Page 73 of Sheriff's City Girl

Iblinked a couple of times, my head throbbing as I regained consciousness. I don’t remember being put out—other than it happened before I ever made it out of the Hudsons’ house. I was now convinced that those people were absolutely insane…

If they did this.

Something was fishy about the entire thing, but it was all a blur now. All I could think about was my current surroundings. My back was aching from the way I was slouched over, and wherever I was… It was dark—really dark.

A shudder rolled down my spine as I tried to gather my wits about me. Where was I? I focused on that, keeping myself from panicking. I knew that Mason would be looking for me… right?

Of course he will be.

I shut my eyes—not that it mattered, and that’s when I felt the vibration. I swayed slightly to the right, and it dawned on me then.

I was in the back of a vehicle.

My ankles and wrists were bound, and I didn’t have much movement. Was I in the back of a van? SUV? I couldn’t move enough to even tell.

“Don’t forget that she’s pregnant,” a deep male voice said from the front seat—or backseat. I had no idea where it was coming from, only that it was in front of me.

“Yeah, yeah,” another man chuckled. “She basically handed herself over. I seriously thought that we were going to have a hell of a lot harder time than this. It was almost like she wanted to be taken.”

“No kidding. Great day for a little tiff with the sheriff. Sets us up for success,” the first one—the one with the deeper voice—burst into laughter. “No wonder nothing ever gets solved in this town. He’s a dimwit.”

“Eh,” the other one disagreed. “I actually think he’s pretty sharp. There’s only a couple of unsolved cases in the county, and none of them are on him.” Something about this man’s voice sounded familiar, but in the moment, I couldn’t put my finger on who it might be… But the fact that it did sound familiar made the entire situation much more terrifying.

“You’re just partial to him,” Deep Voice kept the conversation going.

“I ain’t partial to anyone.”

I pursed my lips in the dark, trying to keep my breaths steady as I felt the vehicle bounce across something.

“Shit, this is rough,” Deep Voice grumbled. “I don’t know why we had to go way the hell out here. It ain’t like he’s gonna come find her.”

“Yeah, but see, that’s where I think you’re wrong,” the partial one said. “I think he will come looking for her. I think he might burn the whole town down to find her. I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s crazy about her.”

“Yeah, but we won’t let him in until it’s time… And then we’ll take care of the problem.”

“This is the stupidest fucking plan I’ve ever been in on. I don’t even get why we had to do this. What good does it do to kidnap some pregnant baker? That’s just… dumb.”

“The point is to take care of Hewitt—and they didn’t want him giving that proposal today either.”

I leaned against the side of the vehicle, wishing more than ever that I could get out of the binds. My fingers were tingling, and it wouldn’t be long before they went completely numb. I forced a deep breath, wondering if I still had my cell phone… I doubted I did… And of course, I had taken my smartwatch off and replaced it with a bracelet for the evening.

Ugh.

Nothing was working in my favor. I should’ve stalked after Mason. I shouldn’t have followed Brittany into the kitchen…

Brittany.

The conversation with her came flooding back—was she behind this? And was all the shit she told me the truth? I shook my head at myself in the dark, deciding that it didn’t matter. It didn’t change the fact that I was pregnant, and that I had been kidnapped.

It was truly irrelevant at the moment.

Though I might fight about it with him when this is over… if I get out alive.

No, I told myself. I am going to get out alive.

My thoughts came to a grinding halt as the vehicle turned off, and I realized that we were no longer moving. I held my breath as the car doors opened and then slammed shut again, heavy footsteps crunching in the gravel. I could hear muffled voices, but there was no making out what they were saying.

And then there was a click.

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