Chapter 52

Igripped the bag I’d packed while Landon had been downstairs. Inside were the journals from Lucille, the most precious things in the house to me except for the guys who were also heading out right now.

Clothes were replaceable and so were the few other things I’d brought here. If Dallas got his hands on these journals again though, I wasn’t sure he’d honor his agreement with Landon. He’d probably take them and try to sell them again, even if he’d already been paid.

Either way, I hadn’t wanted to take any chances with them. They were heavier than a change of clothes would’ve been, but thanks to the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I barely even noticed the weight.

My heart pounded every step of the way as I sneaked out of the house, grateful for the winding and broken-up layout of the manor. It kept me hidden from view even if I could hear their voices not so far away.

Sending up a little prayer that Landon and Colten were already out, I darted out the back door, sticking close to the wall until I could take to the shadows in the yard. I kept moving, all but holding my breath until I saw Landon and Colten turn the corner.

Releasing all the air in my lungs, I breathed a sigh of relief and waited for them to join me, my heart still pounding. Now that I knew they were safe though, I knew it would start returning to normal. Landon’s features were hard as they approached, tension vibrating from him, but he held it in check, tipping his head in the direction of the pedestrian gate in the wall.

“Stay in the shadows,” he said quietly, his hand gripping Colten’s as he took mine in the other. “Dallas may not be able to make out three shapes moving away from the house instead of one, but I think his goons might.”

I wound my fingers tight around his and ran across the grounds with them toward the main road. Once we were off the property, we disappeared into the shadows of the forest lining the street before we stopped to catch our breath.

Far enough away to speak normally now, I fished my phone out of my pocket. “I’m going to call Scott to pick us up. You can stay with him until all of this is sorted out. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

I would’ve offered to have them stay at my place, but it was a tiny one bedroom. Nearly a studio suite. They’d be much too cramped there and I didn’t know if it was appropriate for Landon and me to share a bed habitually while Colten slept just a few feet away on a sofa.

While he had found us in bed together earlier, that was different to it becoming a norm. My thoughts raced until my brother picked up, his voice thick with sleep. “Yep?”

“Scott, it’s me,” I said quickly. “I’m in the forest about half a mile away from the Manor. Dallas showed up. It’s a long story, but can you come pick us up?”

A string of curses escaped him, but at least they made it clear that he was awake and alert now. “I’m on my way. Stay where you are. I’ll call when I get close to you.”

He hung up and I nodded at Landon. “Scott will be here soon. We should sit down. Are you guys okay?”

Colten collapsed onto a big rock, his little face so pale in the moonlight that it made me want to kick Dallas for doing this to him, but he nodded. “We’re safe. Are you okay?”

I smiled at him, dropping my bag in the dirt and going over to sit on the rock next to his. “I’m all good. That was exhilarating. Quite an adventure for the middle of the night, don’t you think?”

He frowned, but then he started chuckling and the sound was like music to my ears. “I don’t think I’ve ever had an adventure.”

“Come on, bud,” I said, trying to keep my voice light and breezy instead of cluing him in on the fact that the adrenaline was fast draining from my system, leaving me feeling shocked and scared. “Every day is an adventure if you let it be one. This was simply an adventure I wouldn’t like to repeat.”

He rolled his head onto my bicep as he nodded back at me. “Me either.”

We settled in for the wait with Landon pacing on the forest floor, his muscles wound up and bulging as he marched back and forth. He didn’t say anything other than to check on us periodically, but he also didn’t lose his cool.

When my phone pierced the deafening silence of the night, he shouldered all three bags once more and led us back to the road. A moment later, Scott’s headlights turned the bend and relief raced through me once more.

We piled into the truck with no hesitation, and I motioned for Landon to take the passenger seat while I got into the back with Colten. He curled up against me immediately, passing out almost as soon as a seething Scott turned the truck around and put his foot down on the way back into town.

“What an idiot,” he spat quietly, glancing up to check on Colten in the rearview mirror and keeping his voice down, but seething nonetheless. “What the hell was he thinking? This is the last stunt he’s going to pull, I swear. I’m done putting up with Dallas’s bullshit.”

