Chapter Eight
Sawyer watched as Joe left Maddie and Jack’s house and drove right past where he was hiding.
He just hoped like hell that Lorna was all right.
Thankfully, he didn’t see any sign of her in Joe’s car.
He waited for Joe to disappear, heading up the mountain to where the entire Harvest Ridge Sheriff’s Department waited for him, along with Tag.
He hoped that Tag would be able to keep his cool and not do anything stupid.
They were all ready for this nightmare to be over, but Tag took Joe’s interest in hurting Piper seriously.
Sawyer called in a favor and stashed Piper at the station with Torren guarding her.
He knew that she couldn’t go back up to that cabin and face Joe.
He also didn’t want her with him when he went in to rescue Lorna.
He wasn’t sure that Joe didn’t have a partner watching Lorna, and he was also worried about the condition he would find her in.
Piper already went through enough, and she was still under his protection, so he made the call to keep her safely tucked away.
He sent Tag a text letting him know that Joe was on his way and then sprinted to Maddie’s house.
He knew that he needed to be cautious since Joe might not be working alone, and Sawyer didn’t want to walk into a trap.
The smart thing would have been to wait for backup, but that would have required him to have more patience than he did.
He decided to go in alone. He needed to make sure that Lorna and their baby were alive, and waiting wasn’t something that he was willing to do.
Sawyer slipped past the side windows and carefully made his way to the back door, hoping that would give him the element of surprise.
He noticed that the back door was already kicked down, which was probably the way Joe broke in earlier.
He pushed the door open, gun ready, praying that he didn’t make noise as he entered the kitchen.
Inside, he found a chair propped up against what he assumed was a closet door.
He wanted to shout Lorna’s name to tell her that he was there and she was going to be okay, but he knew that he needed to clear the house first. He searched the entire building, room by room, and found no one there.
He ran back to the kitchen and moved the chair to find Lorna in the pantry.
She was huddled in the corner and curled up in a ball.
He softly called her name and lifted her into his arms, and a soft sob escaped her chest. Lorna groaned in pain as he assessed her injuries.
She needed to go to the hospital and be checked out.
Her shoulder was dislocated, and her face was badly bruised.
“Hurts,” she moaned. “The baby?” She covered her tummy with her good hand as if she was protecting their baby, willing him or her to be all right.
“You’re okay, honey. I’m going to get you to the hospital and get you both checked out,” Sawyer promised.
“But Joe—” Lorna started to protest, but Sawyer shushed her. He didn’t want her to worry about that asshole.
“Joe is gone, baby. He’s on his way to Tag’s cabin, and I have the entire Sheriff’s Department waiting for him there. He won’t ever touch you again.” She tried to sit up, but he held her firmly against his body.
“He can’t get to Pipe,” she slurred. “He will hurt her if he doesn’t get the money.” Sawyer kissed the top of her head. She was going to be such a good mother. She was already that to Piper. Their baby was going to be the luckiest kid in the world to have her.
“Piper is safe. I have Torren guarding her down at the station.” Sawyer could hear the sirens as they got closer to the house.
He worried about Tag. He knew that his team could handle Joe, but a part of him felt guilty that he wouldn’t be there to help take him down.
There was no way that he was going to leave Lorna’s side.
He left her unprotected and underestimated Joe once, and he wouldn’t let that happen again.
The EMTs knocked at the front door, and Sawyer yelled for them to come around to the back. He wouldn’t let go of Lorna until she was safely in the ambulance. The two EMTs entered the broken back door and found their way to the pantry.
“She’s pregnant,” Sawyer barked. He knew that he would have to give them more information, but he had a damn knot in his throat from the emotions that were rolling through him.
Lorna and their baby were his entire world; he didn’t want to think about his life without either of them.
He wouldn’t want to exist in that world because he loved her too much.
Loving someone could be a blessing and a curse.
Most days, he felt like the luckiest man alive, finding Lorna and making a life with her.
But it scared the shit out of him to love someone so completely.
It took away some of his control, and he hated that.
After he was discharged from the military, he tried to control every aspect of his life.
It was crazy how one petite woman turned his world upside down.
The EMTs worked on Lorna and got her comfortable in the ambulance while Sawyer checked his phone for any updates.
He was starting to worry that his plan wouldn’t work.
If Joe felt like he was walking into a setup, he might run, and they would never catch him.
He couldn’t let that happen, but he needed to have Lorna checked out and be with her.
She was his top priority—her and the baby.
Joe got about halfway up the mountain and pulled over to the side of the road.
He knew that he might be rushing into a trap, but he also held some pretty good cards himself.
If all else failed, he could just head back to where he had Lorna locked up and use her as bait to lure Piper to him.
He knew that Piper and her aunt were close from the way that Lorna talked about her.
There was no way that Piper would let anything bad happen to Lorna—at least that’s what he was banking on.
Still, he had a bad feeling about heading up to Piper’s cabin.
Her giant husband and bodyguard would never let him get that close to her.
He turned off his car to give himself a few minutes to think.
If he drove up there, he would essentially be giving up the element of surprise.
He could hike the rest of the way up, but then he would put himself in danger of being captured on the way back down to his vehicle.
He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.
He was usually good at thinking things through.
That’s how he survived after getting out of prison, especially since no one wanted to hire an ex-con.
So, he relied on the talents that he learned while serving his time, doing odd jobs for people who didn’t want to get their hands dirty.
He prided himself on never getting caught, and he wasn’t about to break his stride now.
This score would set him up for the rest of his life.
He would never need to dirty his hands again; he could just disappear and live off Piper’s money.
He knew that five million was just a drop in the bucket for the heiress; he read that she was worth at least a few hundred million with the money that her grandmother left her.
She owed him that five million for sending an innocent man to jail.
