Page 83 of Sutton's Shadow

She sat like that for a long while, her uncontrollable sobs tapering off until she was left with nothing but the sniffles and a headache. When her butt buzzed, she flinched. A notification on her phone dinged. She was going to ignore it but knew she couldn’t in case there was word on Bethany. She unlocked her phone and stared at the text.

An address. From Bethany.

Bethany had sent her the address where she had gone.

Clever girl.

A piece of her splintered heart snapped back into place, giving her that sense of purpose she’d been missing for far too long. She could fix this. She could get Bethany back without having to risk anyone else. It was the least she could do. For Wyatt. For the Nighthawks. No one else would get hurt because of her.

She snuck down the stairs, her computer on the coffee table caught her eye. She woke it to take another look at the pictures Bethany had taken. There wasn’t much in the shots of the basement that could tell her what she’d face. But then she saw one more picture she hadn’t noticed earlier.

Holy fuck!

In shock, she stared at the photo taken through a window at the woman standing in a room full of men. The image kicked her in the gut, driving all the breathable air from her lungs. Her wide eyes glued to the picture, she struggled to comprehend what she was seeing. A scream wanted to slice through the ice in her brain.

No. It can’t be.

Valeria Hurtado.

The woman who’d betrayed them all in Colombia was in a house in Lake Haven. How was that even possible?

Every imaginable narrative of what Valeria could be doing there pinged around in her brain, and none of them were good.

Her breath exploded from her mouth, leaving her panting in quick stuttered gasps. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath and held it in until her lungs filled to capacity before letting it out in a long, controlled exhalation. Her heart pounded so hard she could feel it in her ears. Every skin cell tingled, the neurons firing like thousands of ants crawling over her body.

Opening her eyes, she took in the image of Valeria, allowing it to fill her with resolve. Methodically, she reached up and gathered her hair into a ponytail, securing it with the elastic she’d had around her wrist. That done, she continued to scrutinize the face that had haunted her for two years.

She could see it now. She couldn’t before.

Before, Valeria had been just like every other woman in the village. Full of hope and ambition.

Now, she could see something nasty in her eyes and wondered if it had been there all along and she’d missed it.

These days, she was wiser. Studying the photo, she knew what she had to do. She would not let fear keep her in the shadows any longer.

She had something to fight for now.

Bethany, or any other girl, would not become another victim of Valeria’s immorality. And Wyatt would not lose the angel girl who’d held his heart since the day she was born.

What she would face in that basement was unknown, but if Valeria was there, she’d bow to fate and face that evil.

But not without being prepared.

Remembering the gun Wyatt had taken from Ronnie was still in his truck, Sutton crept out the back door and around the side of the house. Reaching the truck, she prayed he’d left it unlocked and pulled the passenger door handle.

It opened just as a trickle of sweat slid down her neck and into her shirt.

She fumbled with the latch on the glove box; the gun lay inside, just where he’d put it. She pulled it out, thankful for the lessons Liam had given her. Remembering his instructions, she made sure the safety was engaged and checked the magazine, then put it in the waistband of her pants, pulling her shirt over it.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, she turned and walked casually down the street... alone... ready to give up everything and fix her mistakes.

IttookWyattafew blocks to cool down, especially since summer was not quite done with them yet. Sweating from the sweltering heat outside, Wyatt returned to his house. His team was waiting for him with a plan in place. Sutton was nowhere to be seen, which was for the best. He’d lost his cool with her and owed her a big apology. He hadn’t meant anything he’d said; his fear for his sister had overtaken his common sense. He hoped he could mend what he’d broken.

With the team heading out to their assigned search quadrants, Wyatt found himself in the passenger seat of Jude’s truck, on his way back to the house he’d thought he’d left for the last time yesterday. Had it only been twenty-four hours since he’d confronted Ronnie to get Bethany’s stuff? It felt like weeks. And now his world was smashed to smithereens, mostly by his own doing.

Fuck.The things he’d said to Sutton. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking. He never would have talked to her like that if his worry for Bethany hadn’t assailed him. He’d always loved the way the two women in his life had clicked. Sutton had been wonderful with his sister, patiently teaching her everything her young brain could soak up.

He’d put the blame solely on Sutton’s shoulders when the truth was, the blame was his. The times when his sister had needed him, he hadn’t been there. He’d put his career first. His desire to be a Ranger was all he’d wanted. Even after things went downhill with Ronnie’s addiction, he’d still put the Rangers first when he should have gotten out long ago and fought to give Bethany a stable home.

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