Chapter Forty
I filter through the information on the laptop, scanning each entry until I find something, anything, that could lead me to where Darcy has taken Juniper.
I can’t lose her. Fuck. I’ve only just found her; I’ve only just promised her forever.
Give me something. I beg silently. Where are you, Honeybee?
Shit.
This is all my fucking fault.
We’re driving aimlessly, praying for a goddamn miracle.
If I hadn’t insisted Roman hire her all those years ago, hadn’t told him to forget the background checks and verifications, we would have seen this. The charges, the stalking, the harassment and threats. All I saw was a woman in need, and now we are paying for it.
I’ll give it to Darcy. She didn’t strike me as someone capable of this, but this has been a long game for her. She’s done this before, so I guess she knows how to hide that dark part of her.
She needs fucking help.
But if I must choose her life or Juni’s, there is no question.
I will always pick the woman I love. In every lifetime. Against every odd.
I’m about to lose hope of finding anything of use in the data I’ve pulled until I come across a listing for a cabin near the lakes. And she bought it last year.
“Got it,” I pull out my cell and type in the address to my maps, pulling up the directions. Roman does a one-eighty, swinging the truck back around and follows the GPS, putting the pedal to the floor.
“Seven minutes out,” I watch us move on the map, getting closer and closer to where I’m sure they’re going to be. My heart is in my throat, my stomach churning with every possible outcome. What are we going to find when we finally make it there?
The track we drive down is deserted, overgrown, but it looks as if another car has passed through here recently, fresh tracks in the dirt, broken branches and crushed vegetation.
Roman slams on the brakes when we reach the end. At first glance, it looks like it leads nowhere until I spot tracks that lead directly into the woods and up an incline.
“There,” I point out.
“We won’t fit through there.” Roman snaps. He’s right. Darcy’s SUV is smaller than Roman’s truck; it would fit through that gap, but we won’t.
“Then we go on foot,” I shove out the car, keeping my fingers tight around my cell. We’re so fucking close.
“Split up,” I order my brother, “Move in on either side. Find her.”
Roman slips his gun into the back of his jeans, and we move together into the woods silently.
I don’t know when he veered off, but silence descends quickly.
The air is damp here, colder since the sun can’t penetrate the thick canopy above my head.
I move as silently as I can, pulling myself up using the trees around me, careful where I step.
The tracks are fresh, skid marks in the dirt where Darcy struggled to get her vehicle up the incline.
It feels like an age passes by the time I spot the cabin, a log structure built for the purpose of seclusion. Probably intended as a retreat, but is now used for a nightmare.
I’m coming, Honeybee. I repeat the words in my head, steady my breathing, and calm myself. If I allow myself to spiral, I’ll be of no use to Juni. She needs me now more than ever.
A gunshot rips through the woods, the echo bouncing off the trees and vibrates inside my skull.
“No!” I roar, breaking out into a sprint up the hill. I’m so fucking close and yet it feels as if the cabin just keeps moving further and further away. I can still hear the shot; it’s burned into my brain.
Finally, I reach the cabin, but I don’t wait as I ram the door open and come face to face with Darcy.
Her wide eyes meet mine, a gun in her hand, her hair a mess and clothes askew. Behind her, Juni is on the ground, tied up but alive.
“What have you done?” The grip on my weapon tightens.
“Silas,” Darcy blinks, “I saved her. See! I saved her!”
She points to the body I hadn’t seen before, blood pooled beneath it. She killed Calvin.
“Silas!” Juni rushes out. “It’s a lie! Don’t listen to her!”
“I know,” I don’t look to Juni, not yet. I have to keep my sights on Darcy.
Her face twists, the mask slipping away, and she swings her gun on Juni, “Shut up.”
“Darcy,” I purposely keep my voice calm, even. “Put the gun down.”
She doesn’t; she keeps it pointed at Juni, but she turns to me, a coldness to her I’ve never seen before. This isn’t the woman I’ve worked with for the past few years. This is someone else.
“Don’t you see?” She cocks her head slowly.
