41. Gerald
GERALD
They were everywhere.
Sheriff’s trucks.
Deputies.
Flashlights cutting through the trees.
Headlights moving down every road.
Even the old highway had roadblocks now.
I watched from the ditch beside County Twelve as another patrol truck rolled past.
Slow.
Careful.
Looking.
My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
I pressed myself deeper into the weeds.
Mud soaked through my jeans.
Cold water seeped into my boots.
I didn’t care.
They weren’t going to find me.
They couldn’t.
Not yet.
Not before I got Sadie.
The note had been a mistake.
I knew that now.
The second I left it on Beast’s truck, everything changed.
More deputies came.
More trucks.
More people.
The whole town had turned against me.
Because of Beast.
Because he had convinced everyone I was dangerous.
He had made Sadie afraid of me.
He had made her believe I was the bad guy.
But I wasn’t.
I was the one trying to save her.
I was the one who knew her.
I was the one who had loved her before Beast ever came back to Eagle River.
A truck turned onto the road above me.
I held my breath.
Its headlights swept across the ditch.
For one terrible second, bright light passed over my boots.
I didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t breathe.
The truck kept going.
I waited until the sound faded.
Then I crawled farther through the weeds.
My hands shook.
Not from fear.
From anger.
That was what I told myself.
But fear was there too.
Growing.
Getting louder.
Because I had nowhere left to go.
Darren wouldn’t answer his phone.
My truck was still at the cabin.
The sheriff had probably found it by now.
The cabin was gone. I couldn’t go back there.
My food was gone.
My water.
My batteries.
Everything.
I had been stupid to leave the notebook behind.
Stupid to let them see it.
But they didn’t understand.
None of them understood.
It wasn’t a plan to hurt Sadie.
It was a plan to get her back.
To bring her somewhere safe.
Somewhere, Beast couldn’t keep filling her head with lies.
I crawled through the ditch until I reached the culvert beneath the road.
Dark water trickled around my boots.
The smell made me gag.
But it hid me.
That was all that mattered.
I pulled my phone from my pocket.
No signal.
Of course.
Nothing was working.
Nothing was going right.
I slammed my fist against the concrete wall.
Pain shot through my knuckles.
I barely felt it.
I thought about Sadie inside that ranch house.
With Beast.
Probably wrapped up in his arms.
Probably believing he could protect her.
The thought made something burn behind my eyes.
She was supposed to be with me.
She was supposed to look at me like that.
She was supposed to need me.
Instead, she was hiding from me.
Because Beast had turned her against me.
Because he had made himself the hero.
My fingers closed around the gun tucked beneath my jacket.
Heavy.
Cold.
Real.
I pulled it free.
Stared at it in the darkness.
I didn’t want to hurt Sadie.
I never wanted to hurt her.
But Beast?
Beast was the problem.
If Beast wasn’t there…
Sadie would remember.
She would see the truth.
She would come with me.
The thought settled into my mind.
Quiet.
Clear.
Terrible.
I put the gun back beneath my jacket.
Then I looked toward the ranch.
Somewhere beyond the trees.
Beyond the roadblocks.
Beyond the people searching for me.
Sadie was waiting.
She just didn’t know it yet.
I started moving.
Low.
Quiet.
Toward the only place that mattered.
Toward the ranch.
Toward Sadie.
And this time…
Nobody was going to stand in my way.