Page 78 of The Secrets She Keeps

Powell turned.

Her cousin Turner’s wife stood right there in pale green scrubs. Annie’s sweetly pretty face was absolutely shocked. She came running. Powell reached a hand for her.

Annie would get help. She was safe now. She knew it.

There were others coming. Her friend Shelby’s brother, Allen. He was Jake’s brother-in-law. Murdoch’s brother-in-law was there too. Caine or Rafe. They were identical, but Powell had always been able to tell them apart. Caine was a little wilder looking. Powell just looked into his face. “They still have Heather. They still have Heather, Rafe. I didn’t know what to do. Four, seven, nine, T. That was the first four on the plate. They forced her into the truck, and they drove away. After I escaped. Heather…she distracted them. So I could escape. We have to get her back. We have to.”

“Someone call the TSP,” Rafe ordered. Then he lifted her onto a gurney so carefully. She was safe. She was with Zoey’s brother now. And Shelby’s. She was safe. “It’ll be okay, Powell. We’ll take care of you now.”

“But what about Heather?”

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Heather had donewhat she had to do. She kept telling herself that as she climbed. She was good at climbing. Most Colesons were. Cashlyn and Samia hated heights, but Heather and Hope and Crispin and Summer—they had all liked climbing things.

She was going to climb. There were those windows right up there. She was going to get out and get back to her daughters.

That she was leaving two men’s bodies behind her, maybe even a third—well, that was what she had had to do to get back to her family. To her babies. Frankie and Ember were waiting for their mama right now.

Heather just kept climbing.

Frankie had another speech therapy appointment tomorrow. Heather had to get home. Her daughter needed that therapy, and it wasn’t cheap. They charged you no matter what, even if you had to cancel. She would have to call them, explain about…what had happened. Beg if she had to. Frankieneededspeech therapy. Heather was going to get it for her somehow.

And Ember would be needing fed soon. They were probably out of milk at home by now. It had been hours. Heather neededto pump. Her breasts were sore, and she needed to pump. To make sure her baby girl had enough to eat.

Her daughters needed her.

Heather just kept climbing.

Until her hands reached the first window.

She tried to push. It wouldn’t budge. A sob escaped.

She kept trying. And trying. The sixth window. It was broken, though. Just enough, she could wiggle her hands into the track. Heather pushed as hard as she could.

Smoke was building near the ceiling. She coughed, sobbed. Her eyes burned.

She was getting back to her babies. And she was going to make sure Powell had gotten away too. She was telling herself Powell had made it back to Gunnar. Powell and Gunnar were going to have a baby together and Gunnar would be happy. Get his second chance at alife.

Because Gunnar deserved to behappy.Gunnar was good.

He deserved to be happy. Good people deserved to be happy, damn it.

Heather was going to convince him to quit the TSP. To go into private security or something. Maybe she’d join Gunnar and they’d build a private security firm or private investigations together. Then, they wouldn’t be the TSP’s or Daniel McKellen’s puppets any longer.

That was what she was going to do. And she’d convince Miguel and Hope to join them. Hope could be safe and right there with Miguel fawning over her forever. That was what Heather was going to do.

Heather hated the TSP so much. So much. She hated Daniel Butthead McKellen so much too.

She heard someone yell behind her. Beneath.

Heather looked down.

Hewas there. The one Heather had not gotten a really good look at, in the dark that way. The one Powell said had been in Wyoming. The really evil one. The one who hated her the most. The oneshehated the most.

And he was angry. He had a gun too. He fired. But missed. He wasn’t very good with a gun. Even Cara was probably better than him, and Cara refused to even try to learn how to fire a gun properly. She just covered her ears and said, “No, no, no, it’s too loud!” every time Heather or Norm tried to teach her.

Sometimes Cara needed Heather to take care of her too. Heather was getting back to her niece, no matter what. Her girls. Her sisters. Her nephews, so surrounded by girls everywhere in the family. She wanted her family. Even wanted the chance to get to know Quade now too. To answer the endless questions her new nephew with her dad’s beautiful smile kept emailing her now. She wanted herfamily.

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