Page 98 of The Last One You Loved

She nodded.

I wasn’t sure I could move, not only because I was wedged between some roots but because the fear and panic I’d barely kept at bay was washing through me, taking over my limbs. She was safe. I had her. She was safe.

As I scooted on my ass out, Mila held on tight, arms and legs locked to my body and face buried in my neck. When I could stand, I shifted so she wouldn’t see the man on the ground or Bruce holding him there.

“You got this?” I asked him.

He nodded, face grim, and said, “I already called for EMTs. Liam is on his way out to help me.”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. My feelings were still too huge. Too raw. Instead, I climbed out of the hollow with Mila wrapped around me so tight it almost hurt. She was trembling, and I didn’t blame her. I was a mess of nerves as well, and I hadn’t lived through her terror. A visceral hatred for Chainsaw washed over me again, almost making me want to go back and make sure there was no luck involved in my second shot.

Instead, I walked across the fields, only concerned with my chattering girl’s silence.

“Are you hurt, Bug-a-Boo?” I asked, attempting to run my hands over her limbs the best I could with her attached to me.

“I skinned my knee,” she said, voice wavery.

“Well, I think we can fix that up.”

She finally looked up at me, eyes awash with tears trailing down her dirty face. Her clothes were filthy as well, torn in a couple of places, and I wasn’t sure I was prepared to know why. Were they from the roots? Were they from him pushing her down? Bile hit my throat.

I reminded myself that I had her in my arms. She was safe. She was there. Everything else could be fixed. Relief trembled through my veins.

“You’re crying, Daddy,” she said softly, putting a hand on my cheek.

“I sure am.”

She didn’t respond. She just rested her head on my chest again, and I squeezed her tightly to me. We passed Liam and one of Sheriff Scully’s deputies. Their eyes turned to relief when they saw Mila in my arms.

“She okay?” Liam asked.

I nodded, even though I wasn’t entirely sure she was.

We just kept walking until I saw the creek where Sadie had been loaded onto a stretcher. Her arms were moving as she talked. More relief filled me. My sister was alive. There was a crowd of first responders around her and McKenna, who was wiping her hands on a cloth of some sort, blood staining it.

The stretcher had just disappeared over the hill when McKenna turned her head. As soon as she spotted us, she was in motion, running. She wasn’t the only one who saw us, and applause burst out from the men and women who’d gathered to help me find my girl.

McK slammed into us, wrapping us in her arms as a sob escaped her. I moved my hands so I could hold them both. McKenna and I squished Mila between us, all of us crying and clinging to each other. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to let them go again.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE

MCKENNA

THE HILL

“Not every battle’s worth it, I’ll admit where I’ve gone wrong.

But fightin’ for your love,

That’s the hill I wanna die on.”

Performed by Thomas Rhett

Written by Weisband / Reynolds / Mckenna

Holdingon to Maddox and Mila, I let the terror and relief flow through me, coming out in streams of tears. Tears of joy at seeing them. Tears of sorrow for what Mila and Sadie had just gone through. Tears of anger because Sybil had caused another round of violence to show up in my world, and this time, I wasn’t the only one who would be left with scars?emotional and physical ones.

“I kinda can’t breathe, and you’re always telling me to breathe,” a little voice said.