Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Controlled chaos, but chaos all the same.
Stefano and one of Denise’s farmhands help get Ranger to his feet while I check his gums, listen to his gut, feel along his belly, and ask Denise every question I can think of.
Feed changes?
No.
Water?
Normal.
Manure?
Not since morning.
Rolling?
Twice before we got there.
His heart rate is too high.
His belly is tight.
He’s hurting badly, but not too far gone.
Not yet.
“Keep him walking,” I order. “Slow circles. Don’t let him drop if you can safely stop it.”
“I have Banamine,” Denise says, wiping her face. “But I didn’t know if I should administer.”
“Get it.”
“I don’t know how much.”
“I’ll calculate it.”
I call the emergency vet, explain what I’m seeing, and get instructions while Denise runs for the medication. We dose Ranger, keep him walking, and wait for the pain to ease enough that he stops trying to throw himself down.
Fifteen minutes later, Ranger passes gas so loudly that Livy cheers from inside the SUV.
I close my eyes.
Thank You, Jesus.
Denise bursts into tears all over again, this time from relief.
“He’s not out of the woods,” I warn her. “He still needs the vet. He may need to go to the clinic. But that bought him time.”
She throws her arms around me.
I hug her back even though I’m sweaty, dirty, and still shaking with leftover adrenaline.
“Thank you,” she sobs. “Thank you, thank you.”
“Keep him walking until the vet arrives. No food. Small sips of water. If he goes down again, call me if the vet hasn’t arrived.”
She nods frantically.
By the time I climb back into the SUV, my hands are trembling.
Livy is buckled in now, face pale from guilt.
“Is Ranger going to live?” she asks quietly.
“I hope so.”
“You saved him?”
“I helped him.”
“That’s good.”
I turn to look at her. “You and I are going to have a very serious conversation when we get home.”
“I know.”
“No screens for a week.”
Her mouth drops open.
“Maybe two. And that’s not counting Maverick’s punishment. Or Steffy’s. Or Rosa’s. All the people you betrayed.”
My voice shakes, but I don’t let it soften.
“Because that’s what this was, Olivia Marie.
You betrayed the trust of every person trying to keep you safe.
I told you no. Rosa trusted you to stay inside.
Stefano trusted that you would listen so he wouldn’t have to worry about you.
Maverick trusted all of us to follow the rules he put in place to protect us. ”
Her mouth closes.
Smart girl.
Stefano starts the SUV, his expression grim.
“I sent Maverick another message.”
I groan. “How bad?”
“He’s not happy,” he tells me. “With any of us.”
“I’m sorry that he’s upset, but I’m not sorry I left,” I say. “That horse would have died.”
His eyes meet mine before he pulls onto the road.
“Everything will be fine, Mia.”
I know he means Maverick too.
I nod and look out the window.
For the first time since we left, I let myself breathe.
That lasts almost four minutes.
We’re on a narrow stretch of road bordered by dry brush and a shallow ditch when a vehicle approaches too fast from behind us.
“Stefano,” I say.
“I see it. Olivia, are you buckled?”
“Yes, Steffy.”
The vehicle behind us speeds up, and then everything happens at once.
It rams into us from behind.
Stefano jerks the wheel.
Livy screams.
Then a second impact slams into my side of the SUV with a sound so violent it steals the air from my lungs.
Metal shrieks.
Glass explodes.
The world flips.
Once.
Twice.
My head hits something hard.
Then everything stops.
For a second, there’s only silence.
A horrible, ringing silence.
Then Livy cries.
“Mama?”
I suck in a breath that feels like knives.
“I’m here.” My voice sounds wrong. “Baby, are you hurt?”
“My arm hurts.”
“Don’t move.”
The SUV is tilted sideways in the ditch. The airbags have deployed. Dust fills the air, making my throat burn.
Stefano groans from the front.
“Stefano?”
“I’m here,” he says, voice rough. “Everyone, stay still.”
