Chapter 27
Quinn
After August and Fox disappeared to head to the Hearthstone Security office, Roman took out his phone, glancing at Graham and Reid. “I’ll keep an eye on the security camera feeds. If someone gets near this house, I’ll know.”
Reid nodded. Graham stepped closer, his heat washing over me.
The room buzzed with stress. Everyone waited with anxious unease.
I was stunned. Hollowed. I wasn’t sure how to react.
For months, I had forced myself to see Amos Anderson through the lens of a defense attorney with the presumption of innocence. It was my job.
It was now impossible not to see the destruction he’d carved into this family.
I glanced at where Emersyn and Lark sat on the couch. I’d reviewed both of their statements. They had both been extremely affected by Anderson. Before, I hadn’t been able to let that testimony affect me. It was nothing but words on paper, but now I was too close to these people.
My throat tightened painfully. I swallowed, but the lump didn’t move. I turned to Graham. He still held my hand, his grip warm and steady in the middle of all the chaos.
“I should probably make some calls,” I rasped.
I didn’t know how to handle this. I didn’t know what the best thing to do was or how to help. All I knew how to do was work.
He looked at me, and the sight nearly knocked the air from my lungs. He looked scared.
The faint lines on his forehead and between his brows were carved deeper. He looked so weary, I wanted to hug him. I wanted to pull him into my arms and hold him until that exhaustion eased. But I didn’t.
He pushed his other hand through his hair and nodded. He squeezed my fingers once, firm and grounding, before gently letting me go.
I stepped out of the living room—but I didn’t go far. I stayed in the foyer where I could see them, but had enough privacy to make a call.
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone. I hesitated on Preston’s name before hitting the call button. It rang. And rang. And rang.
No answer.
I let out a long sigh. Maybe he didn’t know what had happened yet.
Or maybe he was still furious at me for rejecting him yesterday.
I pulled up George’s name instead. It was late and he might not answer either.
A loud curse exploded from the living room.
I snapped my head up as Roman stormed across the foyer, his heavy footsteps rattling the floorboards.
I shoved my phone into my pocket on instinct as Graham followed on his heels.
Roman wrenched the front door open so hard it slammed into the wall. “Don’t come any closer to this house,” he barked, voice deep and thunderous, the kind of tone that would freeze anyone in their tracks. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?”
My blood ran cold. Someone was here. Someone they didn’t recognize.
Graham grabbed Roman’s shoulder, trying to get a look past him. Then he sent me a look, confusion tightening his features.
That was when I heard it—the faintest hint of a reply. A voice far from the doorway, but unmistakable.
Without thinking, I moved.
I pushed past Graham, who said my name sharply, but I didn’t stop. I ducked under Roman’s outstretched arm, heart pounding so hard it rattled my ribs.
And there he was. Standing at the bottom of the porch steps. Looking just as livid as he had yesterday.
Preston.
Our gazes locked, and even in the darkness I saw his jaw clench.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He glanced at Graham and Roman. “Can we talk?” he said with forced calm. “Privately?”
I stepped out onto the porch, wrapping my arms around my chest against the chill of the night. Someone grabbed my elbow, and I turned my head to see Graham, his face creased with more worry.
“It’s fine,” I said.
Graham glanced at Preston and then at me. “You sure? I can stay out here with you.”
I shook my head. Despite what had happened in my room, Preston didn’t scare me. And we were right outside, in full view of the street and other homes. “I need to talk to him.”
Reluctantly, he let me go. He and Roman shared a look, but they both stepped back inside the house and slowly closed the front door, leaving Preston and me outside.
I turned my attention back to him. “What are you doing here?” I repeated my question, walking across the porch to the top of the steps. I didn’t want him closer to the house, though I wasn’t sure why.
Preston laughed bitterly, raking two hands through his disheveled blond hair.
Now that I was closer, I could see him more clearly in the porch light.
He looked…wrecked. His hair, which was usually neat and combed back, stuck up at all angles and fell over his forehead.
His nose was swollen, the tip and bridge red and starting to bruise.
A sense of satisfaction washed over me at the sight of it.
I’d seen Preston in many different ways, but I hadn’t seen him this disheveled since his father passed.
“I decided to stay in town for the weekend.” He scoffed, like the thought was ridiculous now.
“You stayed in town? Where?” As far as I knew, the bed-and-breakfast was one of the only places to stay short-term.
