Page 22 of Sean

“How do you know? He could have taken them. They could be gone forever.” Why had she let them out of her sight?

“We’ll all search together. Emmy, Tara,” he called into the barn door. “Amos and Lucy are missing. We have to find them.”

Soon, Sean’s siblings, parents, and the ranch hands were looking for the kids. They went through the main barn and the two smaller ones, including going into the lofts. Kelly broke off to search the house more carefully while the rest of them went to check the other outbuildings.

Julia knew that only minutes had gone by, but each one felt like years as she struggled against bone-deep fear. The only reason she could even move was that standing still was ten times worse.

“Got ’em,” Emmy yelled a few minutes later. “They were playing hide and seek.” The kids came out of an equipment shed with Emmy and ran toward Julia. She dropped to her knees and hugged them both so tightly that they began to squirm away from her.

“How about I take them inside for a snack?” Joe suggested. “I think we’ve got some ice cream in the freezer.

“Ice cream in the middle of the day?” Amos was all smiles at the promise of the unexpected treat.

“You bet. Come on, kids.” Joe took a hand from each kid and guided them toward the house.

Julia rose to her feet, feeling sick and upset. Everything had been too much that day. The video, the missing kids. What else…what else was going to happen? How much worse could all this get?

“See, they were fine,” Emmy said, smiling at her, and something in Julia broke.

“I thought you were watching them,” Julia said. “I trusted you to do that, and you let them wander all over. They could have…they could have…”

“Hey,” Tara said, stepping in on behalf of her sister. “Emmy didn’t do anything wrong. The kids were perfectly fine. I know you got out of a bad situation with your ex, but you’re not there anymore. It’s safe to let the kids play here.”

Julia shook her head. “It’s not safe. Nowhere is safe.”

“What does she mean?” Tara demanded of her brother. “Why are you both acting like something terrible is going to happen? What’s really going on here?”

Julia felt panicked and must have looked it. She was sorry that she’d barked at Emmy. Sorry that she’d brought trouble to these people. But she didn’t know what to do. She could run again. Leave here and try to hide, but what she’d said was true—nowhere was safe. Not from Wilson and his rage. And now that she knew her sister’s death wasn’t an accident, her fear for the kids was even greater. She’d already known Wilson was capable of murder. Even if the evidence had been destroyed, Sophie had told her about how Wilson had killed a former lieutenant—one who had dared to share intel with Sophie. But to learn that he’d killed Mira, that he was capable of striking out in violence even against the person he’d once sworn to love and cherish for as long as he lived…if he could do that, there was no way his children were safe from him. If he got his hands on them, anything was possible.

“Julia,” Sean said, getting her to look up at him. “I think it’s time we told my family the whole truth. It’s the only way they’ll understand what’s at stake.”

Instinct had her shaking her head. The truth was a terrible burden that Julia didn’t want to inflict on anyone. These kind people didn’t deserve the ugly truth of her situation. “Can’t,” she whispered. “It’s too awful.” She knew they were all looking at her and waiting just as surely as she knew the story had to be told. They had a right to know if she was going to stay, and she had nowhere else to go. She hated being desperate. She’d spent the past two months with a sense of desperation, of doom, hanging over her. Only here on the ranch had that lessened and that was because of these good people. That thought made her pull herself together. “I’m sorry, Emmy. I shouldn’t have blamed you. You didn’t know how serious this all is. And your brother’s right. I need to tell your family.”

“Let’s go inside,” Emmy said, slipping her arm around Julia’s shoulders and giving them a squeeze. “I think there’s a lot to be said.”

TWELVE

Sean ushered everyone into the living room and put Amos and Lucy in the den to watch a kids’ movie as they finished their bowls of ice cream. He placed Julia where she could see her niece and nephew in the next room and prepared to face his family. The best way to do this was to treat it like a briefing before a mission. Stick to the relevant facts with a focus on keeping everyone safe. He took the lead so Julia didn’t have to.

“The kids’ father is a man named Benjamin Wilson. Julia and two of her friends discovered that he was using his job as the director of a museum in Virginia Beach to smuggle drugs into the country,” Sean said. “One of her friends, Helen—Ethan’s wife—” Sean said to his dad, who just nodded. Joe had already gotten part of the story directly from Ethan. “—worked at the museum and literally stumbled over the drugs. She accidentally knocked over the box while she was looking for something else. She took pictures of what she’d found and sent them to their other friend, Sophie, a reporter who had done a couple of stories on a new street drug. Helen thought this might be the source. Sophie talked Helen through getting a sample, and Sophie had it tested—it was a match.”

“How did Julia get involved?” Tara asked.

“Wilson was her brother-in-law. She moved in with him to look after the kids after her sister died. One night, she overheard him on the phone, talking about how Helen and Sophie were on to him. He was planning to have them killed—but Julia was able to get word to them in time, and they went to ground. Julia knew Wilson would realize that she was the one who’d warned them, so she had to get out of there. And since she didn’t trust him with the kids, she brought them with her.”

“That’s nuts,” Emmy said. “I’m so sorry, Julia.”

“That’s not everything,” Sean continued. “Wilson’s crimes go deeper than any of us realized at first. He’s got a whole criminal network—complete with henchmen on speed dial. Helen and Sophie had some seriously close calls. If it weren’t for Ethan and Owen, they might not have survived. Finally, Sophie was able to gather enough evidence to go to press with a story—and that’s gotten law enforcement to sit up and take notice.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” Kelly asked.

“In the long run, yes,” Sean agreed. “Once he’s caught, the evidence against him is strong enough that he’ll go away for a long time. But right now? He’s lost his position at the museum and the associates he relied on. He’s on the run while an investigation from multiple agencies is ongoing. He’s angry and desperate, and there’s no limit to what he might do.”

“Tell them about Mira,” Julia said in a soft voice, and he wished he could have spared her from hearing what he had to say.

“As far as all of us knew, Julia’s sister, the kids’ mom, died in a car accident two years ago. But we learned today that the car wreck was staged. Mira was already dead when Mason—Wilson’s go-to guy to do his dirty work—placed her in that car. We believe she was murdered.”

“By her husband?” Joe asked.

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