I couldn’t help the scream that slipped from my lips as Jude jammed the gun into my ribs. I didn’t want to give him the power that came with knowing that he’d hurt me, but the pain was too great. White-hot, blazing pain ripped along my side and pulsed deeper with each shove Jude gave me.
“Shut up,” he snarled. “You ruin everything. I should’ve known. That’s the way it’s always been.”
His words barely penetrated. I was too focused on trying to breathe through the pain.
“Walk,” Jude barked.
I struggled to get my legs to obey, but they shook with the effort. “I can’t,” I wheezed.
Something was wrong. A rib had to be broken. A punctured lung, maybe. It was too hard to suck in air.
Jude sneered at me. “You can, and you will. I’ve worked too hard for this to have you screw it up now.”
“How long have you been planning this?”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Longer than you can imagine.”
He shoved me forward, back toward the barn, and I stumbled, the ropes on my wrists digging deeper. A fresh wave of agony swept over me.
“I really didn’t think lover boy would be able to stay away from you for as long as he did. Guess he didn’t love you that much, after all. Really had to work to get you two back together so he’d feel the pain of losing you all over again.”
A few weeks ago, Jude’s words would’ve cut. Now, they simply glanced off me. Because I knew that Holt had fought hard to stay away because of how deeply he loved me. It was misguided and dumb, but Holt had thought he was doing the right thing. And I saw that now.
“I had to get creative to get him back here, too. Couldn’t let him get past the ten-year mark.”
My steps faltered.
He only grinned wider. “Did you know that monkshood can cause heart attacks and is virtually untraceable in the blood?”
“Nathan.” My stomach roiled. He’d given Holt’s dad a heart attack, knowing it would likely force Holt back to Cedar Ridge—back to where Holt was within Jude’s reach.
“There are all sorts of opportunities to slip something into someone’s water bottle while on a search or running drills. Too many to count, really. I was hoping it would be harder, more of a challenge.”
I tugged on my ropes, trying to see if they had any give now. Nothing. “He could’ve died.”
Jude shrugged. “Collateral damage.” A scowl pulled at his mouth. “But even with his poor dad sick and injured, Holt took his sweet-ass time coming home. Just shows how selfish he is—”
“Might be, but you need to take that out on me, not innocent bystanders.”
Holt stepped out from between the trees, and my heart ricocheted around in my chest. The riot of emotions warred with itself: hope and terror, relief and rage. But most of all, love. For this man who would do anything to keep me safe.
Jude tightened his grip on my hair as he used me as a shield. “Hey, best friend. Took you long enough.”
Holt’s gaze swept over me, assessing the situation in a single breath. “Let her go. I’m the one you want.”
He started toward us, gun raised. But there was no good shot, and Jude knew that.
“Uh-uh-uh,” Jude clucked. “Stay right there. Wouldn’t want my finger to slip.”
He tugged me back harder against him, the gun digging into my ribs. I tried to swallow my cry, but a small whimper escaped my lips.
Holt’s eyes blazed with fury, but his steps faltered. “You got me here. Now what? You didn’t think this through.”
Jude’s grip on my hair tightened. “That’s where you’re wrong. We’re going to walk back to that barn and end this nice and easy. Everyone will think good ol’ Amber lost it, and that you two killed each other in a shootout. But not before she shot poor Wren here.”
Holt’s knuckles bleached white around his gun. “Gotta admit, that doesn’t sound like something I want to do.”
Jude shoved the gun harder into my side.
I doubled over in pain, letting out a wheezing cough.
Jude hauled me upright. “You don’t, and I’ll make her end the most painful we can imagine.”
I felt something poke into my hip bone as he forced me up. I’d gotten so used to slipping it into my pocket each day that I rarely remembered I had it on me. Holt’s pocketknife. The one I’d given him for his eighteenth birthday. The one he’d wanted me to carry, just in case.
Amber hadn’t searched me when she grabbed me. And why would she? I’d been home. No purse. No keys. No phone. Nothing that could help me. Except this.
Jude gripped my hair tighter and gave me a shake. “What do you say, Holt?”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out, but Holt didn’t miss the pain on my face. I gave a slight shake of my head as I tried to slip my fingers into my front pocket. But the ropes made it hard to maneuver, and my ribs made every move agony.
Defeat filled Holt’s expression. “Why are you doing this?”
“You left me. You knew my dad was a piece of shit. You knew I needed you. And you just bailed.”
I managed to slip two fingers into my front pocket as Jude continued on the same tirade he’d berated me with. About how I’d ruined everything. How Holt had abandoned him. My fingers closed around the knife, and I tugged it free.
Holt stared at Jude, dumbfounded. “I never bailed on you. I had a girlfriend. That didn’t mean I stopped caring about you and Chris. We had guys’ night every week. You came over for every family dinner.”
“You have no idea,” Jude growled. “Your place used to be the escape. Instead, I had to go home. To the piece of shit who liked to beat me black and blue.”
Holt blanched. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t care,” he spat. “You only cared about her.”
“I did care about you. But I was sixteen and head over heels in love. I had tunnel vision.”
I gritted my teeth as I struggled to work the blade open. It was tiny, no more than an inch and a half, but it was sharp. The bite of it against my finger had me almost weeping with relief.
“How about a little loyalty?” Jude bellowed. “How about not bailing on me for a piece of pussy?”
Holt’s nostrils flared as he struggled to rein in his temper.
I flicked my eyes down in rapid movements, hoping he would see what was in my hands. But I didn’t even need to do that. Holt had already registered it all. Of course, he had.
Holt gave an almost imperceptible nod.
It was all I needed. I didn’t gather my strength. I didn’t pause to think about what I was doing or wonder what Holt’s move would be. Because I knew that he had me. No matter what happened, Holt would be there.
I slammed the knife into the side of Jude’s thigh with all my might. He howled in pain.
Everything happened in flashes. Shouts all around us. Blurs of motion. But I was locked on Holt’s eyes. Those deep blue depths that had never left me.
A shot sounded.
Panic streaked across Holt’s face. His arms stretched out, reaching for me.
But I was already falling.
