Chapter 20
Darkness had a texture. Sabrina had never noticed that before, but trapped in this cave with only the sound of falling rocks and Ripley’s anxious breathing, she could feel it against her skin. Heavy. Suffocating. As impenetrable as the walls she’d built around herself.
“Just breathe.” The words disappeared into the blackness, swallowed by the tons of rock pressing down around them.
She’d experienced a lot of tight spots in her life. Literal ones, where she’d wedged herself into cracks in the rock face that barely accommodated her shoulders. Metaphorical ones, where she’d had to prove herself over and over to men who thought she didn’t belong in their world.
This was both. And neither. Because she’d never been this kind of trapped before.
The dust hadn’t fully settled from the rock fall that had sealed the cave entrance. It was dark. Like really dark, the kind that crawled through your eye sockets and made you imagine you could see light, creating patterns that didn’t make any sense. Just like nothing in her life made sense anymore.
Was this what surrender felt like? Having absolutely zero control over anything?
She’d lost control the moment she’d spotted that guy on the trail. Everything after had been pure reaction—running, hiding, getting trapped. A series of choices that weren’t really choices at all.
Like how she always ran. From everything.
The thought hit her like falling rock, impossible to dodge. Her specialty was running. From her father’s disappointment. From relationships. From Noah.
Bad time to be thinking about him. He would have spotted the guy with the gun before she did, probably. Working together, they could have handled it.
Instead, she’d charged ahead alone. Like always.
Alone was how she did things, and she’d get through this cave in that way too. Well. Alone except for the dog.
Ripley whined softly, and Sabrina forced herself to breathe through the band of pressure squeezing her chest. “We’re fine. This is just another problem to solve.”
The words echoed off the cave walls, mocking her. Nothing about this was fine. She was trapped in a cave with unstable geology during an earthquake that may not be done, no way to call for help, and an armed man outside who clearly didn’t want her asking questions about Annie Ross.
A tremor shook loose more debris, sending pebbles skittering across the cave floor. The sound burrowed into her brain, taking root alongside the dozens of other thoughts she’d been avoiding.
She didn’t need Noah. She didn’t need anyone.
Even in her head, the words rang hollow.
“Stop it,” she ordered herself, but the darkness seemed to press closer, amplifying every breath, every heartbeat, every doubt she’d pushed away.
This was exactly why she worked alone. Other people complicated things. Made you doubt yourself. Made you need them.
Another tremor rattled through the canyon. A larger rock broke free, rolling into the cave based on the sound, landing inches from where she stood. Ripley’s growl held an edge of fear that matched the ice forming in Sabrina’s veins.
The temperature was dropping. How long before the cold became a real problem? Before the dust in the air made breathing difficult? Before that guy with the gun decided to start digging through the debris to reach her?
Before someone noticed she was missing?
Would anyone notice? She’d made it such a habit to work alone, maybe no one would think twice about her absence. After Bonner had thrown his weight around, she’d come straight out here to do whatever she could to best him, not a word to anyone.
A tremor shook the cave, dislodging more debris. The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees since the rockslide sealed them in. Or maybe that was just her blood running cold as reality sank in.
She was going to die in here because she couldn’t stop running long enough to let anyone catch her.
Ripley pressed closer, offering warmth and comfort she didn’t deserve. The lab hadn’t hesitated to follow her into this trap, trusting her judgment completely. Just like Noah had trusted her with his heart.
And what had she done with that trust?
The same thing she always did. Push away anything that threatened to matter too much.
Her father’s voice echoed in her head: Showing weakness is the same as admitting defeat. She’d lived by those words, turned them into armor, used them to justify keeping everyone at arm’s length.
Even the one person who’d never tried to change her.
She had to do something other than sit here in her own misery. Minutes bled into each other as she worked her way around the cave’s perimeter, testing for weaknesses, fingering the walls for any crack that might let in fresh air. Her hands ached from scraping against rock, but she kept going.
She’d always been good at the physical challenges. It was the emotional ones that tripped her up.