Blood runs down the side of his face as he reaches into his pocket.
Livy cries softly behind me, and it takes everything in me not to panic.
The second vehicle sits above us on the road, headlights pointed into the ditch. It’s not dark outside, but I don’t see much light apart from the other car.
We hear a car door open, and Stefano goes completely still.
“Mia,” he says quietly. “Unbuckle Olivia.”
“What?”
He reaches across my body and uses something to slice through my belt.
“Now.”
There’s something in his voice I’ve never heard from him before.
Not panic.
Urgency.
I force my shaking hands to move, twisting carefully until I can reach Livy. Her face is streaked with tears, but she’s awake. Bleeding from a cut near her temple. Holding one arm close to her chest.
“I’m scared,” she whispers.
“I know, baby.”
Boots crunch on gravel outside.
Stefano pulls himself free from his seatbelt with a pained grunt. He reaches for his gun, but the angle is bad, and his movements are slower than they should be.
The back window shatters inward, and I throw myself over Livy.
“Don’t touch them,” Stefano snarls.
A man laughs, and my blood goes cold.
Stefano drags himself through the broken space where his window used to be and stumbles onto the ground, gun in hand.
For half a heartbeat, I think he’s going to save us.
Then I hear the click of another gun.
I look up and see the man pointing a gun at my friend.
I can’t see his face from down here, but I can see Stefano’s, and he can clearly see the man.
I know the exact second he recognizes him.
His whole body changes.
“You,” he breathes.
The man chuckles again.
Stefano’s gun tightens in his hand.
“Run, Mia.”
The words are barely out of his mouth before the shot cracks through the night and Stefano drops.
For one second, I don’t understand what I’m seeing.
He was standing.
He was breathing.
He was there.
Then he’s on the ground, and the area beneath him turns dark.
A scream tears out of me.
Livy screams too, high and terrified, and I twist toward her so fast that pain bursts white behind my eyes.
“STEFFY!”
“Don’t look.” My hands shake as I reach for her. “I’m here, baby.”
Boots crunch over glass.
Slow.
Calm.
Like whoever’s coming toward us has all the time in the world.
I try to drag Livy behind me, but the SUV is twisted at the wrong angle, and the seats have been shoved too far back. Everything hurts. Everything’s wrong.
The back door is wrenched open, and fresh cool air rushes in.
A shadow fills the opening, and I don’t hesitate. I kick as hard as I can, my heels connecting with something solid.
The man grunts.
Good.
I kick again.
“Stop,” he snaps.
“Get away from us,” I scream.
He grabs my ankle, and I fight like an animal.
There’s nothing soft left in me.
No fear. No reason.
Only my daughter behind me, and a man reaching into this wreckage to take her.
I claw at his hands already bandaged.
I kick, twist, and bite any body part I can reach.
He curses and jerks back.
For one beautiful second, I think I’ve bought us time.
Then something sharp pinches my arm.
A sting.
Small.
Quick.
Terrifying.
“No,” I gasp.
The world tilts.
Not slowly, either. All at once.
“Mama!” Livy screams.
I try to turn toward her.
I try to grab her.
My fingers brush her sleeve, then slip away.
No.
No, please.
Not my baby.
The man reaches past me.
Livy fights him. I hear her little shoes kicking against the seat. Hear her crying. Hear her shouting for Maverick, for me, for Stefano.
My body won’t move.
My mouth won’t form words.
The dark shape bends over me, and for one impossible second, something shifts just enough for me to see the edge of a smile.
Familiar.
Wrong.
Gone before I can name it.
“You should have come to me,” he says quietly.
My heart stops.
Then the darkness takes me.
The last thing I hear is Livy screaming.
And somewhere beyond her, far away on the road, Stefano makes a broken sound.
Alive.
He’s alive.
He saw who this was. He knows who it is.
Please, God.
Let him live. Let him find a way to tell Maverick.