Page 4 of Vanishing Point (Bent County Protectors #1)

“I thought that would go better,” Rosalie said with a scowl.

“I’m not sure why you did,” Thomas replied.

“Don’t you help investigate things for women who’ve…

” He wanted to choose his words carefully.

Both for Rosalie’s sake, and because he didn’t like the idea of using any reckless words on Vi.

“Been through it? You should understand how little a victim likes being treated like a child.”

“I wasn’t treating her like a child.”

“You called a cop behind her back and against her will. And clearly gave her no warning after inviting me here.”

“If I gave her warning, she wouldn’t have been here.”

“It doesn’t seem like her being here worked out.”

“I want you to listen to the voicemail,” Rosalie said, clearly undeterred.

“No.” God, he wanted to. He wanted to sweep in and immediately fix this for Vi. Whatever it was. But she’d looked absolutely…betrayed by Rosalie.

He couldn’t add to it. What was more, he knew that in cases like this—whatever the details might be—if the victim didn’t want help, there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“Hart.”

“If she wants my take, she’ll bring it to me. Otherwise, you need to let this lie.”

“And if it escalates?”

He didn’t have a quick and easy answer for that. Because he wanted details. Names. And it wasn’t just because he’d been in love with Vi a million years ago. He dealt with too many victims of harassment, abuse. He’d seen too many men get away with it.

He was currently in the midst of a case where someone was getting away with it.

He wanted any man that small and vicious to pay.

But it wasn’t up to him. “You’re licensed to carry a gun, and I know you’ve got plenty. Didn’t Audra win some sharpshooting contest not that long ago?”

Rosalie sighed. “We might be tough as nails, Hart, and I know you probably can’t understand this because men are so predictable, but being able to defend yourself doesn’t mean you’ll have the opportunity to.”

He thought of every case he’d failed to solve, every call he’d been able to do jack shit in time to stop something terrible from happening. “Pretty well-versed in that, actually, Rosalie.”

Rosalie looked at him, pleading in her eyes instead of frustration. “Can’t you try to get through to her?”

She was clearly changing tactics. It was beyond obvious. Unfortunately, Thomas was not immune to obvious. “I know you’re worried, but—”

“You don’t have to change her mind,” Rosalie said quickly. “Just…talk to her from like a police perspective, but also like a guy she knows.”

“We don’t know each other, Rosalie. Not really. High school was a long time ago.”

“But you’re the best shot we have of her actually listening to someone. You know as well as I do that burying your head in the sand of a problem asshole doesn’t make the asshole disappear.”

Which was more true than he liked to acknowledge. It wasn’t like his job allowed him a ton of faith in humanity, but he tried to maintain some.

And that was how he found himself going up the stairs, and then knocking on the last door on the right, per Rosalie’s instructions.

“Rosalie, you need to give me some space,” the voice on the other side of the door said.

“It’s Thomas.”

A long pause. Maybe she wouldn’t open the door, but he waited.

Eventually the knob turned.

She opened the door but stood in the doorway clearly not wanting to talk to him, clearly not wanting him to have a glimpse inside.

“She had no right to call you,” she said firmly.

“No, she didn’t.”

Vi let out a sigh, but she said nothing else.

He supposed she didn’t look exactly the same as she had in high school, but she was just as pretty as she’d been back then.

Even with her deep auburn hair wet and her dark blue eyes full of sadness.

He’d once had that little pattern of freckles across her nose memorized.

He kept thinking this ache around his heart would ease, what with the passage of fifteen years, but it seemed to only twist. But the past— their past—wasn’t why he was here.

“I don’t want to get in between anything going on with your family,” Thomas said, choosing his words carefully.

Or trying to. “I certainly don’t… Hell, Vi, I might feel like I know you because of high school, but I know people change a hell of a lot from eighteen to thirty-three.

We’re practically strangers. I don’t expect you to just…

believe I’m the same guy I was. Or trust me with something like this.

I didn’t come up here to change your mind about anything. ”

“Then why did you come up here?” she asked skeptically.

“To tell you that I believe in helping people. I always have, and I always will. No matter how often that’s been an incredibly complicated thing.

I don’t expect you to want my help. I just want to make it clear.

You can trust me, and I will help in whatever ways I can.

Whenever and however that happens.” He held out his business card to her.

She looked at it, clearly not about to take it.

“You never have to use it if you don’t want to. What’s the harm in just having it?”

He could see her relenting, but she still didn’t take it from him.

So he tried to lighten the mood a little. “And you don’t have to use it for professional reasons.”

She frowned at him, but he saw a little spark of humor in her eyes, as he’d hoped.

“Are you flirting with me?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I’m a single mother with a terrible ex-husband and tons of baggage, and I certainly don’t look like I did when I was eighteen.”

