I shake my head, unable to form words.
“Are you sure?” His hands are on me now, feeling down my arms, my stomach, my legs.
I nod.
“Don’t move,” he tells me gently, turning his attention to the man who had just tried to end my life. There’s no softness to Silas now. It’s pure, unfilteredrage. It pulls his shoulders up, tightens the fist not holding the weapon.
In one swift move, he knocks Calvin out with a single punch.
The screaming stops, and an eerie silence settles with it. I watch in fascination—or maybe it’s shock—as Silas wraps up the wound on Calvin’s arm to stem the bleeding but then binds his hands together.
In the distance, I hear sirens, the wail of them ricocheting through the ranch, disturbing birds that had taken cover in the trees.
“Juni,” Ada rushes to me, eyes running down me in a similar way to Silas’s, checking for injuries that don’t exist. Her eyes are glazed and panicked, skin a few shades paler, which only makes the freckles scattered across her face that much darker.
“I’m okay,” I breathe out shakily. “I’m okay.”
Part of it is to convince her, but it’s for me too.
I’m okay.
He didn’t win.
I’m okay.
Silas stopped him; he came forme.
I’m okay.
It’s over. There’s no way he won’t go down for this, and on top of all the other awful things he’s done, the man won’t be free for a long time.
I survived.
My eyes burn as the first tear slips out of the corner. It’s not fear, it isn’t pain. It’s relief. It’s finally realizing it’s actually over. Leaving was the first step; it was the catalyst, but this… this is true freedom.
“Honeybee,” Hands cradle my face, his thumbs wiping away the fat tears rolling down my cheeks, “Where are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt,” I whisper, my tongue catching a tear that stops at the corner of my lips. “I’m okay.”
His burning gaze bounces between mine, hearing everything I don’t say.
“You’re okay,” he rasps back, “Your own hero, baby.”
A watery laugh slips from me, and despite the audience, the eyes on us, and the people running in our direction, I lean forward and kiss him. I kiss him like he’s mine. The world slips away when he kisses me back, cradling my face as if I’m precious, his mouth tender and seeking. I part, just a little so I can get a hit of his taste.
Someone clears their throat, but Silas is slow to end the kiss and even when we come apart, his eyes are for me and me alone.
“The cops are here,” Roman’s voice sounds from behind me.
Still, Silas pays no one but me any attention. There’s been a monumental shift in the past five minutes; we both feel it, but it’s me who says it out loud.
“I want to stay.”
Chapter Thirty-two
I fucking hate paperwork.
It’s necessary; I need to get all this squared up so the family solicitor can take it to Calvin’s attorneys. The investigation thoroughly fucked him, he’s had all his assets seized, the horses are currently being housed in a government facility awaiting instruction but if I have anything to do with it, they’ll be coming here and to the other ranches in the area I’ve made arrangements with. As a respected ranch, there’s no way they’ll reject my offer to house them here.
