Chapter 23
RUE
The dock appears through the trees, an eerie stream of spotlights illuminating it.
My SUV crunches over gravel, tires skidding slightly as I jam the brake, put it in park, and then jump out.
The wind rips through me, pulling at my hair, and the sound of the helicopter overhead sends a shudder through my entire body.
It’s over. There’s no happy ending. There’s no escape. Whatever fairy tale runaway story I had imagined is gone.
The Marshals’ lights flash along the water, cutting the darkness into jagged stripes. Guns raised, dogs barking, and radios crackling, they sprint toward the dock. I freeze, my chest constricted so tightly, I feel as though I can’t breathe.
Noah… please don’t let them kill you.
I bite my lip, trying to stay calm as I recognize the man in the lights. His hands aren’t raised in surrender. His back is to the whole fucking army of law enforcement. The Marshals are converging on him. My eyes blur with tears, but I can’t look away.
A shout pierces the night. “Freeze! Hands where we can see them!”
I flinch. The dog snaps a growl, and I think I hear the splashing of boots hitting the wet dock boards.
Noah, raise your hands. Don’t do this, I plead in my head.
I take a step forward, as he turns around to face them. Some sort of brief sense of relief hits me, but then the panic doubles as his hands stay at his sides.
He’s outnumbered. He’s cornered. He’s giving it up.
Noah, please.
His eyes scan all the lights around him, and then jump to this parking lot—to me. It feels like we make eye contact, but I’m not sure. He’s probably blinded. He probably doesn’t know I’m right here.
I’m not abandoning you.
Noah tips his back, taking in the helicopter above him. The men keep shouting at him, over and over.
“Get on the ground!”
“Hands up!”
He doesn’t even know what he’s supposed to be doing right now.
Tears roll down my cheeks, because even from all this distance, I see the defeat and confusion written all over his face.
But then Noah takes a step forward. The yelling intensifies. He takes another step forward.
I close my eyes. And the crack of a gunshot splits the night.
“Noah!” A scream bursts from my throat, but my voice is drowned out by a second shot.
My eyes open to splinters flying from the dock, and the dog barking frantically. Smoke curls against the moonlight. I catch the flash of his jacket in the blur of men descending on him—but it’s fleeting.
“Suspect down!” someone yells.
The dock is chaos. I can’t see him anymore, and every inch of my body starts to go numb. I find myself falling to my knees, the sound of distant sirens now louder than the helicopter above. But somewhere in all the noise and darkness…
I swear I hear him whisper my name.
Hide Rabbit Hide coming March 31st, 2026.