Page 105 of Midnight Secrets

“What happened?” I looked up from the sight with a frown.

“She had a gun.” Claire brushed some snow off her top. “I shot it out of her hand.”

“You—” The words wouldn’t come out. She’d shot a handgun out of someone’s hand? “Why didn’t you aim for center-mass? Was she trying to shoot you?”

“Yes. But I didn’t want that on my conscience.” Her mouth twisted, then her expression hardened. “Besides, I want her to pay for what she did. Death is too easy.”

“What she did?” A sinking feeling filled my stomach.

Claire nodded. “Grace killed Marie. Her brother just covered it all up. She set fire to my office too.”

“You can’t prove any of it!” Grace wiggled beneath me but halted with a moan. “I didn’t say shit on the record.”

“Maybe not,” Riggs said, locking her handcuffs so they wouldn’t tighten anymore on her. “But after all this, I can get a bunch of warrants for all kinds of things.” He rolled up onto the balls of his feet and hooked a hand under her arm.

Ellis and Mina got up, and I grabbed Grace’s other arm, helping Riggs get the woman to her feet.

An ambulance turned the corner, killing its siren as it approached.

Riggs glanced at me. “Where’s Turner?”

“Inside.” My gaze flicked to Grace. She didn’t know I’d killed her brother.

She turned her head to look at me, still glaring daggers, but she must have seen something in my eyes. The fire leachedfrom her expression and a hollowness appeared in her cheeks as horror took hold. “No,” she whispered. A glare formed, bringing her brows down to a point. “No!” she screamed and jerked against Riggs’s hold.

“I’m sorry, Grace.” I wouldn’t fill her ears with a line like, “I had no choice.” I didn’t, but she wouldn’t care. Someone she loved was dead. It didn’t matter that he attacked me. To her, it was my fault, and it would always be my fault.

“No!” She screamed again. “You bastard!” Riggs firmed his grip and started her toward the ambulance. “Oh, you better hope they lock me away for the rest of my life. I willmurderyou in your sleep if I ever get out.”

Stumbling over her feet and still struggling with the chief, she continued to shout threats and call me names as he hauled her away.

Sorrow twinged in my chest. For her and for Gabe. It didn’t need to end this way. No one needed to die. They’d made a choice and so had I.

Mine had been to live.

“Oh! Ozzie!” Claire fell into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her sweet scent. It felt so good to have her in my arms. “You okay, honey?”

She nodded against me. “I’m fine. Everything is okay now.” Leaning back, she framed my face in her hands, searching my gaze. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

“Same, sweetheart.” I palmed the back of her head and gave her a quick, fierce kiss. Just enough to make my brain believe she—this—was real, and I wasn’t lying on my kitchen floor, dreaming about her as I bled out.

“Oz. Man.” Ellis’s hand landed on my back.

I let Claire go and turned to hug my brother. Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes, and I hugged him harder. “Thankyou.” When I decided to come to Alaska, forging a stronger relationship with Ellis was the driving factor. We were each other’s only living relative. To think I could have lost him or he could have lost me was as unfathomable and as painful as the idea of losing Claire.

“Can we not do that ever again?” Ellis eased back and gripped my shoulder.

Huffing a quick laugh, I agreed. “Never.”

CHAPTER 38

Claire

Four weeks later…

The clammy sheenof sweat dampened my palms, and I swiped them down the sides of my jeans. My heart thrummed in my chest, flapping like a butterfly caught in a windstorm.

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