Page 138 of Starcrossed Colorado

I screamed and ran. Elias was right behind me, closing the distance. The wooden plank whistled through the air as I tried to hit him, but it smacked into his arm and he knocked it to the ground.

He grabbed me, shoving me to the dirt and pinning my arms behind my back.

“I believe you!” I shouted, struggling. “You didn’t mean to hurt her. Don’t make the same mistake. Let me go!”

“For you to go running to Ashford, so he can turn the whole town against me? No way. I’ll make it look like one of those reporters or a crazed Ayla Maxwell fan tracked us down. Broke into the house and kidnapped you.” He leaned down, his voice a harsh snarl in my ear. “And I’ll make sure that nobody ever finds you.”

His hands closed around my throat.

THIRTY-FOUR

Ashford

I speddown Elias’s driveway. Nearly every light in the house seemed to be on.

It had taken me twenty minutes to get here. I’d been speeding so fast my tires had nearly spun out on some of the curves. On the way, I’d called Teller and reported everything we’d learned. I’d begged him to send an officer here to check on Emma and Maisie. Unfortunately, he and his officers were still on Main Street dealing with the reporters and irate citizens.

Teller had told me to be patient. That we had no specific reason to think Elias would hurt them, even if he was L. He’d promised to notify the sheriff’s department, and someone would head this way as soon as possible.

No police cars were here yet. But I wasn’t waiting. Not when the two people I loved most could be in danger.

I jumped out of the truck and ran toward the porch, dialing Emma’s phone again at the same time. It went straight to voicemail.

Then I saw the front door. It was wide open.

I took a step over the threshold. “Emma!” I shouted. “Maisie!”

Silence.

A scream ripped through the quiet. But it hadn’t come from the house.

Sprinting out the door, I crossed the yard toward the barn. The side door was open. I rushed inside. It was dark except for the faint glow of a flashlight on the dirt floor.

I saw the outline of heavy male shoulders crouched over something on the ground. Elias.

He was on top of Emma with his hands around her throat.

I yelled, not even recognizing my own voice, it was so feral. My body crashed into Elias, knocking him to the side. We both rolled in the dirt. He leaped onto me, trying to get me into a submission hold. I kneed him hard in the side. Slammed my fist into his chin. Faintly, I heard Emma coughing and retching.

Elias careened to one side, and I scrambled over him, wrapping my arms around him to put him in a chokehold as he tried defensive maneuvers.

Fury had nearly blinded me. My arms squeezed as he kept fighting against me. “I thought you were my friend,” I gritted out. I clenched my teeth so hard that I bit my own tongue, tasting the metallic tang of blood.

His face was turning bright red. He struggled, but I held him too tightly for him to move. I was choking off his air supply.

My eyes stung with bitter tears as I thought of the depth of his betrayal. Everything he had taken from me and my daughter. And what he had almost taken just now.

“I should kill you for what you’ve done,” I said. I was close. So fucking close. “But I won’t. This is your one chance. Yield.”

I eased up enough that Elias could nod.

Panting, I pushed off of him roughly, knocking him back against the dirt as I stood and put a couple of feet of distance between us.

“Ashford—” he started to say, coughing.

“Shut your mouth.” I searched for Emma from the corner of my eye. “Baby, you okay?”

“I’m all right.” Emma’s voice was hoarse. She came up behind me, and I reached back to touch her, reassuring myself that she was there.

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