there, pointing it at Corey while he waited on us. Even from here, I could see his hands shaking. Damn, he was so brave. And alive, thank god.
We rushed from the cover of the trees. Ryan and Fredrick went to check on Corey, but I couldn’t have cared less about him. The fact that Rand was such a good shot wasn’t the only reason he was the one designated to take Corey out. I knew he would keep him alive. I would’ve gone for a head-shot in a second. I tucked my weapon into my back holster, and I went straight for Trey. I pulled Corey’s gun from his grip, handed it to Rand, and pulled him into my arms.
Trey
I fell into Roman’s arms and buried my head in the crook of his neck. I hadn’t known if falling to the ground would work, but I was sure the shadow I’d seen knelt in a shooting stance wouldn’t fire as long as I was in the way, so I figured the best thing was to take myself out of it.
“Are you okay?” Roman gasped into my ear.
“I am. He didn’t hurt us,” I said. Us. Crap, Gavin. “Gavin is zip-tied up in the sunroom. He has to be uncomfortable.”
“I’ll get him,” Fredrick said, as Roman tightened his arms around me.
“Is he dead?” I asked, afraid to look.
“Rand?” Roman asked.
“He’s alive. I’ve called for an ambulance.”
Roman tightened his arms a little more. “You’re going to squish me,” I said, wiggling in his arms.
“I don’t care. I can’t get close enough right now. Damn, baby, I thought I was going to lose you.”
I sucked in a deep breath to steady myself before I said, “He was going to burn me alive, Roman. He said…” I took in another shaky breath. “He said he needed to offer a perfect sacrifice so he couldn’t kill me first. He was going to strap me to that timber and burn me alive.”
“Shhh, baby,” Roman said, running soothing circles on my back. “It’s all over. He can’t hurt you anymore, and you’re safe.”
“I knew you would come for me, as long as Becca told you where to find me, I knew you would come.”
“Always.”
I let him hold me for a minute, soaking in his strength and letting the fact I was safe sink in. I had managed to be so calm during the time Corey held me hostage. But standing out here, seeing the fire burn, and just how close I came to dying felt all too real. I was afraid a meltdown was in my future. But first, I had things I needed to deal with.
“Speaking of Becca, I should let her know I’m safe.”
“Let’s sit down out here and wait for the police and the ambulance, and you can give her a call.”
“I really don’t want to tell her about Corey over the phone, but I don’t want her to worry.”
“Let’s do this instead. Frederick can send a text letting her know you’re with us and safe.”
“Okay, in the meantime, I should contact my father. This is going to blow up in his face, and if he isn’t prepared for it, he will be furious.”
He reached up and brushed his thumb over my cheek. “You realize you wouldn’t have been in danger like this if they hadn’t brought you up here and left you.”
“I do, but I want to do this one last thing for him. Because it is the last thing, Roman. Everything I do from this point forward will be about me standing against him and the policies he wants to put in place.”
“You’re a better son than he deserves,” he said. He gave me a quick kiss and went to talk to Fredrick about making that call.
The conversation with my father had gone about as well as I’d expected. He expressed a small amount of concern for my safety, lied, and claimed he’d never trusted Corey anyway, and immediately he'd launched into spin mode.
I hadn’t been off the phone with him for ten minutes before the local Chief of Police arrived and took over the investigation. It took at least an hour for the chief to be finished with us. He took Rand’s gun, and he promised to make himself available for any questions. They took pictures, and Ryan agreed to get them copies of the letters.
I wondered how my father was planning to twist this story to suit his narrative, but it didn’t matter to me what he planned to say.