“You look a little . . . gray.” The worry in Adria’s eyes touched him.
It also reiterated what a colossally bad idea this was, but he had to do it. He couldn’t leave Liz to face off with a maniac on her own no matter how bad his injuries.
They’d talked about this, planned for the inevitability of it, but he never once thought she’d have to face Clint alone.
“Wait. Was Liz in the car when Clint let Trinity go?”
Adria asked Valdez and shook her head. “Trinity said no one else was in the car.”
“Was Trinity in the car when he hit me?”
Adria did the whole relay thing, asking Detective Valdez, then filling him in on the answer. “Yes. But she didn’t know what was happening. She’s really upset to hear you got hurt.”
He blew that off. “So she was in the car with him when he hit me, but Liz wasn’t in the car when he let Trinity go.” Clint must have rented the silver car after he drove drunk and hit a tree on the road before confronting Liz in the stables at the ranch.
“If Liz didn’t leave in her car, and she wasn’t in his car, then who took her?”
“He’s got help,” Drake filled in the blank.
It hurt to think, but Tate tried to piece things together. “Who the fuck would help him?”
“We’ll find out. We’re here.” Drake pulled the truck in behind the red and silver cars, blocking them in and making sure no one made a run for it in one of the vehicles if this all went south.
So long as he got Liz back in one piece . . . that’s all that really mattered.
Drake turned and leaned into Adria. “Lock the doors. Do not get out of this truck.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Drake shook his head. “You are the most important thing to me. You’re pregnant. I can’t help Tate if I’m worried about you.”
Adria scrunched her mouth into an angry but resigned pout. “Fine.”
“I love you.” Drake kissed Adria, took the rifle Tate handed him from the rack hanging in the back window, and got out.
Tate followed him with the pistol he took from the lockbox under the seat. Unsteady on his feet, lights flashing in his eyes, and the pain becoming more than he could handle, Tate wondered how long he had before his body shut down on him. He felt his energy waning, but he rushed down the path toward the falls and bridge, letting the adrenaline do its thing and feed his determination to get to the woman he loved before he lost her forever.
That thought bolstered his energy as did the sound of Liz’s voice up ahead.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Liz walked ahead of Clint’s assistant, not knowing if she’d help or hurt Liz, and headed for an even bigger threat. She spotted him the second they rounded the bend in the path that dipped down a slight incline to the bridge that spanned the rushing falls, which cascaded over huge boulders, and ran down into the lake.
The waning sunlight highlighting the rushing water turned the spray to bursts of yellow, orange, and pink. Once the sun dipped below the hills and trees, this part of the lake would turn dark quickly.
The raging creek and lake were a beautiful sight to behold at sunset, but it didn’t hold her attention. She kept her gaze locked on Clint standing with his back to the railing, the lake behind him, and a smile on his face that looked both charming and menacing because she knew the man behind it.
“Where is Trinity?” She glanced over the bridge and the long fall down to the rocks and water, thinking of poor Aubrey.
“I got rid of her.”
Liz put a hand on her roiling stomach and gasped, tears gathering in her eyes.
Clint’s anger drew lines in his forehead. “She’s not part of this. If you’d just listened to me, seen that I was the man you were supposed to be with, none of this would have happened. You. You were the one.”
Clint’s assistant stepped up beside her. “And what about me? What was I to you?”
Clint cleverly gave the assistant an adoring smile. “Our time came and went, but you are invaluable to me. You know that.”
Liz knew the truth. She spoke to the assistant, but kept her gaze on Clint. “You’re here because he needs you to take the blame. He thinks you’re so devoted and beholden to him