CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Kol
ASCREAM TORE THROUGH THE AIR AS I RAN FOR THE house. I knew that scream. It was different than the one I’d heard at the hospital all those months ago, but I knew the owner was the same.
I pushed my muscles harder, my lungs burning like I’d inhaled pure flames. I took the steps two at a time and then skidded to a halt. I didn’t have the goddamned key. A million curses flew through my mind.
And then I simply acted. I punched my fist through the window next to the door. Fiery pain licked along my hand and arm, but I didn’t care. I reached through the broken glass just as the alarm started to sound.
Good. That was good. Law enforcement would answer the call. My brothers would get alerts on their phones. They would come.
I would get to Nova in time.
Hauling open the door, I ran inside, my gun poised and at the ready.
I knew there was something off about Cora’s story. I knew the timing wasn’t right with Reese’s wounds. But still, when I saw Cora holding Nova by the hair, a knife to her throat, shock rocketed through me.
She was the last person I would’ve expected to be behind all of this. And it was still possible she wasn’t alone. My gaze swept the space before coming back to her, to Nova.
She had a split lip. Her breathing was labored. And there was blood—fresh blood—pooling against the tee she wore beneath my flannel.
A whole different sort of pain speared through me. Nova. My phoenix. Someone was trying to burn her to ashes again.
“U.S. Forest Service, lower your weapon,” I said, my voice taking on a robotic tone.
Cora scoffed. “Like you should be holding that badge. You’ve been fucking your witness from practically day one.”
It was interesting that Cora didn’t use the term victim. Because to her, that wasn’t what Nova was. And she was right in a way. Nova had taken flight from ashes that would have suffocated most people. She’d built a new life for herself. She’d found her way again.
“There anyone else here, Cora?” I swept the room again with my gaze. Because I still wasn’t sure if Travis was in play or not.
Fury swept over Cora’s features as she shook Nova. I could see the pain in Nova’s expression, the way her skin paled even further. Fuck. I needed to move faster. But I didn’t have a clear shot. Cora was using Nova as a human shield.
“You think Travis is going to pop out and shoot you in the head?” Cora snarled. “I wish. But you fucking killed him.”
“It wasn’t me,” I told her, trying to keep my voice even. “You know that.”
“But you were a part of it. You would’ve killed him if you’d had the chance. You didn’t try to save him.”
“He went into the river, Cora. There was no saving him,” I said, trying to soothe.
“Bullshit. You could’ve if you’d wanted to. And if it wasn’t for you and your nosy-ass brother, everything would’ve been fine. We would’ve kept going just as we were,” Cora argued.
I tried to shift, stepping slightly to the side, but Cora answered my move with one of her own. Nova was wheezing now. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.
“It wouldn’t have stayed the same,” I said. “Travis was escalating. It wasn’t enough to kill them. To insert himself into the investigations. He was getting reckless.”
“He was helping me!” Cora shouted, the knife sliding across Nova’s neck. Not deep but enough that a trickle of blood slid free as Nova cried out in pain.
“Let’s all take a breath, okay?” I stilled the trembling in my hand. “Let’s just talk. Tell me what you need.”
Cora’s mouth twisted into an ugly smile. “I’m giving myself what I need. Just like Travis did for almost all my life. And now, I’m righting the wrongs done to him. I’m finishing his work.”
I tried to pull the threads, tried to paint the picture in my mind. “So you took Heidi Ingram.”
“She was in our place. Trav and I used to camp there all the time, and I go there to remember him. He would’ve taken her for me. Killed her. Because she looked just like my mom. Dark hair, pale skin. She was perfect.”
“But you held her somewhere,” I prodded.
Cora’s eyes narrowed on me. “And I’ll never tell.”
“She has Piper there,” Nova croaked. “Piper’s still alive.”
Cora moved the knife for a split second, slicing it across Nova’s arm. Nova cried out, trying to double over, but she couldn’t, not with the grip Cora had on her hair.
“Shut up, bitch.”
“What about Piper? Why her?” I pressed.
“You think you’re going to shrink me?” Cora mocked. “Please. No one gets in my head. Piper was a brown-haired bitch who wouldn’t stop talking about how in love she was. She needed a lesson.”
“And is that what Reese needed?” I asked. “A lesson?”
“He deserves to die. Printing all those lies about my Trav. He deserves almost the worst.”
I didn’t share that she’d likely get her wish if emergency services didn’t get to him soon.
Instead, I tried a different tack. “You can still walk out of here. If you push Nova toward me, I’ll catch her, and you can run out.
You know the sheriff’s department is already on the way. But it will give you a head start.”
Cora’s green eyes went dead, as if there was no humanity in them at all. “You think I care about living when Trav is gone? I don’t want to be on this earth without him. I’m just going to take as many of you traitors with me as I can when I go.”
I saw it now. The plan she had. She never meant to make it out alive. And that made her the most dangerous creature of all.