Page 56 of Stalked at Rescue Ridge

It was time this scumbag knew he’d lost. Kade reared his head back and then head-butted the sheriff, knocking the man out cold.

A rustling sound drew closer, and the next thing Kade knew, Rinty came charging toward him with Bree close behind, shotgun at the ready.

Much to his surprise, Chloe was there, too.

“I heard a shot.” Bree dropped down beside Kade, her gaze searching his.. “Are you okay?”

“Perfect. This asshole isn’t doing so hot. He’s going to wake up with one hell of a headache and locked away in a cell where he belongs.” Kade held tight to Carr, his arms a vise around the sheriff’s torso.

Sirens screeched louder, closer.

Chloe stood a safe distance away, tears streaming down her face. “Thank God, you’re all right, Kade. I knew you’d come for me…and I thought when I heard the shot that…”

“I’m here. I’m good. No bullet holes. Just a busted lip,” he soothed. “And you’re going home to Grayson.”

“We’re all going home,” Chloe repeated as sobs racked her. She was shaken but strong. Bree stood up and then walked over to her, taking her in her arms.

“His rifle is right over there.” Kade angled his head a little to the south. “Keep an eye on it until the deputy can tag it as evidence.”

The sounds of the cavalry came in the form of tires on the gravel drive. Kade had no intention of letting Carr out of his grip until a deputy could take the man into custody.

“Stay with Kade. I’ll flag them down.” Chloe was already running toward law enforcement, waving her hands and trying to shout over the truck alarm and sirens.

A few minutes later, she brought Travis back with her. Travis moved beside Kade immediately, pulling zip ties.

“I thought you said half an hour,” Kade teased, trying to shake off the stress and ease the tension of the situation. “That had to be an hour.”

“I’m here now, and this sonofabitch is going to jail.” Travis turned his former boss over and put a knee into Carr’s back as he jerked the former sheriff’s hands behind his back before he zip-tied them. The man was still unconscious.

Chloe hugged her brother. She was trembling. “He came out of nowhere. One minute, I was getting inside my car, the next, I blacked out. When I woke, I was in the trunk of his vehicle.”

Murderous thoughts ran through Kade’s mind, thinking about what his sister had just gone through. It had briefly crossed his mind to snap the man’s neck when the two had been wrestling on the ground moments ago. Kade had stopped himself. He wanted Carr to rot in jail, justice served. Dying would give him the easy way out. At his age, he had a good thirty to forty years to spend behind bars. Prisoners didn’t go lightly on ex-law enforcement officers gone rogue.

“You’re safe now,” Kade reassured.

Travis stood over Carr’s slouched body. “I sent a deputy to his aunt’s house. She started talking almost immediately. Said she’d been afraid for her own life for years. Carr was the son of her sister. His mother had done some pretty awful things to him during his childhood. One of the men she’d brought home was a tattoo artist. He ‘marked’ Carr on the ankle, claiming him. Carr was a mess when his aunt took him in as a seventeen-year-old when his mother overdosed. Said she sent him to shrinks to help him get his head on straight. He was smart enough to convince the doctors that everything was okay. She thought he was turning his life around, so she backed him for the sheriff’s job that he convinced her he wanted years later. Life seemed good for a while. She always thought it odd that he only tried to date blond ladies—his mother was a blonde. He was rejected a lot and must’ve tied that rejection to his mother in his twisted mind. The first victim went missing on his mother’s birthday.”

“There’s never an excuse for abusing a child, and I know firsthand how much that abuse can impact a child,” Kade said. “It sounds like he had every opportunity to turn his life around and didn’t take it. His mind was sound enough to manipulate others, to stalk and kill innocent people.”

“Where he’s going, he’ll need all the skills to keep himself alive,” Travis said as another deputy arrived. Travis looked at Kade and then Bree. Kade could have sworn he saw something pass behind the man’s eyes when he looked at Kade’s sister. But that couldn’t be right. The two barely knew each other. “Stop by my office later to give a statement.”

“Count on it,” Kade said.

“I’ll go with you now,” Chloe said. “Grayson is safe at the ranch with Annmarie.”

Travis nodded. He gave Deputy Hartford a rundown before hoisting Carr up by his ankles. With Hartford’s help, Travis managed to haul the former sheriff away.

The woods and the cabin would be marked off with crime scene tape in a matter of an hour. Evidence would be gathered, including the rifle. A case would be made. And the former sheriff would rot in prison.

“Can we get our daughter and go home now?” Bree asked as she locked gazes with Kade. There was an underlying question in those words.

“Are you asking what I think you are?” Adrenaline was the only thing keeping Kade from a splitting headache.

“Yes. Move in with me. I want to start our life together. We have to hit the ground running, but I can’t think of a better partner to raise our child with than you.”

“I can do better than a ready-made roommate.” With effort, he bent down on one knee. “I have loved you for a long time, Bree Kyndall. My life, my heart is empty without you. I was lost before. I thought moving far away could somehow make me not feel so alone anymore. Hell, I’d never felt truly alone until after that weekend we shared. It changed me.Youchanged me. I’ve known you for the better part of my life. You’re all I’ll ever need. If you’ll have me, I’m asking you to marry me.”

For a long moment, she stood there as though her voice had been robbed. Then, “Yes, Kade. I’ll marry you. I love you with all my heart.” She wrapped her arms around his neck as he stood.

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