Chapter 18
Riley
I had prepared myself to die in that clearing. I wasn't prepared for what came after.
The moments before Liam arrived stretched into their own kind of forever.
Todd stood ten feet away, the gun steady in his hand, that smile on his face that I remembered from every nightmare I'd ever had. Mia was tied to a tree, duct tape over her mouth, her muffled sobs the only sound besides Todd's voice and my own heartbeat thundering in my ears.
“You don't want to do this.” I kept my voice calm. Level. The voice I used on calls when everything was falling apart and someone had to hold it together. “Think about what happens after, Todd. The cops are coming. You can hear the sirens.”
He laughed. High and cracked, the sound of a man who'd stopped caring about consequences.
“After?” He took a step closer. The gun didn't waver. “There's no after for you, Riley. That's the whole point.”
His plan became clear as he talked. The words spilling out of him like poison, like he'd been rehearsing this speech for years and finally had his audience.
Kill me. Claim self-defense. Say I attacked him, that he was just trying to see his daughter, that I'd always been unstable and violent and he'd had no choice.
With me dead and no other guardian, he'd get custody of Mia by default.
The Social Security benefits. The control. The twisted satisfaction of winning.
The absurdity of it almost made me laugh.
He had an ankle monitor. A restraining order.
He'd kidnapped a child from her school in broad daylight.
There was no version of this story where he walked away clean, no jury in the world that would believe his self-defense claim.
But that was Todd. Always convinced he was smarter than everyone else, always certain he could talk his way out of anything.
He'd gotten away with so much for so long. He thought he'd get away with this too.
The cruelty of it took my breath away.
The logic of it terrified me more.
I didn’t rush him.
“You’ve thought this through.”
“But it won’t work. Too many people know about the custody battle. Too many people know what you are.”
“What I am?” Todd's face twisted. “I'm a man who got screwed over by a junkie and her ungrateful brat of a daughter. I'm a man who's been fighting for two years to get back what's mine. And I'm done fighting fair.”
His finger tightened on the trigger.
I braced, steadying myself for the end.
The certainty settled over me like a weight. Not panic, not anymore. Something quieter. Something that felt almost like peace.
I was going to die in this clearing, with the afternoon light slanting golden through the trees, with my sister watching. I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
But I could choose how.
I planted my feet. Held his gaze. Refused to beg, refused to cower, refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break.
If I were going to die, I’d die standing. I’d die protecting my sister. That was all I’d ever wanted to do.
I lifted my chin, met his eyes, didn’t let him see the fear settle.
“Mia knows what you are.” My voice didn’t shake. “She’ll tell everyone. She’ll never stop telling people what happened here. You’ll never have a moment’s peace.”
“Shut up!”
The gun jerked higher. His knuckle went white on the trigger.
Liam exploded out of the tree line.
The world fractured.
I saw him a split second before Todd did. Emerging from the trees like a force of nature, his face set in something I'd never seen before. Not the easygoing rancher. Not the patient firefighter. Something harder. Something desperate.
His hand closed around Todd's wrist just as the gun fired.
The crack split the air, deafening, and I felt the impact before I understood what had happened. A punch to my shoulder, a bloom of heat, and then I was falling, the world tilting sideways as my legs gave out.
I hit the ground hard. Dirt and leaves and the copper taste of blood in my mouth from biting my tongue. Pain radiating from my shoulder, sharp and bright, but distant somehow. Secondary to the chaos erupting around me.
Liam and Todd were on the ground, grappling. The gun had skittered away into the leaves. I could hear Liam's fists connecting, could hear Todd's grunts and curses, could hear Mia screaming through the duct tape.
I tried to get up. Couldn't. My left arm wasn't working right, and when I looked down, I saw the blood. Dark and wet, spreading across my shirt, seeping between the fingers I'd pressed to the wound without realizing.
It took a second too long to make sense of it.
I’d been shot.
The thought was strangely calm. Clinical. Like I was assessing a patient instead of myself.