Maybe not. But the impact of her hadn’t changed, even if she had. “You look just fine to me.”

She shook her head, but her mouth had curved ever so slightly. “You always were a sweet-talker.”

“Lots of things change, but not everything.”

“Thomas.”

“Just take it, Vi.” And when she finally did, he considered that a win for the day. He knew when to retreat. He stepped back. “Hopefully I’ll see you around.” Then he turned and left.

And was slightly gratified that he didn’t hear her door close until he was halfway down the stairs.

V I REALLY WANTED to stay in her room and pout and sulk, but she was hungry. And, weirdly, Thomas had taken away some of that cloud of embarrassment and shame. He’d made her smile, just a little bit.

Just like always.

But of course they’d changed. God, she wasn’t sure she’d even recognize eighteen-year-old Vi. So sure she’d become a doctor and conquer the world.

Now she was everything she’d told Thomas she was—a divorced single mom with a ton of baggage. A victim .

You look just fine to me.

He was probably just saying that to be nice. Trying to cajole her into…whatever it was Rosalie was trying to make happen. She was going to have to convince herself there’d been no actual flirting.

She didn’t know him anymore. He was a cop. No doubt he looked at her and saw a pitiful victim.

But he hadn’t treated her like one, and the way he’d smiled at her had reminded her of all those years ago when he’d first done it and asked her to go to the homecoming dance with him in ninth grade.

It was a million years ago, but he made it seem like not so much time had passed. At least for a few minutes.

But time had indeed passed. A lot of time. And not just time, but an entire lifetime of mistakes on her part.

Besides, she’d been back in Bent County for almost a full year and had managed to avoid running into him or anyone else she knew by spending most of her time on the ranch. And she liked it that way. She liked the life she was building out here where it felt like no one could reach her.

She had family—not just Mags, but actual family. And it was because they’d become her family in heart as well as blood, Vi didn’t stay in her room sulking.

Well, and because she was starving after all.

When she got to the dining room, Rosalie and Audra were already at the table, eating and chatting.

Franny was still off on her book tour for another two days.

Since Vi didn’t have a job, she usually handled the household duties—like cleaning and making dinner—but since Mags had been sick everyone had insisted she take the week off.

So someone else had made dinner. Vi was determined she would at least clean up after it. She had to earn her keep some way.

Both sisters looked up when she entered the dining room. Audra smiled. Rosalie looked sheepish. Which was how Vi knew that Rosalie hadn’t told Audra about this.

“Your sister had Thomas Hart come out here, without telling me.”

“Rosalie,” Audra said, clearly pained and, as ever, despairing of her sister.

“You listened to the same voicemail I did,” Rosalie said, scowling. “The threats are escalating.”

“I’m not going to have you listen to any of them after this,” Vi returned, sitting down at the table. She didn’t know what possessed her to let Rosalie listen in the first place.

“She isn’t…wrong about that, Vi,” Audra said, clearly concerned. “This did sound more…violent.”

Vi refused to accept it, even if it was true.

“He wants me to live in fear. I won’t do it.

I’m certainly not going to ask for help from a cop.

” Maybe she had a hard time believing Thomas would be like Eric, but it hadn’t just been Eric that she’d had to deal with back in Richmond. It had been his whole squad.

Every last one of them either so taken in by Eric they couldn’t see the truth, or just…didn’t care about the truth. Too many of them had figured it was her fault that Eric liked to knock her around.

She took a seat next to Audra and accepted the passed casserole dish.

“Thomas isn’t just any cop. You know him. Like biblically.”

Vi spared Rosalie a scolding look. “That was fifteen years ago.”

“So?”

“I knew my ex-husband biblically too. Enough to have a child. Should I ask for his help?”

Rosalie grunted in frustration.

“I know you’re worried. If you want me to leave—”

Audra put her hand over Vi’s. “Don’t do that,” she said in her soft way.

Even though Audra was tough on the outside, with her ranching and sharpshooting, and her ability to handle the rough-and-tumble life out here in the middle of nowhere, she was such a gentle softie underneath it all.

“We’re not worried because it’s trouble, we’re worried about you . ”

Which made Vi want to cry. She didn’t know why her two second cousins she’d barely known growing up had taken such a risk to get involved with her life.

How they were so good at pulling her into the fold, accepting her and Magnolia as family.

How this had begun to feel like a real, good life instead of the nightmare she’d escaped.

She filled her plate, gave herself a second to get her emotions under control. And then she worked on letting anger and resentment go.

Because it didn’t get them anywhere.

“I understand why you did it, Rosalie. And if I ever…” She had a hard time saying the words, because she had to believe it would never, ever happen. “If there’s ever a real threat, where he might actually come here, I’ll call Thomas. I promise.”

And she prayed like hell that would never be the case.