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I’m tearing up Central Kentucky like the devil’s behind me, and maybe he is. Maybe I invited him in the second I kissed her.

Every backroad, every holler, every strip of gravel I’ve ever burned through, I hit ‘em again like they’ll give up a clue.

Bullet’s out near the county line. Derby’s sniffing around the old rail yard.

Oaks is checking barns in Casey where the Depraved Sinners were last seen.

I’m not sleeping. Not stopping. Not until I find her.

And all the while, her voice is in my damn head.

That last fight. The hurt in her eyes. The way I walked away like it would keep her safe. Like pushing her outta my world would keep the monsters at bay. I thought I was doin’ the right thing. Hell, I knew I was wrong the second I said it, but I told myself the lie anyway.

Now she’s gone.

And it’s on me.

I think about every man who wants me dead. Every scumbag I’ve beat down or locked in a shed or crossed in a deal. I gave them a target when I let Sophie in.

I made her vulnerable.

And then I left her alone.

I’m in some no-name bar outside Lawrenceburg, where high rollers mix with low lives, my fists wrapped in the bartender’s collar, slamming him against the wood wall ‘cause he knows something , or at least, he better. He’s gasping and babbling when the flat screen behind the bar changes from weather to breaking news.

And I hear her name.

I freeze.

“This just in. Sophie Montgomery, the missing heiress of Paradise Falls Farm, has been found alive. Local reports say she was discovered at Pearly Gates Church, the isolated religious compound north of Hell, KY.”

The whole bar goes quiet. The man I was choking slides to the floor, forgotten.

I turn to the screen.

“The Reverend Ezekiel Crowley, longtime spiritual leader of Pearly Gates, claims his congregation rescued Montgomery after spotting her running from what she described as… a creature.”

The anchor snorts. “Yes, folks, another Kentucky cryptid sighting. Move over, Pope Lick Monster, and make room for what social media’s already calling… the Paradise Falls Demon.”

Laughter. Some jackass two stools down shouts, “Somebody check if she’s been drinkin’ that green apple moonshine!”

I grip the edge of the bar so hard it groans under my hand. I see red. Not because they’re mocking her. Because she saw it. Whatever the hell I saw that night, she saw it too.

And nobody’s listenin’.

I shove away from the bar, fuming.

She’s alive.

She’s in the hospital.

And I didn’t get to her first.

I find the hospital in they took her to in Lexington by following the scent of media vultures and state troopers. The whole damn parking lot’s crawling with press vans and cops in unmarked trucks.

Inside, security blocks me like I’m a bouncer’s worst nightmare.

“She’s not takin’ visitors,” the man says. “Orders from family.”

“What family?” I growl. “I’m…”

But then I see him.

James.

Hair slicked back. Button-down clean. Not a scratch on him. He’s outside the ER entrance, arms crossed like he’s been waiting to rub this in my face.

“You knew,” I say, storming up. “You didn’t call?”

He lifts his chin, cool as ever. “I hoped she’d be found. Unlike you, I didn’t make promises I couldn’t keep.”

I grind my teeth. “You wanna throw punches, do it like a man. Don’t stand out here like a smug little bitch.”

“What did you call me? What are you implying?” His voice goes high like a bitch, too.

“You’re the one being a sassy ass motherfucker. Are you a fruit or somethin’, James? I mean, there’s nothin’ wrong with that… Just wanna know who I’m dealin’ with. If I can kick your ass or if I should let Sophie do it when she’s healed.”

“I’m happily married, you asswipe. To a beautiful woman who happens to be visiting her mother in California right now.”

Shruggin’, I sort of remember that now but don’t say.

“My sister’s not your fight anymore, Legend. You made that clear when you left her alone.”

“I never left her.”

He studies his nails. “That’s not what I heard. Sis told me you can’t keep it in your dirty jeans. That you broke her heart. That you called it off.”

“I was tryin’ to protect her.”

He sneers. “You can’t protect someone from your world when your world is the danger.

You think she’s coming back to you? You think my sister is gonna walk away from the biggest race of her life, from a legacy that dates back a hundred years, give up an inheritance that will make her one of the richest women in Kentucky for a biker who deals with criminals and rides with murderers?

” He scoffs. “One who fucks his own sister.”

I want to break him.

But he ain’t wrong.

Not entirely.

“If she wants to be with you,” James scoffs, stepping close. “She’ll have to give it all up. The farm. The press. The breeding rights. The Derby. The bloodline. Everything.”

“I never asked her to.”

“No, but you will. And she’ll give it up to your semen demons.”

“Ain’t that what you been after all along? Sophie out of your way?”

James’ mouth drops open, and I can’t tell if he’s fakin’ or offended. “How dare you? Nobody better runs Paradise Falls better than Sophie. Without her it’d all fall apart, and I’d have nothing.”

I stare at the hospital windows high above us, wonderin’ which one is hers. If she’s awake. If she’s thinkin’ about me. If she knows I would’ve burned the world to bring her home.

But I’m not the one.