Through-and-through, probably. The pain was wrong for a bone hit, and I could feel the exit wound burning against my shoulder blade. No arterial spray. No immediate signs of shock. I’d live.
If I didn’t bleed out first.
Sirens, closer now. Voices shouting. Sheriff Daniels’ command cut through the chaos.
“Murphy! Stand down!”
I turned my head, fighting to focus through the pain.
Liam was frozen over Todd’s bloodied body, fist raised, something terrible written across his face. Deputies fanned out, weapons trained on Todd. Someone cut Mia free from the tree. Someone else wrapped a blanket around her shaking shoulders.
Then Liam was there. On his knees beside me. His face pale beneath blood and dirt.
“Riley. Riley, look at me.”
“I’m okay.” The words scraped out, tight. “It went through. Just the shoulder.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s not bad.” I tried to sit up. The world tilted. His hands caught me, eased me back down.
“Mia. Is Mia—”
“She’s safe. She’s right there.”
I turned my head. Saw my sister standing with a deputy, blanket clutched tight, eyes wide and terrified.
“I’m okay, bug.” I tried to steady my voice. Wasn’t sure it worked. “I’m okay.”
Paramedics crowded in then, pushing Liam back, shouting about pressure and IV access and transport. Hands on my shoulder. The sharp sting of a needle. The edges of the world softened.
Liam’s face hovered above me. Blood on his knuckles. A gash over his eye. Something broken there that I couldn’t quite focus on.
“You came.”
“Of course I came.”
My hand found his. Blood on my fingers. Blood on his. Both of us marked by this day.
“Don’t leave.” My throat tightened. “Mia. Stay with Mia.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The last thing I saw before they lifted me into the ambulance was my sister, clutching Liam’s hand, both of them watching me go.
The hospital was all fluorescent light and antiseptic.
Surgery. Muscle damage. Clean entry, clean exit. No major arteries. Words floated past me, clinical and detached, like they belonged to someone else.
I woke up in recovery with a weight in my hand.
Mia, asleep in the chair beside my bed, fingers locked around mine like she was afraid I’d disappear if she let go.
Liam sat on my other side. Still. Watching me like he hadn’t moved since they brought me in.
“Hey.” His voice was rough. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got shot.”
His mouth twitched. Not quite a smile.
“Fair.”
Mia stirred. When she realized I was awake, she broke.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry—he said you were hurt, he said there was a fire, he said you were dying and I didn’t think—”
“Hey.” I tightened my grip on her hand despite the pull in my shoulder. “Look at me.”
She did. Eyes red. Terrified.
“This wasn’t your fault.”
“But you got shot—”
“Because he chose to hurt people.” My voice stayed steady even when my body didn’t. “Not because of you.”
I drew her in, slow and careful, let her press against my uninjured side. She shook there, quiet now, worn out.
“You’re safe.”
I held her there until the words stopped shaking inside her.
She cried until there was nothing left. Then she slept, curled against me on the narrow hospital bed, her weight solid and grounding, proof that she was here. Alive.
I stayed awake.
Just breathing.
Making sure she did too.
Liam watched us. That same broken expression on his face, the one I’d seen in the clearing when he’d knelt beside me in the dirt.
I tilted my head, meeting his eyes.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Liam.”
He was quiet for a long moment. His hands were clasped between his knees, knuckles still raw and swollen, and he stared at them like they belonged to someone else.
“Mia saw me,” he finally said. “In the clearing. She saw me beat him. She saw me with my fist raised, ready to…” He swallowed hard. “I almost killed him, Riley. I wanted to kill him. And she watched me do it.”
I understood then. The shattered look. The way he couldn’t quite meet my eyes.
I shifted on the bed, making space beside me.
“Come here.”
He hesitated. Like he wasn’t sure he deserved to be close to me. Like he thought I might flinch away from him now that I’d seen what he was capable of.
I reached for him with my good hand, caught his wrist, pulled him toward me.
“Come here.”
He moved to the edge of the bed, carefully, like I was made of glass. I tugged him down until his forehead rested against mine, until I could feel his breath warm on my face, until there was nowhere for him to hide.