The prosecutor who went after both his brothers lumped him in on the charges.
He didn’t have a chance, and no one believed that he knew nothing about his older brothers’ plans to rob the convenience store or kill those three people.
He was guilty by association. In the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yeah, she owed him. He was about to start his car and finish his trip up to Piper’s cabin when he heard sirens.
For a moment, he thought that they were coming after him, but they headed the other direction into town.
He didn’t think it was a coincidence that they were headed to where he had left Lorna.
Did they figure out where he left her? If so, this was all a setup, and he wasn’t foolish enough to walk into a trap.
He turned around and headed back into town.
Better to be safe than sorry. His day would come, and he would get to Piper one way or another.
They couldn’t guard her twenty-four-seven for the rest of her life.
Her bodyguard would fuck up, and he would be there waiting for his chance.
Lorna hurt all over, but she refused to take any pain medication.
She didn’t want to take any chances with the baby.
Once she got to the ER, they admitted her and hooked her up to a fetal monitor.
The sound of her baby’s heartbeat was overwhelming.
Both she and Sawyer sat and cried, holding each other.
They had to reset her shoulder, which hurt like hell, but once they put it back into place, she felt some relief from the pain.
She would have to wear a sling for a couple of weeks, and they were keeping her in the hospital for at least a night for observations.
Since she blacked out, they wanted to make sure she didn’t have a concussion.
She was exhausted when they finally moved her to a private room.
Sawyer never left her side, but she didn’t miss the way he kept checking his phone as if waiting for an update.
Lorna needed to find out what was happening with Piper, but first, she had to prove to Sawyer that she could handle the news.
He was in full-protection mode, and while she loved the way he took care of her and the baby, she also needed to know what was going on with Pipe.
Sawyer was standing at the room’s only window as if keeping watch.
“Jonathan, tell me what’s going on. I need to know that Piper is safe.” Lorna couldn’t help her tears. This pregnancy made her more emotional than she had ever been in her life. Sawyer looked hesitant as he crossed the room to sit next to her on the bed.
“Honey, I don’t want you worrying about anything but yourself and the baby.
” He palmed her flat tummy where their baby’s heartbeat sounded strong and steady.
She still couldn’t get over how wonderful that little ‘whoosh-whoosh’ sounded.
She was so worried that she would lose their baby with everything Joe did to her.
“I am strong enough to worry about many things, including you and Piper. Please let me in on your plan. I know that you are worried. I see the way that you keep checking your phone,” Lorna said.
Sawyer sighed, “Piper is safe and at the station still. Tag is on his way down to get her, and she wants to come here to see you. She feels awful that Joe hurt you to get to her.”
“It wasn’t her fault. I should have never invited a total stranger back to our house for coffee.
Honestly, I did it to make you a little jealous.
We weren’t even talking at that point, and I didn’t know what else to do.
I’m so sorry that I invited danger into our lives,” Lorna sobbed.
Sawyer carefully pulled Lorna into his arms. He felt like such an idiot.
All those wasted months of the two of them being complete fools.
He wanted to forget the past and move into his future with Lorna and the baby, but he couldn’t do that until they caught Joe.
Otherwise, they would constantly be looking over their shoulders, waiting for him to come after one of them.
“We’ll catch him, honey. He won’t be able to touch you or Piper ever again. I’m putting extra men on both of you, and Tag won’t be leaving Piper’s side,” Sawyer growled.
“You can’t guard us every hour of the day, Sawyer. What if he finds a way past your guards?” Lorna tried to hold back her sob since she knew that Sawyer had enough to worry about. She wanted to show him that she could be strong, but now she didn’t believe it herself.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, baby,” he said.
“I can and will be with you twenty-four-seven, honey. You don’t go anywhere without me until we catch this asshole,” Sawyer growled.
“You and the baby are my top priority now. Tag and Torren will watch Piper, and I’ve hired two more guards to stay with her.
You will also have two extra guards watching our home.
He won’t get near you again.” Lorna sighed, knowing that there would be no arguing with Sawyer.
He was her protector, and he would keep her safe; she did not doubt that.
She just hoped that she could keep him safe until the threat was over.
Piper rushed into Lorna’s room with tears brimming in her eyes. “Lorna, are you all right?” She gently pulled Piper in for a hug, so happy to see that her niece was alive and well. She was so worried that Joe would make good on his promise to find Piper and hurt her.
“I’m fine, honey. Just a few scrapes and scratches. Are you okay?” Piper looked tired and worried. Lorna hated seeing her that way. Piper slowly nodded her head, her attention turning to the sound of the heartbeat that was filling the room.
“Is that the baby?” She smiled down at Lorna, and then the two of them burst into tears. “I’m so happy for you, Lorna! Why didn’t you tell me?” Lorna knew that Piper would be happy to welcome a new baby into the family, but a part of her was worried that she would feel like Lorna was replacing her.
Lorna shrugged, “I just wanted to keep him or her a secret for a bit. I needed to make sure that everything was okay, given my age. I also wanted you to be all right with a new little person being in my life.” Lorna wiped her tears and grabbed Piper’s hand.
“You will always be my first baby, Pipe.” Piper giggled and sat down next to Lorna on the bed.
“So you kept this baby a secret to make sure that I wasn’t jealous? Lorna, I’m twenty-seven years old. I think I can handle a little sibling rivalry. Besides, I have always wanted a little brother or sister.”
Lorna pulled Piper in for another quick hug, relieved that she was happy about the baby.
She didn’t miss the way Tag motioned for Sawyer to step into the hallway.
She nodded at Sawyer. “Go. We’ll be right here.
” The men left the room, and Lorna worried that they were about to hatch another plan to keep her and Piper safe.
Her only concern was that they would walk right into Joe’s next trap, and she couldn’t let that happen.