Page 59 of Rip Ryder's Second Chance

“How am I supposed to know?” She averted her gaze.

“Parker, you know something. If he hurts Noelle—”

“Stop!” she said on a sob. “He’s my husband. The father of my children. He might be a cheater but he’d never hurt anyone.”

“Is that what you think he’s doing? Cheating with Noelle?” Saying the words aloud sounded more ridiculous than thinking them.

Parker sighed. “Derry admitted to me that back when they were teens, he and Noelle had something. A relationship…maybe just sex…I don’t know. My husband has flaws. If he’s with Noelle that’s the only reason I can think of.” She dropped down on the sofa.

Rip rubbed his tight jaw. “Your husband never had a relationship, or anything, with Noelle. He drugged her with the intention of taking advantage of her.”

She laughed. “That’s absurd. Derry would never drug a woman.”

“We have proof, which you’ll learn about soon enough. In the meantime, we need to find where Derry is,” Bend said levelly.

After three heartbeats of silence, Parker said quietly, “I have a tracker on his truck.”

Rip couldn’t remember hearing better news. “Why didn’t you mention this sooner?”

Parker sat back, looking defeated. “I don’t want to get myself into trouble. I don’t know if there are any laws against placing a tracker on someone’s vehicle. Anyway, I told you, my husband has flaws. When I started suspecting that he was seeing other women I knew I needed proof. Yet, our marriage has never been better and he’s been more affectionate. I had almost forgotten that I even still had the device on his truck.”

Rip doubted that, but this wasn’t the time to dissect every detail. “Can you pull up the information to see if we can locate him?” he said urgently.

She got into her phone, pressed a few buttons, and handed it over.

Rip examined the map and found the red dot, symbolizing Derry’s location. He felt distraught. Anxious. He looked at Bend and said, “Snowbleed Mountain.”

***

Noelle ran through the dark. Branches and bushes caught the material of her jeans, slowing her down. Her breath came in pants, but she wouldn’t let herself stop to take a break. After splashing hot coffee into Derry’s face, she managed to get the door open and flee the truck. She took off without even looking where she should go.

If Derry caught her, he’d kill her.

Pushing her way through low hanging branches and limbs, she felt the finger like claws of sharp objects scraping her face, hands and arms, but her adrenaline surged preventing her from feeling any pain.

Her heart thumped so fast, she had to stop and take a few breaths. Sucking in oxygen into her parched lungs, she examined the shadows. In the distance, she could hear leaves being crushed under foot. He was too close.

She squinted through the darkness, trying to get a grip on which way she should go. It was too dark to see much. Running through the mountain landscape could be a death sentence if she wasn’t careful.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears but then another sound, the downshifting of a truck getting close to Snowbleed, gave her hope. She turned in the direction of the sound and ran as fast as she could toward what she hoped was salvation. She had to stay alive for her son. He needed her.

She could no longer hear the truck’s engine, but she had to keep moving forward.

Her shoe caught on a downed tree and she tripped, falling face first onto the ground. She felt a sting to her forehead and a throbbing sensation to her nose, but she didn’t have time to worry if she was injured. Through the dense trees, she could see light. Headlights maybe. She prayed it was Rip.

She was so close.

Sweat beaded on her forehead. Her shirt was soaked.

Her chest ached.

With determination, she raced for the lights.

Just as soon as she saw a truck in the clearing cast in the light of a security lamp, she shot toward a break in the trees. A strong arm caught her by the waist, imprisoning her between a slender body and tight clutch. She inhaled the strong scent of coffee and knew Derry had caught up to her.

She fought against his strong grasp but cold metal against her cheek stilled her. He had a gun held on her. Where had the gun come from him? So, he truly did mean to kill her.

“Shh, sweetheart. Let’s not alert our company,” Derry whispered next to her ear.

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