Then footsteps stomped across the porch.
Micah appeared.
His gaze found hers. “You okay?”
“Yes.” The word came out steadier than she expected.
She meant it this time. Maybe for the first time on this entire trip.
Within seconds officers had both men on the floor, handcuffs in place.
Rowan watched it all from beside the island.
She was fine. She kept telling herself that. She was fine, and it was over, and the men were restrained, and Micah was here, and the police were here, and it was over.
Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
She pressed them flat against her thighs and breathed.
Then she heard a voice behind her. “Rowan.”
Just her name. Nothing else. But the way Wes said it—low and rough and like he’d been holding it in since forever—undid something she’d been holding together for the past hour.
She turned.
Wes crossed the kitchen in three steps. Rowan met him halfway, and his arms went around her.
She didn’t cry. Not yet. She just leaned into him and let herself be held until the shaking in her hands gradually began to still.
CHAPTER 50
Rowan’s mom’shouse was quiet after everyone finally left.
Micah had delivered the news about Vince’s arrest two hours earlier. The LA detectives had moved fast once the local police transmitted Lauren’s statement and the contents of the hard drive.
Ramirez had called Rowan directly. Wes had watched her face while she listened, watched the careful composure she’d been holding since she’d almost been killed finally loosen at the edges.
It wasn’t over. There would be statements and hearings and the long grinding machinery of a case like this as it worked its way toward something that looked like justice. But Vince Furlough wasn’t untouchable anymore.
That was enough for tonight.
Caleb, Naomi, and Grace had gone back to Refuge Cove. Ben had been found in the back of the car the two hired hands had driven. Lauren had been taken to give a formal statement.
Now it was just Wes and Rowan and Remington.
He found her in the backyard.
She stood at the edge of the woods where an old live oak spread wide and low over the grass, its branches reaching inevery direction. The last of the daylight caught the underside of the leaves and turned them gold.
She didn’t hear him coming. Or maybe she did and didn’t turn anyway.
He stopped beside her. So did Remington.
Neither spoke a moment.
“I used to climb this tree,” Rowan finally said. “I could get up to the third branch before my mom noticed I was gone.”
“Third branch.” Wes looked up through the canopy. “I’m impressed.”