“Same,” Landon agreed, white-knuckling the grab bar on the ceiling of the truck. “Thank God he let us go without incident, though. He just snarled some crap at me on our way out.”

“Yeah, but someone could’ve gotten hurt if you hadn’t kept your head tonight,” Scott said. “This was the last straw. Good on you for not going off on him, but if it’d been me, I’m just not sure I’d have been able to do the same thing.”

“You would’ve if you’d had your sister and a kid to think about,” Landon reasoned, but I heard the venom slicing through his tone. “I didn’t have much of a choice, man. Trust me, if it hadn’t been for them, I definitely wouldn’t have gone so quietly.”

“You guys are sure you’re alright?” Scott asked, glancing at me before turning his attention back to the dark and winding road. “If he so much as laid a hand on you, I?—”

“He didn’t,” I said quietly so as not to rouse Colten. “Landon told me to stay out of sight and I did. Some of my stuff is still there, but other than him digging through the closets in the bedrooms, he won’t even know I was ever there.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Scott said. “We’ll have to go pick up your stuff in the morning. Where are we going, by the way? Jewel’s place?”

“Actually, I was hoping we could just stay with you tonight,” I said, silently begging him to agree. “I don’t really have enough space and I think we all just need to get some sleep.”

“Sure,” he said without even taking a second to think about it. “That’s a good idea. I’ll feel better knowing you’re with me anyway. If he does go through your stuff and realizes who it belongs to, he might show up at your apartment next.”

“I doubt it,” I said, but I hadn’t thought he’d show up at the Manor like that either, so it was possible that I was wrong.

“Thanks, man,” Landon said when Scott and I both fell silent. “It’ll only be for tonight. We’ll figure the rest out in the morning.”

“Yeah, of course,” my brother said graciously, surprising me by how readily he was agreeing to all this. “All that matters now is that we get the little man to a bed where he’ll be safe for the night.”

My heart swelled with appreciation for my brother. Like me, he had a real heart for kids and I’d never loved him more for it than I did right then. Especially because I knew he was uneasy about whatever was going on between me and Landon.

He hadn’t brought it up in a few weeks, but I’d seen him and Brittany shooting me worried glances whenever they saw me with Landon. They didn’t want me to get hurt and yet, we all knew which way this ship was sailing.

As the two of them started talking about Dallas and how much of an ass he was again, I agreed, but I didn’t say so. Instead, I rested my head on top of Colten’s and held him tight, promising him in a quiet whisper that everything was okay now.

After the talk he and I had had just yesterday, I knew how sad being tossed out of the Manor was going to make him. It had become a safe, happy space for him. A place where he’d bonded with his dad for the first time in a long time and which had held only memories of laughter and fun until tonight.

Anger at Dallas for ruining all that bubbled in my veins. One drunken night and he’d stolen this little boy’s happy place right out from underneath him. Without a second thought, he’d yanked the rug from under this child’s feet and I hated him for it.

Fiercely and vehemently.

Although I didn’t know what Scott had in mind when he’d said he wasn’t going to put up with Dallas’s bullshit anymore, I knew in that moment that I was with my brother. Whatever steps he decided to take against Dallas after this, I was in.

I was sure most of the people in town would be too.

Colten let out a soft sigh in his sleep and I pressed a kiss to his hair, hoping that he could feel how safe and loved he was right then. His mother might’ve had no idea what she was missing by taking two and a half million dollars instead of loving this boy, but I did.

I knew and I wouldn’t accept a hundred times that in exchange for even just a day spent with him. This little boy had crawled so deep into my heart and knowing that he’d potentially been in danger tonight had just made it that much more obvious to me how much I cared about him.

I would have tackled Dallas myself if he’d tried to hurt Colten. I definitely would’ve lost if I’d tried to take him on, but I would’ve put my body on the line without a second thought to protect this child. Heaven only knew, after everything he’d been through, it was the least I could’ve done.

Colten didn’t deserve all the hurt, the loneliness, and the abandonment. He deserved only all the good things in the world. All the best things, and if it were up to me, I would’ve devoted my life to making sure he got it.