Page 3 of The Prey
The reason she was hiding out at the ranch again right now to begin with.
Jason Clarke and Hudson had been buddies back then. And Hudson had made it clear whereshefell on his little ladder at the office. She had never forgotten that. She never would.
Maybe it was time to quit. To just give uptryingto make a difference for the victims, for the people in her community. She had been a victim, and nothing had come of it. Nothing. It had all just disappeared—she had never figured out why.
She couldn’t even find original incident reports she’d given to the Barrattville City Police. Nothing had been sent to the county, nothing had been sent to the prosecutor’s office. Everything was just…gone.
Except the original copies she had hidden away in her suite now. Those copies…were all she had to prove what that man had done to her.
She didn’t know how much longer she could just keep dealing with Hudson. Notnow.She just didn’t. Sometimes, she wondered…what was the point? So many bad things happened togoodpeople every day. That weighed on her soul so much.
Sometimes, she felt so alone when she left the office. Like…empty.
Maybe, maybe it would bebetternow that she had her family to come home to again. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed living with her brothers and sisters until she’d made the decision to movehome.Maybe…things would get better now.
Gia had options. She just had to remember that.
She didn’t even have to keep working for Hudson, either.
She had a standing offer to go into practice with her big brother, if she wanted. George made the offer all the time. She’d gotten a job offer recently to work with Barratt, Barratt & Barratt, the most prestigious law office in Finley Creek County or Barratt County, too.
Well, it was more of a standing offer. She could do just fine there. One of her closest friends from law school was a partner there—she, her brothers, her parents, and two unclesownedthat firm. They had first made an offer to Gia before she’d even passed the bar. She would be okaythere. All she had to do was tell Powell yes.
She could work with George part-time, and for B-3 part-time, if she wanted. Gia hadoptions.She had to remember that.
She could volunteer at W4HAV, too. In Finley Creek. Give free legal aid to the women there who needed it. W4HAV was a women’s charity she was very familiar with now. But working for B-3 really wasn’t what she wanted at this point. That would be…running.
She wasn’t quite ready to give it up with the Barratt County Attorney’s office yet. She’d become an attorney so she could make a difference. To help the people in her own community.
She wasn’t going toquit.To just run because Hudson Hanan scared her too much. A Hiller never quit. If she started running from Hudson, she’d probably just keep running forever. From everything.
She wasn’t going to do that.
She tucked Ryan in, marveling again that Hudson had managed to make such a sweet little boy as this. She hoped the senior Hanan knew how lucky he was. Ryan was his aunt Hala all over again, with brown curls everywhere, big brown eyes that could convince a woman to give him everything he’d ever wanted, and a mischievous grin that made Gia smile every time. She adored this little man.
Far more than she did his father, that was for sure.
She’d once wanted half a dozen kids of her own. But now that she was thirty, she didn’t think that would happen. Not considering that the mere idea of dating a man, trusting a man, enough to let one close to her long enough to form that kind of lasting relationship, made her literally sick to her stomach to even think about.
She was doingbetter.She still went for counseling at W4HAV, two times a month. It was helping. She was getting there. Taking control again.
She’d be okay someday. Someday.
Then…maybe…she’d try dating again.Slowly.
As she went back toward her bedroom, her hand went to her throat. Memories rose up to choke her just like the last man she had dated had done.
Her sketchpad was right there on the bedside table. In the room she’d had as a child. She felt…safe…here. She always had.
That safety felt violated with Hudson here.Her number two enemy was in the one place Gia still felt safe. He had invaded. Taking some of that feeling of safety away.
Gia still didn’t know what part Hudson had played in making the reports of what Jason had done to her just go away. She would never fully trust Hudson. She just wouldn’t.
How could she? He and Jason had beenfriendsand only a handful of people would have had the power to make those reports go away in Barratt County.
Hudson topped that list. She had…never forgotten. Couldn’t trust him. And never would. Especially now.
But his little sister was just down the hall, too. And Gia loved Hala like she was another sister of her own. Halaand Genny and Greer were the only ones on the planet that knew what had happened to Gia that night.Theyhad saved her, literally. And Hala, too. Memories of losing most of her family in a vicious car accident six years ago were haunting Hala. Hala needed Gia here with her now. For a little while.
