Page 28 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)

“Yes, it will.” He went for the side, arching up on his feet to slip right off into the water. “Now, call Rowan.”

He would do it, and she wouldn’t be able to stop him. Always the hero, the drive to do what was right would override any argument, and Liam would swim right over there and try to capture both men.

But in her mind, the entire scenario showed him failing and dying for his efforts. It showed her how he would sneak onto the shore to ambush Emmett and Bruce, but at the same time expose himself and essentially lose the upper hand.

“No, I will not!”

Her shout bounced around the silence, sending all manner of birds catapulting into the sky. The cranes fishing near them fluttered past with the rest of the avian army, ghosts hovering low over the green foam until hitting the tree line to rise higher.

With wide eyes, Liam froze, half in and half out of the boat, his head snapping toward Bruce and Emmett.

“Do not move,” he breathed.

Never one to listen, Jamison turned her head at an achingly slow pace, heart pounding as she peeked at the shore.

Emmett was watching the cranes scatter into the sky, but Bruce… Bruce had a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun and was staring straight at the batch of cypress trees they were hiding behind.

She pressed her lips together, holding her breath as if he could hear it. The way sound carried over the water, even a whisper might betray them.

They stayed in their positions for what felt like an eternity, and then, surprising them, Bruce broke out into a wide grin. “Come here,” he shouted, glancing back at the shack. “You’ve got to see this.”

For one horrible second, Jamison thought he was speaking to them. But Bruce turned to shout in the opposite direction, waving an arm.

“Look at these birds. There are hundreds of them.”

A third man emerged from the shack. Tall and lean, he had sandy brown hair and a face that could be described as handsome. On his shoulders sat a little girl. She pointed at the birds flying overhead, her expression sweet and happy .

Jamison’s blood turned to ice, her lungs collapsing inward.

Madison.

Bubbly, beautiful, and the apple of Claudia’s eye, Madison.

Liam dropped into a sitting position in the kayak as if the air had been knocked from his chest. “Oh my God.”

Her hand searched blindly for his and squeezed it with white-knuckled urgency. “Why is Claudia’s fiancé—and her daughter—with Bruce?”

“I don’t…” Liam’s face lost all its color. “I don’t know.”

Her heart pounded with such force she thought it might burst. The roar in her ears drowned out everything else, and dark spots freckled her vision.

And then came the whispering.

Carried on the wind, it warned her not to linger, and the closer it came, the more she felt as if she might truly vomit. It was just like the night Michael Sinclair came to Haven House. The night he tried to take her, and the shadows in the forest whispered their warnings.

But then it got so much worse.

The whispering grew louder, telling her they shouldn’t be here. Demanding that they go. Leave. Don’t look back.

Unable to tear her eyes from the shore, she watched Madison squeal with laughter, pointing to the sky as Parker played along, naming the birds. He looked relaxed and obviously not threatened by Bruce and Emmett.

The whispering grew sharper. Louder. A shriek in her mind, clawing at her sanity.

This is wrong.

This is dangerous.

So distracted by the voices in her head, she didn’t even feel Liam slip into the water. Didn’t notice the kayak tilt slightly with his weight until she turned and saw him already waist-deep with one hand on the bow.

“No!” She lunged forward to grab his arm, her fingers digging into his skin. “Please, Liam, don’t—”

He easily broke free of her hold and mouthed one word. “Rowan.”

And he was gone. Moving fast, his body disappeared into the murky green sludge of the swamp. The urge to jump in after him had her partially rising from her seat, but common sense kicked in. She first needed to call for help.

Her fingers shook as she scrambled for her phone, quickly turning the volume down before tapping the screen.

Rowan answered on the first ring.

“Bruce is here.” She made sure to enunciate, so every whispered word was clear. “And Parker is here with Madison. They’re with Bruce at Emmett Watson’s place.”

Realizing he should keep his voice low, Rowan whispered back to her. “Parker and Madison? As in Claudia’s Parker and Madison?”

“Yes.”

In the background, she could hear so much action.

There were shouts and the sound of chairs scraping.

Cupping the phone’s speaker, she attempted to muffle the noise.

