Page 79 of Finding His Redemption

Brandt’s jaw tightened, the only sign that her words had affected him.

She exhaled and straightened, pushing back her shoulders and lifting her chin. “So what does that mean for us?”

“At least for the time being, we’re confident he doesn’t know your new identities or where you are. I was planning on keeping you in place, but…” He hesitated, and his gaze flicked to the Valor Ridge truck parked outside.

Ghost was still right where Boone had left him, standing guard at her door, his elegant black dog faithfully at his side.

Brandt sucked in a breath through his nose and returned his gaze to her. “After what I saw today, I’m not comfortable leaving you here.”

“What do you mean?” But even as she asked, she knew. The way he’d watched Sheriff Goodwin’s performance, the careful attention he’d paid to every word, every threat. “You think he knows.”

“I think you’ve painted a target on your back by defending Jaxon Thorne.” Brandt leaned forward. “And I think this town has more secrets than you realize.”

Nessie’s mind raced. “The sheriff’s hiding something. I saw a vehicle that morning?—”

“I heard.” His expression darkened. “Which is exactly why we need to get you out of here. Tonight.”

“No. We can’t. Oliver has friends here. A life. I have a business?—”

“You’ll have a grave if you stay.” Brandt’s bluntness cut through her protests. “Your ex-husband isn’t the only threat anymore. That sheriff’s got it out for you, and he’s got the whole town watching.”

She thought of Oliver’s face that morning, bright with excitement about his upcoming school science fair. Of the way he’d finally started sleeping through the night without nightmares. Of the tentative friendships he’d built, the first real stability he’d known in his young life.

“There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t.” Brandt’s phone buzzed, and he glanced at it with a frown. “Pack light. We leave in two hours.”

“Corbin—”

“It’s not a request, Nessie.” He pocketed the phone and started for the door. “The sheriff knows more about you than he’s letting on, and that makes you a liability. To yourself, to your son, and to my program.”

The clinical way he spoke about her life—like she was just another case file to be shuffled and relocated—made something cold settle in her stomach. She knew he cared, but sometimes he could be so damned detached.

“Wait.” She moved around the counter, blocking his path to the door. “Just… give me a minute. Please.”

Brandt stopped, his electric blue eyes assessing her with that penetrating gaze that had made her feel safe once. Now it just made her feel trapped.

“I can’t do this to Oliver again,” she whispered. “He’s just starting to feel normal. To trust that we’re not going to disappear in the middle of the night. If we run now?—”

“If you stay, Aleksandr will find you.” There was no emotion in his voice, just cold certainty. “Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. And when he does, you know what happens next.”

Images flashed through her mind—Alek’s hand around her throat, the way he’d smiled as he’d tightened his grip until black spots danced across her vision. The coldness in his eyes when he’d told her she belonged to him. Forever.

But beneath the old fear, anger began to simmer. “I’m not letting him chase us away from our lives.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“But I do,” she whispered. “This time, everything is different.”

“How? Because you’ve got friends this time? If you think the men of Valor Ridge or Jax Thorne will protect you, you’re more naive than I gave you credit for.”

She flinched. “This isn’t about Jax.”

“Isn’t it?” Brandt studied her face, and she felt uncomfortably exposed. “You’ve got feelings for him.”

“I barely know him.”

“Yet you’re willing to risk your life—and Oliver’s—to stay in town for him.”