Ripley bumped her leg and Sabrina took a long moment to be grateful she wasn’t alone. There was something to be said for taking chances on something new and scary that ended up being great.
For her. Not for the dog, who was terrified and counting on her owner to fix this. She had a responsibility to get them both out of here safely. Then she could wallow in regret.
If she and Ripley actually survived.
“It’s okay, girl.” She kept her voice steady as Ripley pressed against her. The lab’s anxiety vibrated through both of them. “We’re going to figure this out.”
How, she had no idea. There were no cracks in the walls, no light. This particular crevasse had exactly one entrance.
Which was now blocked by several tons of rock.
She slumped against a semi-straight wall, trying not to panic. Or think about Noah. But it was hard not to give in as the minutes stretched and her brain seemed determined to put memories of his smile on repeat.
Plus, he was really warm. She would give anything to be pulled into his embrace right about now. Maybe for more than the warmth.
“I don’t need anyone.” Darkness swallowed the words as her own voice betrayed her, cracking on the lie she’d told herself a thousand times.
Ripley’s tail thumped against her leg, calling her on it.
“Okay, fine. Maybe I do.” The admission scraped her throat raw. “But needing people is dangerous. They leave. They disappoint you. They make you question everything you thought you knew about yourself.”
Like how Noah made her question whether being strong meant being alone.
A rock crashed somewhere in the darkness, the sound amplifying her pulse. How long had they been in here? An hour? Two? Time stretched like a rubber band ready to snap.
The cold seeped deeper into her bones, but she couldn’t stop shivering long enough to think. To really examine why she always chose the hardest path, the one that led exactly where she was now.
Alone in the dark with no backup plan.
Noah would have come up with one. He always had contingencies, always thought three steps ahead. Even when it came to them, to their relationship. He’d led with his heart, full speed ahead, no apologies.
Move in with me.
She’d panicked. Pushed back. Run away.
But why?
The answer lurked in the darkness, patient as the mountains themselves. Waiting for her to finally face it.
Because Noah scared her more than any treacherous canyon or sheer rock face ever had. More than her father’s disappointment or Bonner’s snide comments or any of the physical dangers she’d faced in this wilderness.
Noah loved at the same intensity she competed. All in, no holds barred, full commitment to the goal. He didn’t just want to be part of her life—he wanted to be her partner in everything.
And that terrified her.
Because what if she wasn’t enough? What if she let him in and he discovered that beneath all her fierce independence, she was just a woman who’d never been good enough for anyone?
Her father had taught her that lesson early. Excellence was the minimum requirement. Anything less meant failure. And failure meant watching the people you loved walk away.
So she’d made sure no one got close enough to matter. Until Noah.
Noah, who’d charged into her life like the hurricane he’d warned her about. Who matched her competitive streak with his own brand of intensity. Who saw past her walls to the woman underneath and loved her anyway.
Who’d never once asked her to be anything other than exactly who she was.
Fresh pain lanced through her chest that had nothing to do with the cold or lack of oxygen.
She’d been so busy protecting herself that she’d missed the obvious truth—Noah wasn’t trying to box her in, direct her life, take away her independence.
He was offering to share her adventures, amplify her strengths, weather her storms.
He was offering partnership, not possession.
And she’d thrown it back in his face because she’d been too scared to admit even she could see the difference.
The darkness pressed closer, heavy with revelation. She’d spent her whole life proving she didn’t need anyone, convinced that independence meant isolation. That letting someone in meant giving up control.
But that wasn’t what Noah wanted. He’d never tried to take control—he’d offered to share it. To be her backup when she needed it, her cheerleader when she didn’t. To love her through all of it.
“I really messed up.” The words felt like gravel in her throat. “I had everything and I ran away from it instead of exploring it. Instead of taking it as a new challenge.”
Ripley whined softly.
“I know, girl. I know.” She buried her fingers in the lab’s fur, anchoring herself against the truth she couldn’t escape. “I’m an idiot. The guy literally says, ‘I’m intense and I don’t apologize for it,’ and I somehow miss that it would apply to everything. Even me.”
