voice hollers my name.
It’s muffled, but it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard in my life.
“I’m here!” I shout back.
There’s a pause, and then the movements above me grow frantic.
“She’s in there! She’s alive! Go! Dig!”
It’s kind of terrifying, still trapped in the darkness, listening to the noises around me, but I do my best to stay calm. The second the wood around my head starts to splinter and the sweet nectar of fresh air seeps into the gap, I lose it.
The sobs I’ve been trying to control suddenly burst out of me.
Squinting against the beam of light that brushes over my face, I raise my aching arm, and it’s quickly captured by a strong hand.
I’m hauled into an embrace, the arms around me trembling as they hold me close.
“Thank God,” he rasps. “Thank you, God.”
Brody.
I close my eyes and let the tears slip free, wrapping my arms and legs around him. Clinging to him with a renewed strength. “I love you,” I whisper. “I love you.”
I keep saying it, whimpering into his ear until he pulls back and looks at me, his eyes glassy with this disbelief and wonder.
I choke out this weird sound—a mix between a laugh and a sob, a combination of joy and embarrassment. He pulls me against him again. I press my cheek to his, wrapping my arms around his solid shoulders and never wanting to let go.
“Indigo!” Someone’s crying my name.
I think it’s my father, but I don’t want to move.
“Indigo!” He says it again, and then his hands are pulling me away from Brody.
Before I can protest, he lifts me into his arms like a princess and starts walking me out of the cemetery.
“Daddy, wait,” I try to protest.
“Shhh. I want to get you checked out.”
Rushing me to the ambulance, he sits me in the back and won’t let me say another word until the paramedics examine me.
I know it’ll be faster to just shut up and take it, but all I want is Brody.
He found me.
He came for me.
“What happened to your hair?” Daddy murmurs, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand.
I touch the colored locks resting on my shoulder. “Purple,” I rasp.
“I can see that.” He snickers.
“I like it.”
He tips his head to study me, his critical eyes drinking me in as he toys with the ends. “I do too.” Leaning forward, he presses his lips against my forehead, then wraps his arm around me.
A tired smile crests my lips as I lean against his shoulder. He likes my hair. One battle down.
But a really huge one still stands before me.
He’ll no doubt make me fight to let Brody be a part of my life again, but this is a battle worth waging, and I am not going to lose it.
Brody and I belong together.
I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
41
The Shaw Volcano
Watching Indy being carried away by her father is torture, but I know I can’t chase after her. It’s not my place, and if I try to follow, I could end up in cuffs.
“Wren secure?” I ask, thinking of cuffs and hoping that psychopath gets permanently put away.
“Yeah.” Azim pats me on the shoulder. It feels like I’m being hit with a mallet, but it’s just exhaustion hunting me down, wrapping around my ankles and making it impossible to stand.
I sway and drop to my knees.
I’m covered in filth, my nails packed with dirt. The urge to cry swamps me, but I sniff it away. She’s safe. The fear ebbs slowly from my core as I blink and stare down at the hole in the ground. The box the police helped me rip open is behind me, the crowbar lying in the grass.
“She’s safe,” I whisper.
People move around me in a fuzzy blur. I close my eyes, dipping my head and wondering how I’m ever gonna stand or walk again.
I want Indy back in my arms.
Her whispers in my ear were the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.
She loves me.
It’s unbelievable. I don’t deserve it, yet I know she meant it. When I looked at her face and that affection in her eyes…
She loves me.
An exhausted, shell-shocked laugh pops out of me.
“Brody. Time to go.” Azim’s back at my side again. “Castle wants you at the house.”
“Why?”
He helps me to my feet. “He wants to sort out this mess, but Indigo’s refusing to leave without you.”
I nod and stumble after him, searching for Indy. I spot her in the passenger seat of her father’s car.