Chapter 43
Max stood outside the SUV, the cold biting through his jacket and his focus locked on Kenny.
The man hadn’t lowered the gun, not even a fraction of an inch.
Sheriff Sutherland stood to Max’s right, his own weapon drawn now, held steady but not yet aimed to fire. Every movement was controlled and deliberate.
“Kenny.” Sheriff Sutherland kept his voice calm but firm. “You don’t want this to go any further.”
Kenny didn’t look at him. His gaze stayed fixed on Max, dark and restless, like something inside him couldn’t settle.
“Where is she?” Kenny demanded.
Max didn’t have to ask who he meant. “Lyndee’s safe. She’s at the hospital.”
“She’s my wife.” The words sounded like a claim of ownership. “All I want is to be with her.”
Sheriff Sutherland took a slow step forward. “You hurt her, Kenny. We saw the injuries. Cuts and bruises—injuries you caused.”
Something shifted in Kenny’s expression.
It wasn’t remorse or regret. His gaze darkened, something defensive rising to the surface.
“I was only trying to make her see what a beautiful thing we had together!” he snapped, his grip tightening on the gun.
Something twisted in Max’s chest as he watched Kenny.
What was it about some people that made relationships unravel them like this? That took something meant to be good and turned it into a desire to control . . . into obsession?
Love was powerful. Maybe too powerful.
For some people, it wasn’t enough to hold it. They had to possess it.
“Kenny.” Max forced his voice to cut through the moment. “Where’s Kendra?”
Kenny’s eyes flicked between them, his breathing growing uneven.
All three of them stood there, guns drawn, the distance between them charged with the kind of tension that could snap in an instant.
“Talk to us,” Sheriff Sutherland said. “This is your chance to help yourself.”
Kenny let out a short, bitter laugh. “Help myself? Kendra contacted me. Out of nowhere. Told me she knew where Lyndee was. Said she could help me get her back.”
Max’s stomach tightened. “What did she want in return? Or did she do it out of the goodness of her heart?”
He knew the answer.
Kenny’s gaze flicked to him, something close to regret flashing there. But the emotion didn’t last. “There was a price. There’s always a price.”
“What does that mean?” Max asked.
“I had to promise her favors. That I’d do things for her.” His jaw clenched. “Biggest mistake of my life.”
Sheriff Sutherland’s voice stayed steady as he asked, “What kind of things?”
Kenny hesitated. Then his expression twisted. “She’s crazy. You have no idea. She made me do those things to Hadley—said if I didn’t, she’d kill Lyndee.”
“You’re the one who threatened Lyndee, though,” Max said.
“She told me where Lyndee was. Kendra found me. I thought she wanted to help me. But then she started throwing out all these ideas. She sent me pictures of my dad. My best friend. Said she’d hurt them if I didn’t cooperate. I believed her.”
The words hung there, heavy and ugly.
Sheriff Sutherland took another slow step forward. “Kenny, listen to me. You need to put the gun down. This doesn’t end well for you if you don’t.”
For a second, it looked like Kenny might.
His shoulders shifted. His stance wavered.
Then something hardened again.
His eyes flicked between them, wild now, uncertain and furious all at once. “No.”
Instead of lowering the weapon, he raised it higher.
Everything seemed to slow.
Max tensed, every instinct firing at once.
Sheriff Sutherland gripped his gun.
Then a shot rang out.
The sound shattered the night, echoing through the trees.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
For a single, breathless moment, Max didn’t know who had fired.
Hadley kept her voice low and steady even as her heart pounded. “Kendra . . . you don’t have to do this. Whatever you think this will fix—it won’t. But you can still stop and make things right.”
Kendra didn’t respond. Instead, she stood near the window. Her attention seemed focused on something outside, almost as if she were listening for something.
Max?
That had to be it. Kendra thought Max would come here. That she could change his mind about her once he arrived.
Hadley’s pulse ticked higher as she continued. “Max isn’t going to see this the way you think he will. This won’t bring him back to you. It’ll only push him further away.”
Kendra’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t respond.
Then a sharp crack split the air from somewhere in the distance.
Gunfire.
Hadley flinched, her breath catching as the sound echoed through the house. It was distant but not far enough.
Panic flashed across Kendra’s face for the first time. “No. No, no—”
She yanked the curtain aside and peered into the darkness, her entire focus locked outside.
Hadley’s pulse roared in her ears.
Max.
The thought came fast and fierce.
He’d found her. Or he was close.
Or he’d been hurt . . .
Then another thought landed like a slap.
Kendra was distracted. This might be Hadley’s only chance to fight back and get away from here.
Hadley pushed herself up from the couch, her legs unsteady beneath her. The lingering effects of the drug still clung to her, dulling her reflexes, making everything feel just slightly out of sync.
She hesitated. If she moved too soon—too recklessly—she could make things worse.
Kendra still had the gun.
Hadley swallowed hard, her mind racing.
Then she made her decision.
She lunged forward.
Her hands slammed into Kendra’s side, knocking her off-balance. The two of them crashed into the wall with a dull thud, the impact sending a jolt of pain through Hadley’s aching body.
Kendra let out a sharp cry of surprise, her grip on the gun faltering for a split second.
Hadley reached for it.
But Kendra recovered fast. Too fast.
She twisted, shoving Hadley backward with more strength than expected. Hadley stumbled, her vision blurring for a moment as her head spun, but she forced herself to stay upright.
Kendra’s expression had changed completely now.
Gone was the eerie calm.
In its place was rage.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she snapped.
Hadley didn’t wait. She turned and ran to the front door.
She threw it open, the cold air hitting her like a wall as she bolted outside. Snow crunched beneath her shoes as she stumbled forward, her breath already coming too fast.
Behind her, footsteps sounded.
Kendra.
Hadley didn’t look back. She couldn’t afford to.
Instead, she veered away from the house, toward the dark stretch of trees beyond it. The forest rose like a wall ahead, shadows thick and impenetrable.
Her lungs burned as she ran, her body protesting every step, still sluggish from whatever Kendra had given her.
But she kept going.
If Kendra followed her, if she pulled Kendra away from the house . . . then Herb and Billie would be safer.
That thought drove her forward, pushing past the weakness, past the fear.
Snow slipped beneath her feet as she reached the edge of the trees and plunged into the forest.
Branches snagged at her clothes. The ground was uneven, hidden beneath layers of snow and leaves. It threatened to trip her with every step.
Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it, feel it.
Kendra was right behind her.
Hadley risked a glance over her shoulder.
The woman navigated through the trees with terrifying focus. The gun was still clutched in her hand, and her eyes locked on Hadley like a predator closing in.
There was no hesitation.
No doubt.
Just pursuit.
Hadley ran harder, her breath tearing from her lungs as the darkness swallowed her whole.