Preston put his hands on his hips, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where I stayed or what I did after you fucking disrespected me yesterday.” His eyes were suddenly blazing as he looked back up at me.
I blinked at him, a rage lighting in the pit of my stomach. “Disrespected you?” I spat, stomping down the porch steps and glaring up into his face. “I think you’re the last person to speak about disrespect, Preston. I don’t think you’ve respected me a day in your damn life.”
Preston matched my glare, looming over me. “Fuck. You,” he snarled.
I rocked back on my heels, almost bursting out laughing at how pathetic he was. “You’re not, that’s for sure.” I raised my brows. “You’ll never touch me again.”
His whole face went red, and it did nothing to help me hold my laughter back. I chuckled and he stepped toward me, grabbing my upper arms so hard I gasped in pain.
He drew himself so close, his mouth was a breath away from mine, his teeth bared. “Really?” he hissed. “This is the conversation you want to have now? Are you trying to distract me, you little whore?”
My heart raced as I stared at him. I didn’t care what he called me anymore, but his grip was so tight on my arms he might leave bruises. “Distract you?” I managed as the fear started to seep in. “From what?”
He let out a humorless laugh. “You know what happened. It’s all over the news. My phone has been ringing constantly. The police, the prosecutor, everyone.” His eyes narrowed on me. “What did you do?”
“What do you mean?”
His nostrils flared, his hands tightening even more, his fingertips digging into my skin.
I stifled a whimper.
“Don’t play dumb, Carpenter. You might be a slut, but you’re not stupid.
You are the one who’s been meeting with him, privately, for weeks.
You’re the one who he personally requested to stay in Ember Hollow to stay close to him.
Now, he’s suddenly escaped from the county jail where you met with him every week? ”
The blood drained from my face. “You think I had something to do with it?” Dizziness crashed over me.
“I don’t believe in coincidences. You have always had a soft spot for criminals. Even the worst of them.” He looked disgusted as he stared at me, his labored, hot breaths washing over my face. “What the hell did you do?”
He started shaking me, losing complete control of himself. I cried out as my head snapped backward and forward, sending a sharp pain down my spine. I tried to pull away from him, but he only tightened his hold and shook me harder.
“Get your fucking hands off her.”
The voice was loud, but steady and familiar. It was laced with a threat.
Preston froze.
I blinked as my head spun, trying to orient myself. My legs shook.
As my vision cleared, I focused back on the man with his hands still on me. Whatever color had remained in his face drained completely as he glanced behind me.
“Did you not understand me?”
The voice was closer now, right next to my ear. I looked over my shoulder, chest swelling with relief when Graham’s blue eyes met mine.
He wasn’t the only one, either. All five Ramsey brothers stood on the porch behind me, glaring down at Preston like he was a rat that needed to be exterminated.
All of them. Looking like they were ready to pounce. For me.
Preston let me go so fast I almost fell, but Graham’s arm wrapped around my waist, steadying me.
Preston backed away a few paces, but his glare returned to me. “I don’t know what you did, but I won’t be taking the fall for you.”
My throat tightened. I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything, Preston.” But it didn’t seem like my words were getting to him. “I had no idea this would happen.”
Preston shook his head as he backed away, staring at the group of brothers behind me. “I don’t believe you. This has to be your fault.”
“It’s not! I—”
“Stop,” Graham whispered in my ear, pressing me close to him. “Don’t give him your energy. He’s not going to hear you.”
Preston was at the end of the walkway when he yelled, “I never want to see your face again.”
And then he finally turned and walked away, leaving me reeling and confused.
I stood there shaking, Preston’s words burning in the cold air long after he’d disappeared into the darkness.
My arms throbbed where he’d grabbed me, the skin already tender beneath my sleeves.
I wanted to breathe, to think, to understand any part of what had just happened—but all I could feel was the echo of his fingers and the hollow panic clawing up my throat.
Graham’s hand slid gently up my spine.
“Quinn,” he murmured, voice low and steady, nothing like Preston’s venom. “Come inside.”
I looked up at him. His jaw was clenched tight with fury. The other Ramsey brothers still stood behind him like a wall of iron, all their eyes still fixed where Preston had disappeared as if they were anticipating his return.
My chest cracked.
Graham tightened his hold on me, and I let him guide me back toward the house.
Everything I’d built might’ve been burning down around me, but right here—in the cold, dark night—I wasn’t alone.
Even if I deserved to be.