Page 40 of Chance

He punched her hard in the stomach.

All the air whooshed out of her, and she flashed back to a time when she was little and fell out of a tree on the ranch. She couldn’t breathe for a long time.

She started to crumble to the ground, but Truman grabbed her and pulled her along. “You’ll be fine. I need you compliant. Let’s go talk to the old lady.”

Chapter 25

When Chance and his brothers pulled up to Ms. Connie’s old schoolhouse, they could see the little makeshift apartment she’d always lived in. Porter took control, using silent signals to send people around the back. Nash found a tree and climbed up to the second level of the house. Chance and Porter took the front, guns out.

They didn’t knock, just turned the knob and walked in. Screaming and crying echoed in the distance. Chance and Porter sprinted up the stairs to the little apartment. Glass shattered, and they burst through the door in time to see Nash barreling through the broken window.

Chance wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Kelly was on the ground, her eyes closed, and the man who must be Truman had his arm around Ms. Connie’s neck, a gun to her head.

“Let the lady go,” Chance ordered.

Porter had a clear shot. “I’ll take the shot and you’ll die, man. Let her go.”

Truman glared at them, and then a cruel smile turned his lips upward. “If I were you, I’d be taking Kelly to the hospital. She’s bleeding. You know where. It might’ve been the punches I threw too many times.”

Anger and adrenaline shot through Chance, and he lunged toward Kelly.

“Ms. Connie!” Porter yelled.

“Kill him, Porter. Kill him!” Ms. Connie grunted.

There was a shot, but Chance didn’t see any of it. He’d fallen to Kelly’s side.

Chapter 26

Kelly heard voices, but they were muffled and distorted, like she was at the bottom of a swimming pool. She fought to swim to the top until her eyelashes fluttered open. Everything was blurry, and she moaned.

“She’s opening her eyes,” Chance’s voice said. Then she felt his hand in hers.

Her body swayed and then jostled, and then she felt something soft beneath her. A truck’s engine roared to life.

She tried to ask about Ms. Connie, but the darkness claimed her again before she could get the words out.

Sometime later, she awoke to the sound of someone else moving to her side. “I’m going to raise her up and give her some water.”

Kelly tried to move her hands, but only one responded. The other was bound firmly. When she opened her eyes, she saw a nurse checking her vitals.

With a start, she remembered Truman throwing her down as Ms. Connie screamed. Truman had demanded she tell them where the gold was; he said that she must know, because she was friends with the Crosses’ father. She’d denied it, and then Truman had started punching Kelly, over and over, until she’d fallen and he’d switched to kicking her.

She had to be heavily medicated, because the memory didn’t spur anything besides distant sadness.

A straw touched her lips, and she sucked down the water. It was cool and calming.

When the nurse pulled the drink away, Kelly turned to Chance. He was the only other person in the room. “Chance?”

He put his hand on her shoulder, his expression infinitely gentle. “I’m so sorry, Kel… but you lost the baby.”

Kelly blinked furiously. Even with the medication, the news hit somewhere deep in her chest, and she started to cry. But she pushed through to her other question. “Ms. Connie?”

“She’s okay.” With his free hand, he cradled both of hers. “Rest now.”

She closed her eyes, feeling battered both emotionally and physically. She was so tired; all she could do was allow sleep to claim her again.

Chapter 27

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