Page 60 of Darkwater Lane

Kez blows out a frustrated breath. “You know I’m supposed to be alerted when there’s any activity involving this address.”

He shrugs defensively. “You’re supposed to be on maternity leave, ain’t ya?”

She runs a hand down her face. “Come on, Jenkins. Haven’t you ever heard of swatting? If you’d called me, I could have told you that’s what this was, and we could have saved a lot of time and taxpayer dollars.”

He glowers at her. “I wasn’t going to take that chance. Not when there are kids’ lives at stake and Sam Cade’s already under suspicion for murder.”

“Well, you’ve got eyes on the girl now, and she’s okay. Aren’t you, Lanny?” She directs that last bit toward my daughter.

“Other than the fact that these assholes scared me shitless and one of these apes manhandled me out of my own fucking house in the middle of the damn night, yeah.”

I notice one of the younger cops near her wincing at her language. I fight the urge to smile. Lanny’s always been feisty, especially when it comes to authority.

Kez nods. “That’s the end of that. Clear the scene. We’re done here.”

“No, ma’am,” Jenkins says, shaking his head. “We’ve got Sam Cade for resisting arrest. We’re not letting that one go.”

“Assaulting an officer too,” one of the cops guarding Sam adds. He holds up his hand. His knuckles look to be split, most likely from punching the shit out of my partner.

“That’s not a good idea, Jenkins,” Kez warns.

He gives her a tight smile. “You ain’t the one calling the shots.” He turns to his men. “Load him up.”

“And this one?” the cop at my arm asks.

Jenkins looks me over. I lift my chin, glaring at him. If he’s hoping I’ll cower at his supposed authority, he has another thing coming. I don’t cower. Not to pricks like him.

He waves a hand. “Let her go.”

The cop by my side seems surprised. “You sure?”

“I don’t feel like doing the extra paperwork,” Jenkins says dismissively.

The minute the cuffs are off, and my arms are free, Lanny launches herself at me. Kez is next, and as her arms come around me, I find myself leaning against her.

“I got a text from Easy,” she murmurs in my ear. “Says Connor’s up at his place.”

My throat burns with relieved tears. I nod my thanks.

She squeezes tighter. “You okay?”

I don’t trust my voice and nod again, even though I’m not sure it’s entirely true. Already I can feel the aftereffects of the adrenaline dump coursing through me. My limbs feel heavy, and tears prick the backs of my eyes. I swallow several times, trying to regain control before I let her go.

“I can’t believe some dickwad calls the cops with a bullshit story, and we get our door broken down and asses hauled out of bed in the middle of the night,” Lanny spits. She’s mad. Anger is always easier to handle than fear.

“I have a feeling I know who called it in,” Kez says. “I saw one of the Belldenes’ trucks off the side of the road down the hill from your driveway. I was in too big a hurry to get here to get a look at who was inside. But I can’t think of any other reason a Belldene would be out this way in the middle of the night.”

“Unless they knew what was about to go down and wanted a front-row seat,” I finish for her.

She nods.

I drop my chin to my chest, the tension in my shoulders wound so tight they ache. We’d been trying to keep a low profile, but apparently, it wasn’t low enough. “Didn’t take them long to find out we were here.”

Beside me, Lanny shuffles her feet. “That, uh, may be my fault. I told Florida we were back.” She says it softly, hesitantly, as if afraid I might get mad. Florida is one of the Belldene kids—around Lanny’s age. She played a pivotal role in helping us track Connor after he was kidnapped by some religious zealots a few years back.

“But she swore she wasn’t going to tell anyone in her family,” Lanny adds.

I eye my daughter. I’m both fiercely proud of the woman she’s become and terrified about what she still has to learn. Despite everything she’s been through, there’s still a part of her that wants to believe in people. That wants to see good in the world.