Page 36 of The Prey (The Hillers of Barratt County #6)

They’d finally let her come home, late that night. Gia really wasn’t aware of much of what had happened after she’d been speaking with her brother and sister and Aubrey. Until someone was carrying her into the ranch. She looked up—into her brother’s beautiful eyes. Guthrie had her. She was safe.

Then her brother was carrying her right up to her own suite. She could have walked, but as floaty as she felt, she’d probably walk right off the balcony if she tried.

The sound of little feet and hushed voices had Guthrie pausing just outside her door. Gia turned her head slightly.

“Boys, what are you doing up this late?” Genny asked. Calvin reached for her—he and Genny were really close. She’d been living with him since he’d been two. And there was…Ryan. Big brown eyes just like his Daddy’s in the sweetest face she’d ever seen were staring at Gia now.

“Is she okays?” His lower lip trembled. Her heart melted. He looked so afraid. And with everything that had happened to his family since the accident, and now this.

“I’m going to be just fine, sweetie. I promise.”

“Where’s Daddy at?” Ryan asked.

“He’s in the kitchen with Calvin’s daddy now, telling them what happened today at the court.

He’ll be up in a few minutes to check on you, Ry,” Genny told them.

“I want you guys to go back to Calvin’s room and wait for me, okay?

I’m going to help Aunt Gia change into her jammies and get her something to drink with her medicine, first. She’s going to be just fine, I promise. ”

“And the bad guys aren’t going to come back?” Calvin asked. “To get Aunt Gia or you or my new mommy?”

“No, baby. The bad guys are in jail forever now,” Gia told her nephew. He had been so afraid, after everything that had happened to Chantal and to Genny. And then Aubrey, Ayla, and now her. How could a pair of four-year-olds understand any of this? Gia didn’t understand it herself. “I promise.”

“The policemen took him away,” Hudson said behind them all. “Everyone will be safe now. Come here guys.”

He leaned down and scooped both boys up into his strong arms, looking utterly perfect in that moment. Gia wanted him to hold her forever, too.

“I’ll tuck them in and answer any questions, then I’ll be back,” he said looking right at her.

That sounded perfect to her.

Unfortunately—whatever they’d given her at the hospital had other plans.

All she really remembered was him coming back, telling her he was never letting go of her again—and his strong arms going around her as he leaned over her in the bed that she had had in this room since she’d been a teenager.

“Stay…” It was all she said.

And he did.