Grace’s teeth chattered loudly, her fingers so chilled she’d almost lost feeling. At this rate, if Kieran didn’t kill her, the cold probably would. The sun had started to go down, and the wind had gained traction. Some gusts were so strong they felt like tiny shards of glass cutting into her skin.
Her fingers clenched the cell in her hand so tightly she was sure she was going to shatter the thing. She wouldn’t let go. Couldn’t. It was her one connection to safety.
She tried to move her legs faster, but her feet were numb. That was probably a good thing. She was sure there were enough cuts and scrapes from branches and pebbles that they were raw and bleeding.
She shot a quick look over her shoulder, guilt gnawing at her insides. Were they okay? Had her father been able to fight Kieran off, protect himself and Logan, even though his feet were bound?
The sound of waves crashing steadily grew louder as she moved. She was close to the water’s edge.
When the tree line ended, Grace caught sight of rocks up ahead. Big rocks, presumably leading down to the water. Another gust of wind blew against her frosty skin. She wanted to groan out loud. She only just stopped herself. Everything in her was so cold she almost felt frozen.
Gritting her teeth, she kept moving. If her father could fight a man twenty years younger while injured and partially bound, she could continue moving even though her body begged her to collapse.
Lord, she hoped Blake and the guys were close. It hadn’t taken them long to reach the house, so surely it wouldn’t take Blake much longer.
She’d just taken another unsteady step when something sounded behind her—the distant crunching of leaves.
She stopped, almost stumbling in her angst.
A second passed, then more crunches. This time closer and in fast succession. Whoever it was…they were jogging.
Oh, God! She tried to move her feet faster. Reaching the rocks, she started climbing down. At the bottom of a steep decline, she saw water bordered by sand and more rock. It looked like the edge of a beach.
Now that the trees weren’t covering so much of the sky, the rain hit her hard and fast. Blinding her. Her limbs trembled with a violent tenacity.
She was midway down when she heard the voice. “You fucking bitch!”
Her foot slipped on a wet rock. She fell, scraping her arm against a sharp edge, phone slipping from her fingers, tumbling down. She almost tumbled with it, only just stopping herself.
She cast a quick glance up, and her heart catapulted into her throat. Kieran stood at the top of the rocks, lips bleeding and both eyes almost black. There were bloodstains on his shirt. He looked very different from the way he had when she’d left him. But he was still here.
Where was her father? Where was Logan?
When Kieran started climbing the rocks, a small whimper escaped her lips as she turned, trying to move her body faster.
The sounds of him gaining on her had Grace’s breath seizing in her chest. She pushed through it all. The fear. The panic. And moved.
She’d almost reached the sand when fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her back before slamming her head into the rocks.
White-hot pain blasted through her left cheek, all the way through to her skull.
Her hair was released, but almost immediately a foot hit her hard and fast in the ribs, sending her tumbling to the sand.
Her body wanted to shut down, her eyes already hedging with darkness. She forced herself to remain conscious. To move. To crawl through the sand in a weak attempt to put distance between herself and him.
Strong fingers suddenly wrapped around her throat, tugging her to her feet.
“You think you can run from me again?”
His lips were so close to her face that she felt his words like they were being seared into her skin, the heat of his breath burning her face.
“Fucking answer me, bitch!”
She could barely breathe with how tightly he held her neck, but if he wanted words, then she’d make herself speak. She was done being treated like his property. “I did it before!”
Rage contorted his face. His fingers left her throat. She barely saw the fist before it collided with her cheekbone, the same one he’d bashed against the rock. She hit the ground, but was only down for a second before he wrenched her back up, hand returning to her throat, stealing her air.
She grabbed at his fingers, clawed at his arm.
“You’re mine!” Kieran yelled, his voice vibrating her eardrums. “Always have been. Always will be!”
Not…even…close.
Calling on all her strength, she brought up her knee, putting as much force behind the hit as she could, getting him right between his legs.
Kieran groaned. As he bent forward, she slammed a palm to his nose in an upward motion.
Both his hands went to his face, blood pouring between the seams of his fingers.
Then she ran. Moved her legs faster than she thought possible, each step sinking her into the wet sand. She still couldn’t feel her feet, but somehow they were holding her up. That was enough.
Every step was a step away from him. If he chased her, she couldn’t outrun him, she knew that, but she could buy herself time. Time for someone to find them.
On her next step, a heavy weight landed on her back, plunging her back to the sand. Shallow water pooled at her front. If her body wasn’t so numb, she was sure it would feel like lying in a pool of ice.
Her body was immediately spun around. More water lapped around her. He reared his fist back, but before it could make contact, she shifted her head to the side. Shards of water splintered around her face and neck.
His face contorted. More anger. More spine-chilling rage.
