Page 56 of For Always
“Oh, you mean like I’ve been worried since Adriana finally broke down and told me you were out of town,” Alex said.
He was irritated now, his brow furrowed, lips going into a thin line.
“Alex, give her some space,” Monica said. “If she wants to go back, we’ll go with her.”
Alex glanced over his shoulder to Monica who gave him a calm, but stern look. He shook his head as he turned back to Gabriella. “Alright, we’ll go back to this ranch with you. But I promise you Gabriella, I’m not letting you out of my sight again until I get an explanation.”
She tried to nod but it sent shooting pain from her temples throughout her head and down to her neck. “I know. And I’m going to tell you, I promise. Just take me back.”
Alex reached over her and fit the seat belt into its holder with a resounding click.
“I’ll ride in the back with you,” Monica said when Alex moved from the door and walked around the car without another word.
When Monica was seated on the other side of the back seat, her seat belt in place, Gabriella sighed. She was nervous and still a little queasy, but she knew she couldn’t leave like this. She shouldn’t have left the way she had. She would go back and she would help Tyler with whatever was happening now and when he asked what was wrong with her this time, Gabriella swore she was going to tell him. Because this was too much and it had gone on for far too long.
Monica taking her hand again added a layer of calm to Gabriella’s decision and she lay her head back on the seat, hoping the pain would stop before she arrived at Westwind.
The day wasn’t going at all the way Tyler had planned. He’d wanted to get his work done as quickly as possible and then sit with Gabriella to talk about their trip. He hadn’t expected to walk into the equestrian center and see Hannah’s bloody body lying in one of the empty stalls.
And he definitely hadn’t expected Gabriella to come running in minutes later. She’d totally lost it.
That was the only way he could describe what he’d watched happen, just about forty minutes ago. She’d run into the equestrian center, stopping quickly and staring down at the floor. Tyler had no idea what she’d seen on the floor because where she was standing there was only strands of hay and cement. But she’d looked down as if there were something there, something that absolutely terrified her. He’d walked to her in an attempt to get her to leave before she actually did see something heinous. But she pulled away from him.
She’d gone straight to the third stall as if she’d already known what she would find there. And then she’d screamed. The sound had echoed throughout the stalls, sending the horses that were already agitated into a complete state of hysteria. The ranch hands scrambled to get to them before they hurt themselves and Tyler had focused on Gabriella. She wouldn’t let him touch her. Each time he’d tried, she’d move or do something strange with her arms and hands. He didn’t know what was going on or how to help her.
At one point he considered just picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder so he could carry her outside. But he hadn’t wanted to make whatever she was going through worse. When she’d finally backed out of the stall, he thought she was going to calm down and that he could assist her at that time, but she snapped again. And this time she took off running. He’d chased after her, but by then the sheriff and four other police cars were pulling up with sirens blaring. She jumped into her car and pulled off and Tyler told himself she would return to the ranch house to get herself together.
But when he’d finally been able to get back to the house, Gabriella wasn’t there.
“What do you mean she didn’t come back here?” Tyler had asked Jagger when he’d come into the living room.
“I haven’t seen her since the two of you took off running out of here earlier. You could have told me what was going on,” Jagger insisted.
Tyler cursed. He’d walked over to the window to look out but he didn’t see her car. All he saw were police cars and flashing red and blue lights.
“What the hell is going on around here, Tyler? Nevil said Hannah’s dead. She was stabbed on our property.”
Jagger wore jeans and a faded blue t-shirt. That seemed to be his style lately, as he’d walked around the ranch as if he was here for the first time.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Tyler told him. “Stephen said when he pulled up this morning and rode past the equestrian center he could hear the horses whining and kicking against the paddock doors. So he got out and went in to check on them. He smelled the blood as soon as he got inside and thought one of the horses had injured itself, but it wasn’t the horse. It was Hannah.”
Tyler couldn’t believe it himself. Seeing Hannah lying there like that, naked and sliced open. It was horrible and he didn’t understand it. How had Hannah gotten onto the property? How had whoever had done this to her gotten onto the property? And where the hell was Gabriella?
“I gotta go out and look for her,” he told Jagger.
His brother looked at him incredulously. “We’ve sort of got something going on here, man. How are you going to up and leave when this place is crawling with cops?”
“I can’t stay here while she’s out there. You didn’t see her. She’s upset and anything can happen to her. I just have to go!”
He headed for the doorway when Jagger grabbed him.
“Hold on a second, what are you doing? Somebody was killed and you’re gonna run after her!”
“Yes I am dammit!” Tyler yelled and pulled away from Jagger. “I’m gonna find her because I don’t give a damn about any of this without her!”
“Stop all that yelling and call Dr. Morrison,” Dessie said as she came bustling into the living room. “Here, right here,” she continued. “You can lay her right down here on the couch.”
For one brief moment Tyler sighed with relief as he saw Gabriella’s face. But she was limping and there was a bump on her head. A man was on one side of her and a woman on the other. Tyler jumped into action, racing over to help her.
