Chapter 54
SANTIAGO
The tires spit gravel and snow as Walker drives my truck, tearing down the county road toward Falling Sky.
No one speaks. There isn't anything to say.
Every possible outcome runs through my head, and somehow every single one ends with Blake.
Hurt. Alone. Afraid.
I squeeze my phone so tightly my knuckles ache. Javier still hasn't answered a single call. He always answers.
“When exactly did she leave?” Walker questions.
“My dad said she called about an hour ago,” I answer.
Levi’s fist pounds on the back of my seat. “She should’ve been there twenty minutes after she left.”
Pulling into Falling Sky, Walker doesn't bother stopping at the house.
Walker steers off the ranch road and onto the narrow trail leading toward my dad’s place. Tree branches scrape against the sides of the truck, and every passing second feels like another punch to the gut.
I lean forward in my seat, straining to see through the darkness.
“Come on,” I whisper.
My dad’s pickup sits about two miles down, hazard lights blinking against the darkness. He kneels on the ground beside a dark lump, his shoulders rigid. A flashlight lies next to him, shining light across the ground.
Walker slams the truck into park.
I'm out before the tires stop rolling. “Dad!”
My boots sink into the snow as I sprint toward him. The beam of my dad’s flashlight bounces wildly between two bodies.
Javier.
And Bear.
“Pressure, hijo!” he barks before I even reach him. “Take over. I need to check the dog.” His voice is steady only because he's forcing it to be.
I drop to my knees beside Javier, replacing my father's blood-soaked hands with my own. Warm blood immediately seeps through my gloves.
My stomach twists.
There's too much.
Levi crashes down beside us, already digging through the trauma kit he'd grabbed from the truck.
“Keep pressure right there,” he orders me.
Walker is speaking into his radio before his knees even hit the snow. “Jo, I have an adult male with a gunshot wound to the shoulder located approximately two miles south of Falling Sky Ranch. I need EMS asap.”
Static crackles.
“Copy, Walk. Ambulance is en route.”
My father crawls the short distance to Bear.
The pitbull lies on his side, chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths. One eye is swollen nearly shut, and blood mats the fur around his head.
“Pobrecito...” my dad whispers, running a trembling hand over Bear's neck. Bear stirs, trying to sit up. “Easy, mijo. Easy."
Bear lets out the faintest whine.
My dad closes his eyes for half a second, swallowing hard. “He's alive,” he says, though I can't tell whether he's reassuring himself or us.
Levi switches over to Bear. “Head trauma,” he mutters. “Probably cracked ribs, too.”
“I know,” Dad replies quietly, stroking Bear’s head. “I know, good boy.”
I can't stop staring at Javier. His face has gone almost as white as the snow beneath him.
“Javi.”
He doesn’t stir.
I squeeze harder against the wound. “Come on, viejo.”
His eyelids flutter. “Santi...”
“I'm here,” I assure him.
His gaze drifts past me, searching the darkness. “Blake?”
The question punches the air from my lungs. “We're going to find her.”
His lips part again. “I—it was...”
The words come out no louder than a breath, then his eyes slip closed.
“No.” Panic surges through me. “Javi.”
Levi catches my wrist. “Don't shake him.”
“I can't lose him.” My words catch in my throat.
“You haven't.” Levi's voice remains unnervingly calm. “He's unconscious.”
Buck, Javier’s horse, grazes several yards away, reins dragging through untouched snow. Shadow moves along beside him.
No Blake.
My father's voice breaks the silence. “They fought.”
We all turn toward him as he points to the snow a few feet away. A splintered baseball bat lies half buried beneath fresh powder. Nearby, Bear's paw prints overlap with deep boot tracks.
Blood stains both.
Walker crouches, studying the ground. “Bear went after him.”
“He tried to protect her,” Dad says softly.
My chest tightens.
Walker slowly stands. “The cameras.”
Levi looks up from where he's bandaging Bear's head. “What cameras?”
“The trail cameras we installed after someone followed Blake.”
Hope flares inside me for the first time since Dad called.
Maybe whoever did this made a mistake.
“ángel.” Walker looks at my dad. “Stay with Javier until EMS gets here.”
“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.” Dad gives one firm nod. “Javier took care of us for most of his life. This is the least I can do.”
Walker looks to Levi and me. “Come on.”
Levi hands the trauma kit to my dad and hops to his feet, following Walker to my truck.
I squeeze Javier's hand one last time. “You hold on, viejo.”
He doesn't answer. I don't know if he hears me.
I can only pray he does.
At the house, the front door slams against the wall as we rush inside. Walker heads straight for the office while Levi and I follow close behind. Walker wakes the computer and opens the security program.
My pulse pounds loud enough to drown out everything else.
The loading screen feels endless.
“Hurry,” I mutter.
A lifetime passes before the feed from the first camera appears.
Walker clicks the recording for camera one.
A timestamp glows in the corner, and Blake rides past on Shadow with Javier right beside her on Buck. Bear bounds happily through the snow, weaving between the horses.
All normal.
Walker drags the timeline forward, switching to camera two, further down the trail. Nothing but snow, trees, wind, and silence.
A minute later—Headlights. A dark pickup eases into frame.
Every muscle in my body locks.
Walker pauses the video.
Levi leans forward. “Back it up.”
The truck slowly rolls through the frame again. The windshield reflects too much light.
No license plate. No driver.
Walker lets the recording continue. The pickup disappears deeper into the ranch.
Nobody speaks.
Then the truck returns, driving back the way it came.
But it’s faster this time.
Much faster.
Walker immediately opens the ranch map mounted beside the monitor. He compares it with the camera locations. His finger traces one of the service roads.
“It never hit camera three,” he informs us.
Levi steps closer. “So it turned off.”
Walker nods. “It had to.”
He follows the road with his finger until it ends.
We know where the road dead ends.
My mouth clamps shut as my pulse speeds.
Walker’s finger stops at the dead end. “The cabin.”
Not just any cabin.
Our cabin.
The place we'd spent years dragging monsters so they never hurt another soul.
Walker’s phone buzzes against the desk, and he answers. “Walker Maddox.”
Jolene's voice crackles through the speaker. “The state lab just called.”
Walker straightens. “Go ahead.”
“The DNA from the cigarette butts and dog bite came back.”
None of us utters a word.
Sweat forms a rivulet across my forehead.
“They matched,” Jolene announces.
“And?” Walker prompts.
My hands tremble.
“It belongs to Grant Calloway.”
The room goes deathly still.
Levi closes his eyes, gripping the edge of the desk so hard that his knuckles turn white.
I feel like someone punched straight through my chest.
Grant.
The texts, the bodies, the stalking. Everything. It was all Grant.
But why is he targeting Blake?
Walker lowers the phone with agonizing slowness. His jaw clenches so tightly I think he might crack a tooth. “He planned this.”
Neither Levi nor I disagrees.
Because he had.
Every fire. Every crime scene. Every step had led us here.
Walker grabs the truck keys. “He's waiting for us.”
Levi moves to the gun cabinet along the back wall, removing guns and ammunition. He tosses me a Smith & Wesson and Walker a Sig Sauer, then we each get a box of bullets. We load our magazines and pack extra just in case.
Levi pulls a pump-action shotgun for himself, loads the shells into the magazine tube, and pulls back the action with a metallic click. Resting the barrel on his shoulder, Levi stomps back to the front door to leave. “Let's not keep our old friend waiting.”