Page 82 of These Reckless Hearts

I sigh at his words. “I thought you’d been shot.”

“No, just passed out.”

I grab his hand once I’m settled in. “Lucas?”

“In surgery,” Cole speaks up. “The bullet lodged in his hip bone. He’s going to be fine, but they took him directly into the operating room.”

I lean my head back against the seat, squeezing Stone’s sure fingers. The urge to kill Lance is once again very strong.

As if on cue, the two guys at the mouth of the helicopter drag the basket between us. Ninja, Pete, and Lance step out.

Cole’s voice comes through the headset loud and clear. “Now it’s on you.”

The tone in his voice says it all. He probably would’ve killed him already, and really, maybe it would’ve been easier if he’d died in the shootout.

Stone glares at Lance. “I have a fate worse than death for my father. Something he’ll hate more than anything.”

Lance peeks at his son. He can’t hear what we’re saying but he’d be a fool if he didn’t know we were discussing him. Two men close the helicopter up, and we start to turn. Lance scrambles for purchase, using one of the straps hanging from the roof. His feet glide over the floor, and he struggles to stay upright until the vehicle evens out again.

Stone moves his gaze to Cole. “If we can arrange it so he spends the rest of his life in jail, he’ll die slowly. His freedoms will be taken away. His power. His money. Everything he holds dear will slip through his fingers.”

Cole, who must have grabbed a new shirt while he was at the hospital, rubs his chin. “There are a bunch of dead bodies in the mountains right now. They can be pinned on someone.”

“We can dig up evidence that he kidnapped Dakota,” Wyatt adds.

Stone shakes his head, turning toward me. “I want her out of this. She’s already had to go through so much because of him.” To Cole, he says, “If we can pin the dead bodies on him, I want it done.”

Cole unbuckles his restraints. “I’ll see what I can do.” He gets up from his seat and moves into the cockpit with the pilot, leaving us with the black-clad pseudo-military men. I don’t know who they are. They don’t necessarily look like Dragons. At the same time, I highly doubt the gang has the reach to commandeer a rescue chopper.

Actually, I don’t care how Cole did it. He did, and that’s all that matters.

Lance stares at his son, face drawn and lips moving. He must know Stone can’t hear him. He must know we have no idea what he’s saying. Stone promptly ignores him, grasping onto my hand as tightly as he can. He saved my life today. We can have the discussion another time about how he thinks he dragged me into his father’s shit. It’s all bullshit. I’ll be telling him I was always destined to be in his father’s shit ever since he started searching for the treasure.

Wyatt locks gazes with me. If I had it my way, the three of us would be alone, and I’d be able to touch both of them, feel both of them. If only to prove to myself that we’re still alive. But even then, a part of us would be missing. I lean my head back as the helicopter around me vibrates.We’re coming, Lucas.

I bite the inside of my lip as the emotions start to flow. There are so many things I want to say. So many things I want to tell the guys, but maybe it’s a good thing that talking is difficult right now. Maybe I need a quiet moment to sit here and think about how we’re all okay.

When things were really bad up there, I was terrified of how things were going to end. I didn’t see a way out. Some—or all of us—were going to die.

Stone wasn’t moving. Lucas was bleeding. And I couldn’t find Wyatt.

Those are the moments I don’t want to relive again. Those are the images that make me believe searching for the treasure isn’t worth it, it never was, and it never will be.

How could it be when everything I really need is still alive? Still here?

Wyatt, Stone, and Lucas are my life. And I need to protect them with everything I have. Which should be so much easier now that the threats are gone.

“I love you.” Wyatt’s voice crackles through the earpiece.

I open my eyes and smile at him. We all need some major recovery time after this. Not to mention arranging whatever is going to happen with Lance. Stone’s thought of the perfect punishment. He’s right. Jail is better than death in this case. Death would be too easy. What would make things even worse for Jacobs is if Stone takes over all of his business ventures for himself. Now that’s an idea I can get behind.

“I love you, too, cowboy,” I murmur, vowing to tell them those words every day for the rest of our lives.

He grins. “I suppose this means Lucas is going to get all the attention again?”

I laugh, the tension inside me dissipating. It’s like exhaling all the fucked-up shit that happened today, and it feels so good. “You suppose right.”

He chuckles. “Guess I should have gotten myself shot.”

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