Noah didn’t just keep up with her—he challenged her to be better. Showed her that vulnerability could be strength. That letting someone in didn’t mean letting them take over.
That love wasn’t a cage at all. It was a choice.
And she’d chosen wrong.
The realization broke something loose inside her chest. A wall she’d built so long ago she’d forgotten it was there. The one that said she had to do everything alone or it didn’t count.
She didn’t want to do this alone anymore.
The truth of it shocked her, but not as much as the peace that followed. Like finally accepting that sometimes the best route up the mountain wasn’t the hardest one.
Sometimes the best path was the one that led to where you wanted to be, even if that wasn’t where you thought you were going.
If she ever got out of here, she’d tell Noah that.
Tell him everything. How she’d been so focused on protecting herself that she’d missed the obvious truth—that he made her stronger, not weaker.
That his intensity matched hers perfectly.
That she’d been afraid of losing control when, really, she’d been afraid of letting him love her.
She wanted to tell him that she loved him back.
Had probably started falling during that first kiss in the parking lot when he’d shown her exactly who he was—someone who didn’t waste time playing games, who dove in with his whole heart and who trusted her to catch him.
She hadn’t been ready to catch him then. But she was now.
If she survived this cave, this cold, this darkness that pressed against her skin like all the fears she’d been running from, she’d find a way to make it right. To show Noah that she understood now. That she was done running.
That she chose him. Chose them. Chose the adventure of discovering what they could be together instead of the safety of being alone.
Another tremor shook the cave, longer this time. More rocks fell, the sound drilling into her bones. The temperature kept dropping, but she barely noticed.
She was too busy planning what she’d say to Noah when she saw him again. How she’d explain that she finally understood what he’d been offering all along—a chance to soar higher together than either of them could alone.
Ripley’s sudden attention shift startled her from her thoughts. The lab’s entire body had gone tense, nose working frantically in the darkness.
“What is it, girl?” Sabrina’s pulse quickened. Had the man with the gun found another entrance? Was something worse coming?
But Ripley wasn’t growling. She was whining softly, pawing at something near the cave-in. The sound of her nails scratching against rock echoed in the confined space.
“Ripley, come back.” Fear squeezed Sabrina’s chest. Another cave-in could kill them both.
Instead of obeying, the lab continued her frantic investigation, moving with the purpose Sabrina recognized from their training sessions. This wasn’t random—Ripley was working.
She crawled toward the sound, her hands outstretched in the darkness. “What did you find, girl?”
Her fingers encountered Ripley’s fur, then the rough edge of stone, and beyond it, the faintest whisper of fresh air. A crack, barely wider than her wrist, had opened in the rockfall. Too small for a human, but maybe—
“You brilliant dog.” Hope surged through her veins. “Show me.”
Ripley needed no further encouragement. She wiggled closer to the opening, her body language signaling the excitement she displayed during their SAR practice.
The next few minutes passed in a blur as Sabrina carefully widened the crack, just enough for Ripley to squeeze through. She’d never been so grateful for all those hours spent training the dog to find missing persons, to navigate difficult terrain, to seek help.
“Find Noah,” she whispered, pressing her face close to the crack. “Bring him back here.”
Ripley hesitated, torn between her training to stay with her handler and the command to seek help.
“Go, girl.” Sabrina’s voice broke. “It’s okay. I’m counting on you.”
With a final whine, Ripley squeezed through the narrow opening, her movements sending a small shower of pebbles cascading down. Then silence.
Sabrina pressed her eye to the crack, straining to see anything in the darkness beyond. Nothing. But somewhere out there, Ripley was running through the canyon, seeking help. Seeking Noah.
Please, God, let that be true. Don’t let the man with the gun see her. Fly, Ripley, fly.
She settled back against the wall and wrapped her arms around herself. The cold penetrated deeper now, but the spark of hope burned brighter. Ripley knew what to do. She’d been trained for this.
It was time for Sabrina to trust her partner, just as she needed to trust Noah. To believe that sometimes, salvation came in the form you least expected.
All she had to do now was survive until rescue came. And when it did, she’d be ready—for everything.