Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
“I told him what matters,” I say.
Saxon’s gaze shifts to Ellie, then back to me. “Who is she to you?”
Ellie stiffens.
I answer anyway. “She’s under my protection.”
Saxon’s brows lift. “That’s not what I asked.”
I hold his stare. “It’s what I’m giving.”
A beat of silence.
Then Saxon leans back in his chair, eyes hardening with the kind of calm that means he’s thinking operationally. “Does she have a name?”
Ellie’s voice cuts in, sharp. “Ellie.”
Saxon looks at her. “Do you have someone after you?”
Ellie’s smile tries to appear and fails halfway. “No.”
Sadie was right. That smile is a lie.
Saxon’s gaze flicks to me.
I don’t speak.
He watches us for a long moment, then says, “If there’s a threat, we treat it like a threat. You want eyes? You get eyes. Levi will run your perimeter. Sadie will do a drive-by. You call me if anything shifts.”
Ellie’s eyes widen. “You’re just… doing that?”
Saxon’s mouth twitches slightly. “We protect our own.”
Ellie swallows. “I’m not—”
Saxon cuts her off with a calm look. “You’re in our town. You’re in our station. That’s close enough.”
Ellie’s throat moves, emotion flashing across her face so fast she almost hides it.
Then her phone lights up.
The screen glows in her hand like a flare in the dark.
Her face drains of color as she reads.
I don’t have to ask. I already know.
But I do anyway, voice low and lethal. “Ellie.”
She lifts the screen toward me with shaking fingers.
Four words stare back at me, clean and casual, like a man smiling while he twists a knife.
I know where you’re hiding.
Chapter 5
Ellie
Wyatt doesn’t raise his voice when he reads the text, but everything in the room shifts like he did.
Saxon is behind his desk, calm and granite-hard, Levi and Sadie hovering in the doorway like they were born for chaos, and I’m standing there with my phone in my hand and Graham’s message glowing like a brand on the screen.
I know where you’re hiding.
Wyatt takes the phone from me without asking.
It’s not rude. It’s automatic. Like breathing. Like he’s already decided my fear is his problem.
His eyes flick across the message once, and then he looks at Saxon.
“He’s escalating,” Saxon says, like it’s a weather report.
Wyatt’s jaw flexes. “He’s testing.”
Sadie’s gaze pins me. “Who is he?”
I open my mouth and nothing comes out clean. The truth is thick. Embarrassing. Dangerous.
Levi makes a low sound. “Oh, it’s the ex. It’s always the ex.”
Sadie elbows him hard enough he shuts up.
Saxon steeples his fingers, eyes on Wyatt. “We can run it through the sheriff.”
Wyatt’s expression doesn’t change. “He’s a banker.”
That lands like a slap. Because it’s true. Graham doesn’t need to break into cabins when he can break you with paperwork and polite smiles. He does it in daylight, wearing a tie, calling it “procedure.”
Saxon studies Wyatt. “What do you want to do?”
Wyatt’s gaze cuts to me. It holds. Dark, steady, too intense for an office with witnesses.
“I want her shielded,” he says.
My throat tightens. “I’m right here.”
“I know,” he says without looking away. “That’s the point.”
Saxon’s voice goes cool. “Cooper.”
Wyatt finally blinks. “The only thing he respects is ownership.”
My stomach flips.
Saxon’s brow lifts. “You’re going to say that again, slower.”
Wyatt’s mouth doesn’t soften. “A ring. A name. A claim he can’t challenge without looking like he’s threatening another man’s wife.”
Heat crawls up my neck even as fear presses on my ribs. “Excuse me?”
Wyatt turns his body toward me fully, like the rest of the room doesn’t exist. “You want him to stop?”
I swallow. “I want him to go away.”
“He won’t,” Wyatt says. “Not without consequences. Not without a line he can’t cross.”
Sadie steps forward, voice sharp. “Ellie, this isn’t about pride.”
My laugh comes out thin. “Everything is about pride in this town.”
Levi whistles. “She’s got you there.”
Sadie shoots him a look that could kill.
Wyatt’s gaze stays on mine. “This isn’t a real marriage. It’s strategic.”
My pulse spikes at the word marriage.
“Strategic,” I repeat, like saying it makes it less insane. “So you’re telling me the solution to my psycho ex is… you.”
Wyatt’s mouth tilts, almost a smirk. “I’m a pretty good solution.”
I stare at him. “You’re also Wade’s best friend.”
His eyes go darker. “And you’re still standing here.”
Saxon clears his throat, a warning sound. “Cooper. You’re crossing into personal.”
Wyatt doesn’t look away from me. “It’s always been personal.”
The air goes tight.
I feel everyone in the room stop breathing. Even Levi.
Saxon’s expression stays controlled, but his eyes sharpen. “That’s my point.”
Wyatt’s gaze finally flicks to Saxon. “You want him to keep circling her? Or you want him to see a ring and back off?”
Saxon holds Wyatt’s stare. “And you?”
Wyatt’s voice goes low. “I want him afraid to breathe near her.”
My stomach drops straight into heat.
That’s the problem with Wyatt. Even when he’s being terrifying, it’s… it’s doing things to me.
I force my voice steady. “You’re acting like he’s going to show up with a knife.”