Page 133 of Wyatt

“No, what—no!” She fought him, kicking, but he pushed her down and brought the vest around her, zipping her up into it.

“No, please—I have a son. He needs me.”

“Shh. Listen. Like I told you, if you—and your boyfriend—cooperate, no one will get hurt.” He finished zipping up the vest, then reached out and pulled her up to her feet, pulling her out of the camper. “And you’re saving America, possibly the world. Don’t you want to be a patriot?”

“How—how are you apatriotby killing people?”

“Oh, honey. I’m not going to kill people. I’m just killingyou.”

He said it with an easy smile.

She began to shake.

He put his hand on her cheek. “Calm down. Listen, this will be easy. Like I said, fate is on our side. I was trying to figure out how to get into Jackson’s rally, how to make her confess the truth, and now…” He smiled, leaned down, and kissed her cheek.

She recoiled, looked away.

“Wyatt will do it for me.”

“Wyatt isn’t going to do anything—”

“Really?” He stepped away from her, pulled out his cell phone, and turned it back on. “I think he is. See, if I tried to get into the rally, even if they didn’t have me on some watch list, there’s no way I could get to the mic. But your superstar boyfriend will have no problem getting the world to listen to him, will he?”

He stepped back and held up his phone. “Your job is to convince him to listen to you. Smile for the camera.”

He snapped a picture of her standing there. “Let’s get a short video, just for fun.”

“No, I won’t—”

“Nothing to say? Really? Because if this doesn’t work, then well, yes, it will end poorly. And I’ll have to start all over again, and frankly, I’m running out of time. The election is in two short months.”

A tear edged off her chin. “What—I don’t know what to say.”

“Oh, just speak from your heart. In three, two, one—” He pointed at her, and the green light on the phone lit up.

And then, oh…

This was not how it was supposed to end between them. Wyatt was supposed to come back to her. Tell her he loved her. Protect her.

They were supposed to have a happy ending.

But maybe life didn’t work that way, not for her. Maybe she’d been right all along—happily ever afters didn’t exist.

If she hadn’t lied, hadn’t run away, hadn’t let her hurt hide the truth from Wyatt…

So, she looked into the camera and said the words she should have said five years ago.

“I love you, Wyatt Marshall. I always have. And I always will. I am sorry I ran away from you. I was scared. Afraid that if I gave you my heart, you wouldn’t love me back. But…” Her tears ran hot down her cheeks. “But you do love me, and I know that, even if it was your turn to run.”

She cleared her voice and found a smile. “You’re my hero. I trust you, Wyatt. And…I don’t know what this man wants you to do, but whatever happens…thank you for coming to Russia. Thank you for our beautiful son. I know you’ll take care of him.”

Her captor lowered the phone. “Aw, that’s sweet.”

Then he shoved her back into the camper. “I hope he’s the hero you believe him to be.”

He closed the door.

“Please—don’t do this!”

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