Panic detonated in her.
The second man stepped onto the porch behind him, scanning the property once with cold, practiced eyes.
“Move,” he said.
The man yanked her off the porch.
Izzy dug her sneakers into the dirt, fighting now, terror fully detonating inside her.
“Help!” she screamed. “Let me go!”
The grip on her arm tightened.
An engine roared up the driveway.
Cal’s SUV fishtailed across the gravel.
“Hey!”
Cal was out of the vehicle before it stopped. He grabbed a tire iron.
Pure fury on his face.
“Get your damn hands off her!”
Relief slammed through Izzy so hard her knees almost buckled.
The broader man stepped toward Cal calmly.
Cal swung first.
The tire iron cut hard through the air.
The man slipped under it and drove a brutal shot into Cal’s chin.
The sound was sickening.
Cal staggered, choking for breath.
But he didn’t go down.
He swung again—shorter this time—and clipped the man across the shoulder.
The man’s expression darkened.
He grabbed Cal, slammed him against the SUV, then drove an elbow into the side of his neck.
Cal dropped to one knee in the gravel.
“Hollis boy,” the taller man muttered.
“Yeah,” the other answered.
Izzy’s blood went cold.
They knew exactly who he was.
“Cal!” she screamed.
