Page 2 of The Prey (The Hillers of Barratt County #6)

Hudson Hanan was definitely the devil, Gia decided, as she lowered the man’s son to the second twin bed that was in her nephew Calvin’s room.

Calvin was beyond thrilled to have another little boy from the same preschool bunking over for a few days.

He had missed the seriousness of the situation that had brought her brothers’ friend Hudson and his son Ryan to the ranch to recuperate.

Calvin and Ryan were best buddies forever.

They would tell someone that, too. Just like their daddies were. Forever and ever.

Gene’s best friend Hudson, though, he was Gia’s number one nemesis. Forever and ever. The man was enough to give her an ulcer at times—and she was almost certain he had. Now he was invading her safe place, and she didn’t like it.

She had just about found her balance again when everything had changed.

This was her home. Hudson had no business invading her space.

The stress of dealing with Hudson ate at her, far more than she wanted to admit. Especially after what had happened the last time she’d been at the courthouse, after she’d seen…she was beyond the point of freaking out right now.

Gia was about to slide into full-on panic mode at a moment’s notice.

The last thing she’d been prepared for was Hudson being in her safe space. And she really needed that safe place right now. More than she had ever needed anything in a long, long time.

Hudson Hanan despised her, after all. She had never once figured out what it was that she had ever done to him to make him hate her so much. Not in the three years she’d worked for the attorney’s office of Barratt County.

Except…what had happened before.

With his friend, a man who was a monster inside. Gia could still feel that man’s hands around her neck. She dreamed at night of him choking her again. Of him hurting her, touching her. And being helpless to stop him.

Jason Clarke—the man of her nightmares.

The reason she was hiding out at the ranch again right now to begin with.

Jason Clarke and Hudson had been buddies back then. And Hudson had made it clear where she fell on his little ladder at the office. She had never forgotten that. She never would.

Maybe it was time to quit. To just give up trying to make a difference for the victims, for the people in her community. She had been a victim, and nothing had come of it. Nothing. It had all just disappeared—she had never figured out why.

She couldn’t even find original incident reports she’d given to the Barrattville City Police. Nothing had been sent to the county, nothing had been sent to the prosecutor’s office. Everything was just…gone.

Except the original copies she had hidden away in her suite now. Those copies…were all she had to prove what that man had done to her.

She didn’t know how much longer she could just keep dealing with Hudson. Not now. She just didn’t. Sometimes, she wondered…what was the point? So many bad things happened to good people every day. That weighed on her soul so much.

Sometimes, she felt so alone when she left the office. Like…empty.

Maybe, maybe it would be better now that she had her family to come home to again. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed living with her brothers and sisters until she’d made the decision to move home. Maybe…things would get better now.

Gia had options. She just had to remember that.

She didn’t even have to keep working for Hudson, either.

She had a standing offer to go into practice with her big brother, if she wanted. George made the offer all the time. She’d gotten a job offer recently to work with Barratt, Barratt & Barratt, the most prestigious law office in Finley Creek County or Barratt County, too.

Well, it was more of a standing offer. She could do just fine there.

One of her closest friends from law school was a partner there—she, her brothers, her parents, and two uncles owned that firm.

They had first made an offer to Gia before she’d even passed the bar.

She would be okay there. All she had to do was tell Powell yes .

She could work with George part-time, and for B-3 part-time, if she wanted. Gia had options. She had to remember that.

She could volunteer at W4HAV, too. In Finley Creek. Give free legal aid to the women there who needed it. W4HAV was a women’s charity she was very familiar with now. But working for B-3 really wasn’t what she wanted at this point. That would be…running.

She wasn’t quite ready to give it up with the Barratt County Attorney’s office yet. She’d become an attorney so she could make a difference. To help the people in her own community.

She wasn’t going to quit. To just run because Hudson Hanan scared her too much. A Hiller never quit. If she started running from Hudson, she’d probably just keep running forever. From everything.

She wasn’t going to do that.

She tucked Ryan in, marveling again that Hudson had managed to make such a sweet little boy as this.

She hoped the senior Hanan knew how lucky he was.

Ryan was his aunt Hala all over again, with brown curls everywhere, big brown eyes that could convince a woman to give him everything he’d ever wanted, and a mischievous grin that made Gia smile every time. She adored this little man.

Far more than she did his father, that was for sure.

She’d once wanted half a dozen kids of her own.

But now that she was thirty, she didn’t think that would happen.

Not considering that the mere idea of dating a man, trusting a man, enough to let one close to her long enough to form that kind of lasting relationship, made her literally sick to her stomach to even think about.

She was doing better. She still went for counseling at W4HAV, two times a month. It was helping. She was getting there. Taking control again.

She’d be okay someday. Someday.

Then…maybe…she’d try dating again. Slowly.

As she went back toward her bedroom, her hand went to her throat. Memories rose up to choke her just like the last man she had dated had done.

Her sketchpad was right there on the bedside table. In the room she’d had as a child. She felt… safe… here. She always had.

That safety felt violated with Hudson here . Her number two enemy was in the one place Gia still felt safe. He had invaded. Taking some of that feeling of safety away.

Gia still didn’t know what part Hudson had played in making the reports of what Jason had done to her just go away. She would never fully trust Hudson. She just wouldn’t.

How could she? He and Jason had been friends and only a handful of people would have had the power to make those reports go away in Barratt County.

Hudson topped that list. She had…never forgotten. Couldn’t trust him. And never would. Especially now.

But his little sister was just down the hall, too.

And Gia loved Hala like she was another sister of her own.

Hala and Genny and Greer were the only ones on the planet that knew what had happened to Gia that night.

They had saved her, literally. And Hala, too.

Memories of losing most of her family in a vicious car accident six years ago were haunting Hala.

Hala needed Gia here with her now. For a little while.

Gia was going to stick this out, for Hala. Where else could she go, anyway?

Gia had moved home fully two days ago. This was where she was staying for a long while.

Until she figured out what she wanted to do next.

She hadn’t felt safe at her apartment any longer, even though her lease didn’t run out for another three weeks.

She could find a hotel room in Finley Creek quite easily, and could afford it, but how would she explain that to her family—especially her brothers?

If they found out why she didn’t want to stay alone any longer, they would go full caveman overprotective.

And just make everything worse in so many ways.

No. This was where she needed to be tonight.

Hala’s older brother could just go soak his head in the nearest toilet as far as Gia was concerned.

A few more days, and Hudson would go back to his house three miles down the road and just stay there forever.

Things would go back to normal between them. She was looking forward to that.

He wasn’t going to scare her away from her home. He just wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to let him.

She grabbed her sketchpad and began drawing. Until Ryan’s beautiful, precious little face emerged, that sweet look of mischief in his eyes. He did resemble his aunt greatly—and his father. He would probably grow up to look just like his father. No missing that.

Gia just kept sketching, trying to calm herself down enough so she could sleep again. Until the hours passed, and she finally felt that she’d regained control enough of herself to be able to sleep. To fight the nightmares she’d been having of her own lately.

Drawing had become her solace, she knew that. Her art had been one of the few things that had kept her sane back then. She felt safe here.

No one got to take that away. No one. She wasn’t going to let them.