar about the way he moved—the set of his shoulders, the particular ease of his stride.
Kori squinted through the falling snow, and her breath slowed.
She knew that walk.
The man stopped at the top of the steps and surveyed the property like someone who belonged there. Like someone who was exactly where he was meant to be.
Recognition filled her.
That man . . . he was Flint.
Flint.
She stared.
He didn’t move like someone who’d come to take this group down. He didn’t look around like a man trying to assess a situation or locate law enforcement.
He looked like . . . he looked like one of them.
Was he the reason this group was always one step ahead of law enforcement?
Nausea rose in her stomach at the thought.
Wyatt pressed himself into the shadow at the back of the stall and motioned for Mackenzie to do the same. She darted beside him, her expression frozen with fear. Then he motioned for Pete to be quiet.
He nodded and slumped back against the wall as if he were still bound.
The man was checking the stalls.
He reached Pete’s stall and pushed the door open.
