Page 65 of DFF: Delicate Freakin' Flower

Maybe she was up early. Perhaps she couldn’t sleep. Maybe?—

The thought cut off before it could finish, sharp and unwelcome.

I checked the bathroom. It was empty. The small kitchen was the same—no sign of movement. There was no coffee brewing, no dishes out of place. That cold, uneasy feeling settled deeper into my gut.

I pulled on a pair of jeans, tugged on my boots, and shrugged into a flannel shirt before stepping outside. The early morning air bit at my skin, sharp and unforgiving. A few ranch hands were already out by the barn, but when I asked, none of them had seen her.

Then I saw it—the SUV we’d taken from the men was gone. I didn’t even have to guess what she'd done.

“Shit,” I growled, turning on my heel and heading for the main house.

Eddie was in the back, already sipping a mug of something dark and nuclear strength. He raised an eyebrow when he saw me storm in.

“Gabby’s gone,” I clipped, looking around for my brother.

He set the mug down. “You sure?”

I nodded, jaw tight. “She took the SUV. Didn’t even wake me.”

We moved fast, cutting through the surveillance feed on the ranch’s private system. One of the exterior cams caught her around 4:17 a.m., slipping out of the cottage in her boots, jacket slung over one shoulder, moving like she already knew she wouldn’t be stopped.

The footage hit me like a punch to the chest.

“I know where she’s going.” I was already pulling out my phone. “She’s going to him.”

“You think she’s turning herself in?”

“She’s not stupid,” I growled. “She’s doing something where she’s the bait and setting a fucking trap. She just didn’t trust us enough to bring us in on it.”

Eddie didn’t argue, he just nodded and started grabbing gear while I called Matty, ignoring his grumbling, and had him trace Gabby’s phone. I didn’t expect much. She’d been careful with her signal up to this point.

But when he called back ten minutes later, his voice was sharp and confident.

“Her phone’s active again,” he said, not sounding surprised. “It's lit up at a hotel in downtown Orlando, the Halcyon. She also sent a message out from it maybe thirty minutes ago.”

“Who to?” I asked warily, even though I already knew what the answer was going to be.

“I knew you were going to ask that, so I looked the number up beforehand—it belongs to Colin Maddox.”

I ended the call and spun back toward the others. Marcus had joined us by this point and was already throwing a bag into the back of the truck. Two of the ranch hands, Jake and River, stood nearby, tense and ready.

“She’s in the city,” I told them. “Let’s move.”

We loaded up in less than ten minutes. I climbed into the passenger seat as Marcus took the wheel, with Eddie following close behind in the second truck, the others trailing behind us. Gravel spat from the tires as we tore down the ranch road and headed to Orlando.

On the way out, I called my cousins Ren and Cole, guessing they'd be together at this time. When we'd first warned them about the situation, we hadn’t shared many details—just that we were moving dangerous men and needed their help keeping watch over the ranch and surrounding area. But I knew Marcus had filled them in on everything new last night.

“You’re heading to Orlando?” Ren asked, voice tight with tension.

“Yeah, Gabby’s there alone. She’s trying to draw Maddox out.”

There was a pause, then Cole cut in. “We had some arrests come through during the night. Two locals, but get this, our guys caught two more that didn’t look or act local.”

Ren snorted. "Stop trying to pretend you're professional. You know damn well they're out-of-towners, so just say so."

I interrupted them before a war broke out between the brothers. “Were they following anyone?”

“Nah, they were watching from the outskirts. They camped out near the western edge of the ranch, and it looked like they were waiting for a signal.”

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