“See what?” I edge closer to her.
“Stay where you are,” she swings her weapon on me, pointing it at my chest, and that’s exactly what I want.
“What do I need to see?” I ask again, putting my hands up.
“Us,” she chews on her bottom lip, “us, Silas. It’s meant to be us.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?” She snaps, “It’s me!
I’m the one who has always been there for you!
I’m the one you drank with when that bitch of a wife left you!
Every day, I was there. I saw you fall apart, but it was me who put you back together!
Don’t you see that!? Don’t you see what I’ve done for you! ?”
“I valued your friendship,” I tell her gently, “but that’s all it was.”
Her face twists in grief, “Because of her.”
I curse when she points her gun back at my woman.
“Darcy,” another step forward.
“No!” she screams. “She’s tricked you! She’s stolen you from me!”
In four steps, Darcy is at Juni’s side, her hair in her fist and the gun pointed at her throat.
“Okay,” panic is closing up my throat. In her twisted mind, she believes I am hers, so I need to feed it. Convince her that it’s real. I’ll do whatever I need to get her away from Juniper. “Us, yeah? That’s what you want?”
She curls her lip and yanks Juni’s hair harder, earning a pained whimper from her. I have to force myself to stay still, root myself to the spot, even though every muscle in me is primed to leap for Juni.
“It’s mine,” she sneers, “not hers. She doesn’t love you like I love you.”
Swallowing thickly, I nod, “I understand. Why don’t you come with me?”
“No,” Darcy snaps. “She has to go.”
“Where should she go?”
“She needs to die, Silas.”
My heart drops into my stomach. “No. You need to let her go.”
Darcy shakes her head and presses the gun up and under Juni’s jaw. A tear slides down her cheek as she squeezes her eyes shut.
“I can’t do that,” Darcy says.
“You can,” I risk a step closer and lower my gun, placing it down on the counter. “You can come with me right now. We can go home.”
“Home?” Darcy pauses.
“That’s right,” I offer her my hand, “Back to the ranch.”
My eyes flick to Juni, just for a moment. The tears are killing me, the way her body trembles, the fear; it has a very dark part of me rising.
“Come to me, Darcy,” I focus back on her.
The gun comes away from Juni’s neck, and Darcy appears to relax, just a touch. I don’t dare feel relief yet, not until I have that gun away from her.
I curl my finger, beckoning her, “Come on. Let’s go home.”
She stands up, the gun dangling from her hand, and takes a step toward me.
“That’s it,” I coax her. “Give me your gun.”
She lifts her hand, moving to pass the gun over to me, her face softer now. My hand wraps around the barrel as she releases her grip, and I disarm it, throwing it down onto the couch and out of reach.
“I didn’t want to do this,” she breathes.
“It’s okay,” the words burn as they leave my throat.
“I just love you so much, Silas. I’ve waited for you for so long.”
Behind me, I hear Roman rush in, his shoes squeaking on the floor as he comes to an abrupt halt.
Panic widens Darcy’s eyes, and she steps away from me, looking between me and my brother.
“Easy,” I warn her, reaching for her again. “I’m going to help you.”
I see the moment she realizes it’s a setup. That icy mask slips back on, and her lip curls, “You lied!” She screams.
I lunge for her as she twists out of my reach, but I’m not quick enough. Her hand snatches my gun off the counter and blindly, she fires it in Juni’s direction.
“No!” I roar.
A piercing scream rips through the air, sending a chill straight down my spine.
Roman fires once, hitting Darcy in her knee, taking her down, but I don’t fucking care about her.
I rush to Juni, seeing the bloodstain swelling at her shoulder. Her breaths are heavy and short, her body slumping to the side as the lids of her eyes start to lower.
“No, no, no,” I drop to my knees, ripping at the rope keeping her arms behind her back. “Stay with me, baby.” I beg her.
She blinks up at me silently, her bottom lip wobbling.
“Call a fucking ambulance!” I order as I put pressure on the bullet wound, her blood warm and seeping through my fingers.
I can’t fucking lose her.
I can’t.