She tried to dodge the next hit, but she was too slow. Pain cascaded through her head, blurring her vision.
She hadn’t recovered when the next punch came, this one just as violent as the last. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and there was a sharp ringing in her ears.
“You should have been a good girl and done what you were told!”
“Never.” The word was wrenched from somewhere deep inside her, so quiet it was barely audible.
Kieran stood, pulling her to her feet with him. Then—his entire body went still.
Suddenly, he pulled a knife and pressed it to her throat. She could almost feel the fear bouncing off Kieran as his body shook.
It took every ounce of energy to peel her eyes open.
That’s when she saw him. Logan. Moving down the rocks.
Her heart skidded in her chest. He was moving slower than normal, blood stains covering his shirt.
But he was alive.
Some of the suffocating weight on her chest lifted. Her body suddenly felt lethargic.
Kieran tugged her body tight to his. He took several steps backward, into the icy water. “Fuck. I should have let Lizzie kill that asshole!”
Yes, he should have. The guy’s need for revenge, his need for her to suffer by watching Logan’s death, would ultimately be his undoing.
Logan jumped from the last rock onto the sand and stalked toward them. His gaze deadly as it focused on Kieran. Dangerous.
“Let her go, Kieran.” He growled the words, hard and menacing.
Kieran continued to move back. Every step plunged them deeper into the water. Her breaths were coming out in short gasps now. Her body was shutting down. She was so cold. Had been cold for too long.
“Stop, or I’ll plunge this knife into her!”
Logan slowed. A ferocious anger radiated from his eyes.
“If I can’t have her, no one can!”
The haze in her vision began to increase. She could only just make out Logan’s outline as he continued to stalk toward them.
Logan’s world slowed to pinpoint accuracy. The knife at Grace’s neck, combined with the shaking in her limbs as Kieran pulled her deeper into the water, had his heart stopping in his chest. Her lips were blue. Her eyes glazed like she was seconds from losing consciousness.
Rage threatened to consume him. He needed to end this—and he needed to end this soon.
His next shift forward was a single step. He ignored the fire burning through his chest from the bullet wound. The exhaustion pulling at his limbs from the tranquilizer. “Is she worth dying for? Because if you kill her, I kill you.”
Kieran smirked, moving back again. Then once more. He was almost chest deep. “You think I’m stupid? You’re gonna kill me either way.”
Yeah, he was a dead man. Logan couldn’t let him live. Not after everything he’d done.
At the sight of Grace’s eyes shuttering, Logan almost raced toward them full tilt. He just stopped himself. Such a move could cost Grace her life.
Instead, he took another small step forward, water soaking his ankles.
“You’re right. But it can either be quick and painless, or I can draw it out. Make you scream and beg for the sweet release of death.”
Kieran’s chest was rising and falling rapidly. He was cold and angry, but he was also scared. He tried to hide it but Logan saw everything. The asshole knew these were his final minutes.
“Or I just kill us both.” Kieran took a large step back, the knife pressing harder against her delicate skin—so hard, Logan saw a flash of red as the blade pierced her flesh. “I slice this knife right across her neck, then my own! I die knowing that no one else gets her!”
Logan’s jaw clenched, his self-restraint waning.
He took another step forward. Water lapped around his knees, the cold barely registering. He was almost at the point where he could leap forward, clearing the distance to reach the weapon. Almost.
The hand holding the knife began to tremble. “All these years. She should have been with me! I never stopped thinking about her. Obsessing. I deserve her!”
“She doesn’t want you.” Another step forward. Then another.
“You think I fucking care what she wants?” The man was becoming more hysterical by the second. “Women are pawns in a man’s world. They don’t get to choose!”
God, he was a sick bastard. No one would mourn his death. Not a single soul.
When Kieran took another small step back, Logan’s gaze zeroed in on the water pooling around Grace’s chin. Her eyes finally closed. Fuck.
Scuffling sounded behind him. Feet against rock. People were here. His team. But they wouldn’t make it in time. It was up to him.
Logan took another step forward. One to go.
“If I want her, I get her. And if I choose for her to die with me rather than live with you, then that’s what’s going to happen!”
Logan took his final step—then he leaped. Hand closing around Kieran’s, tugging the knife from Grace’s neck.
Kieran growled and thrashed, releasing Grace as he attempted to wrench the knife back and fend off Logan. But even injured, Logan was too strong. He plunged the blade straight into Kieran’s neck.
Grace’s body dropped below the surface of the water, but only for seconds before Logan released the knife and lifted her out, hurrying her to shore.
Blake made it to them first. “I can take her.”
Flynn ran past them and dove into the water to get Kieran.
“No. I have her.” And he wasn’t letting go. Ever.