I pressed my forehead to his, kept him there.
“You saved my life. You saved Mia’s life. Whatever else happened in that clearing, that’s what matters.”
“I lost control.”
“You stopped. When it counted, you stopped.”
“What if I hadn’t?” His voice cracked. “What if Daniels hadn’t shown up? What if I’d—”
“But you did stop. You heard her voice, and you stopped.” I held his gaze, willing him to hear me. “That’s who you are, Liam. Not the man with his fist raised. The man who put it down.”
“You don’t know what it felt like.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Seeing you on the ground. The blood. I thought you were dead. I thought I was too late, and all I could think was that I never told you—”
His voice broke.
“Never told me what?”
He opened his eyes. They were wet, red-rimmed, more vulnerable than I’d ever seen them.
“That I love you,” he said. The words came out rough, scraped raw. “I’ve been wanting to say it for weeks. Months, maybe. But I kept waiting for the right moment, and then you were bleeding in the dirt and I thought I’d missed my chance. I thought I’d never get to tell you.”
My throat tightened. Something cracked open in my chest, something I’d been holding closed for so long I’d forgotten it could open at all.
“I love you too.” The words surprised me with how easily they came. How true they felt. “I think I have for a while. I was just too scared to say it.”
“Scared of what?”
“That it would make it real. That if I said it out loud, I’d have something to lose.” I laughed, but it came out watery. “Stupid, right? I almost died today, and my biggest fear was admitting I love you.”
“Not stupid.” His hand cupped my face, gentle, careful of the IV line. “I get it. Wanting something that much… It’s terrifying.”
“Yeah.” I leaned into his touch. “It is.”
“I can’t lose you, Riley.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “When I saw you on the ground, when I saw the blood, I thought… I thought the universe was taking someone from me again. My parents. Gran. And now you. I thought I was cursed. I thought everyone I loved was destined to leave.”
“I’m not leaving.” I turned my head, pressed a kiss to his palm. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I love you.”
He said it again, quieter this time, like the words wouldn’t stay contained if he didn’t let them out.
“I love you. I love Mia. And I love the life we’re building.”
“I know.” I pulled him closer, ignoring the twinge in my shoulder. “I do too.”
He kissed me then. Soft and careful, mindful of my injuries, but real.
When we broke apart, Mia stirred against my side. Her eyes fluttered open, still heavy with sleep, and she looked between us with a drowsy frown.
“Are you guys being gross?”
Liam laughed. It was wet and surprised and the best sound I’d heard all day.
“Little bit,” he admitted.
“Ugh.” She burrowed closer against my good shoulder, closing her eyes again. “At least wait until I’m not in the bed.”
I tilted my head, the corner of my mouth lifting despite the ache in my shoulder.
“No promises.”
She grumbled something unintelligible and went back to sleep.
Liam’s hand found mine, fingers threading together, careful of the bandages, of the places that still hurt.
His grip was warm. Steady. Real.
Mia slept against my side, her weight solid and familiar, the rise and fall of her breathing anchoring me to the bed, to the room, to this moment.
I stayed still, afraid to break it. Afraid that if I moved, the day would come rushing back in.
But nothing did.
We were still here.
Together.
The deputy came later that night to take our statements.
Todd had been charged with kidnapping, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and violating the restraining order. He was being held without bail. The evidence was overwhelming. Multiple witnesses. My injury. Mia’s testimony.
He wasn’t getting out this time.
It was over.
I kept waiting to feel relief. Waiting for the fear to lift. For the tension I’d carried for years to finally release its grip on my body.
Instead, I felt hollow. Scoured out. Like something essential had been scraped from inside me, leaving too much empty space behind. Like I wasn’t sure what shape I’d take once healing finally began.
Liam held my hand through the deputy’s questions, through the paperwork, through the long hours of waiting for discharge.
He didn’t let go.
Not when I said I was fine. Not when I insisted I didn’t need help.
Maybe because he knew I was lying.
Maybe because he needed to hold on just as much as I did.