Like the cranes before, Liam had vanished into the dark depths of the swamp, and a fear like she had never known had tears spilling from her eyes.

“Rowan, hurry,” she begged. “Liam went to confront them.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Alone?”

“ Yes .”

Rowan hung up without saying goodbye, and the phone fell into her lap, its weight too heavy for her trembling hands.

On the shore, Parker had taken Madison off his shoulders, and with Emmett, the two men watched as the little girl picked flowering weeds around their feet.

Bruce had moved away from them, his attention continuing to zero in on where she sat.

But then abruptly, his gaze moved on, creeping steadily along the trees until it looped to the shore.

“Alright, playtime’s over,” Bruce said loud enough that it almost sounded like he was standing beside her. “Let’s get this stuff loaded.”

Parker took Madison’s hand and led her back toward the shack. Emmett followed close behind.

But Bruce lingered for a second more, his gaze locked on where she sat frozen. It was like he was waiting for something, but when whatever it was didn’t show, he returned to the shack, shutting the door firmly behind him. The moment it latched, Liam broke from the trees.

He ran low and silent, making his way along the shore toward the shack. She nearly shouted when she saw him, both in relief that an alligator hadn’t eaten him, and in absolute mind-numbing fury that he was being reckless enough to try this.

Rowan or whoever might come to the rescue had to be at least twenty minutes away since they would have to take the long way around by road instead of boat. There was no way they would arrive before Liam made his move.

She debated on what to do for a split second and ended up grabbing a paddle to shove the kayak away from the cypress that held it steady. Liam could handle himself. She knew he could handle himself, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t help.

And if something happened to him or he was hurt, she would never forgive herself for sitting idly by when she could have stopped it. Paddling like crazy, she collided more than once with a tree or an exposed root that threatened to deflate the kayak then and there.

As she advanced through the swamp, Liam made his way from tree to bush, getting closer and closer to the shack. He had his gun drawn and ready, the sight causing her fear to grow tenfold.

“Wait for me,” she huffed, jabbing the paddle again and again into the water. “Make him wait for me.”

The wind was in her favor, pushing the kayak along when she hit a batch of open water.

The strain on her biceps burned, and she was pretty sure her back teeth were going to crack with how hard she was grinding them, but the desperate need to get to Liam strangled her with determination even when all she wanted to do was scream.

Bruce and the others could be seen through the shack’s single window a few feet from the back door, right as Liam neared the structure. Placing his back against the wall, he gripped his gun with two hands, keeping just out of sight.

It didn’t make sense why she was crying by the time she reached the shore, watching helplessly as Liam charged through the door, gun raised and commanding voice ringing loudly through the air.

It didn’t make sense why she was listening to the whispers on the wind that were telling her to run and save him, allowing the strange voices to fuel her fear.

There was no logic, only instinct, and it roared inside her. No one else could stop this. No one else could save him, but her.

The awful terror pushed her from the kayak, sending her falling onto the muddy sand.

Shoving herself upright, she fought her way over the shore with its slick roots and jagged branches as they tore at her skin.

The steep embankment loomed ahead, her muscles threatening to lock up before she even attempted the climb.

But digging her fingers into the earth, she clawed her way up. The dirt packed under her nails made her skin crawl, and in those last few feet, she thought she would fall and have to start over.

But she didn’t. Cresting the top, she rolled onto the flat ground, finding her footing immediately.

She ran as fast as she could, never stopping.

Not even when Parker burst from around the front of the shack, dragging a crying Madison to the truck with Emmett behind them.

She didn’t stop when the truck’s engine roared, its tires squealing as it vanished down the road.

She didn’t stop when voices erupted from inside the shack. Liam and Bruce’s shouts overlapped, both issuing commands neither seemed willing to obey.

She didn’t stop when her heart screamed, you’re too late . A lie she refused to believe. It wasn’t too late. It would never be too late. She and Liam had a life to live. A destiny to fulfill. A story to see to its end.

But then—

A gunshot.

One. Single. Shot.

The sound cracked across the inlet, and her knees buckled. She hit the ground hard, her raw, animalistic screams ripping through the air.

And just like that…

Jamison Fairweather’s world stopped.