If she was alive, what did that mean?
The bastard had still strangled me. But what if he’d done it to protect his daughter? What if everything I’d assumed was wrong?
“Where are we meeting him?” Vance asked her.
“Uncle Vance—”
“No arguments.” Spoken like a man who’d given her orders before. Orders she’d obeyed. He was her uncle, maybe not by blood, but practice. He jerked his chin down the hall. “Want to use the bathroom before we go?”
A strange look flashed across Vera’s face. It was a combination of relief and exhaustion and elation, like using a bathroom, with running water and a flushing toilet, was a luxury she rarely got to experience.
“First door on your left,” I said, offering her a small smile.
“Thanks,” she murmured, then slipped past Vance and walked down the hall.
The moment the door clicked shut, he blew out a long breath. Both of his hands dove into his hair, pulling at the strands. “What the fuck? How is this real?”
“I don’t know.”
“She’s alive.” He stared at a spot on the wall, his gaze unfocused. “He kept her hidden for four years. We all thought he’d killed her. If he didn’t . . . what else did we get wrong?”
“The twins?”
Vance shook his head. “I was the one who identified their bodies. Norah’s too.”
So it was just Vera.
“Why would he hide her?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Nothing about this makes sense.” He let out a frustrated groan, then held out an arm. An invitation.
So I moved to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he hauled me close.
“I mourned her, Lyla. I cried for her. But she’s here. She’s in the bathroom, isn’t she? Am I dreaming this?”
“She’s here.”
“I don’t know what to think, Blue.”
“You have to go with her. You have to talk to Cormac.” I tilted my chin back to meet his gaze. “And I’m coming with you.”
“Lyla—”
“No arguments.” I stole his own words. “There’s more to this story. I have the right to know the truth.”
Vance wasn’t the only one who wanted answers. I needed to know if the man who’d tried to kill me, who hadn’t killed me when he’d had the chance, was truly the villain.
I needed to know why he’d let me go.
“It’s too dangerous. I have no idea how he’ll react. He was violent with you once.”
“His daughter will be there.” I was counting on Vera acting as a buffer.
“No.”
“Please? What if you need a witness?”
“Lyla. I won’t risk something happening to you.”
“I need this, Vance. To face him.” And to be there when Vance faced Cormac too. “We’re stronger together.”
Vance sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“There’s a chance you’ll let him walk away, isn’t there?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured.
“You’ll keep me safe. And I trust you.” Depending on what Cormac had to say, Vance would do what he thought was right. And if he let Cormac go, it wouldn’t be because he didn’t want the man to pay for what he’d done to me. It would be because whatever truths we learned today would dictate Cormac’s fate.
“I can’t ask you to keep this a secret,” he said.
From my family. From Winn. “You don’t have to.”
“Lyla.” His eyes searched mine. His fingers threaded through the hair at my temple. There was something in his gaze, something big and powerful and something I desperately wanted him to say. “I—”
The bathroom door opened.
And just like that, we were out of time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
VANCE
The way Vera walked through the forest was so similar to how Cormac moved it was uncanny. She picked her steps deliberately. There was no hiding our tracks in the snow, but still, she stepped carefully, the only sound the crunch of ice beneath her boots.
Her pace was quick but not rushed. Her gaze swept back and forth through the trees, searching for threats and noting landmarks.
He’d taught her a lot these past four years, hadn’t he?
“You’ve been living out here,” I said.
“Yes.” Vera glanced over her shoulder, keeping her voice low as she spoke. Habit, no doubt. Cormac had taught her to live out here undetected, and he’d done a damn fine job.
“For how long?”
“We’ve been in Montana for two years, I think? I lost track. Dad knows.”
I hummed.
Behind me, Lyla stayed close. Her cheeks were flushed as she followed my steps. She had to be tired from earlier, but she marched on, her strength and resilience as breathtaking as her beauty.
“Good?” I asked, stretching a hand for hers.
She took it and nodded. “Good.”
“We can slow down.” Vera stopped ahead of us, turning to face us. “I’m always the one trying to keep up, so I know how it feels. Sorry.”
“I’m okay,” Lyla said.
I tightened my grip on hers, then waved for Vera to continue.
She’d slow down. I knew before she even took a single step that she’d slow down for Lyla. That sweet heart of hers was still there, despite everything that had happened.
Everything she wouldn’t tell me.
“How often do you come to town?” I asked.
Maybe the two times I’d seen that red hair in Quincy hadn’t been my imagination or a stranger. Maybe it really had been Vera.
“Usually once a month,” she said.
“For tampons,” Lyla whispered so quietly only I could hear. There was a box in those bags she carried.
“Does your dad come along?”
“Never,” Vera said.
Lyla and I shared a look. So that was part of how he’d survived out here. He’d had Vera sneak into Quincy, where she’d just be any normal face.
Only not to me. Had I not come to Montana, no one would ever have suspected she was the link to a killer.
Was he a killer?
“How do you pay for things?” Lyla asked.
“Cash. Dad took as much as he could when we left Idaho. That ran out a while back so he, um . . .”
“Robbed a gas station in Oregon,” I finished.
Vera cringed. “How did you know?”
“I went to Oregon.”
She stopped, turning to face us again. “He said there’d always be people chasing us. I didn’t believe him. I figured after this long, we’d be forgotten. But Dad is always careful, just in case. I guess he was right. That was you, wasn’t it? You left the game camera by the stream where we put a fish trap.”
Fuck. “He saw the camera.”
“This morning.” She nodded. “He said he felt like someone was watching him, so he circled back once the sun came up. Found it.”
He must have come up on the back side, otherwise my alarm would have gone off again.
“Yeah,” I told her. “That was me.”
Vera’s shoulders slumped. “We’re leaving because of it. Today was my last trip to town.”
Damn. How fucking lucky was it that Lyla had wanted to walk along Main?
“Dad’s been strange lately,” Vera said. “He wouldn’t tell me why, but he’s kept us close to the shelter. He’s sent me to town more often than usual for supplies. I’ve had to take different, longer routes to make sure no one would be able to follow me back. I thought it was just normal prep for winter. Stocking up on food and batteries and first-aid supplies. But he went out to check the trap this morning and came back panicked. Said we had to leave. I think he’s been preparing for it for weeks but didn’t want to tell me.”
Cormac had been acting strange because of Lyla, hadn’t he? But he hadn’t told Vera what he’d done. About the river. Maybe he’d expected the local teams to give up their search. To be fair, he’d been right.
Except he hadn’t counted on me.
“We’re almost there.” Vera looked right, then left. “I think it would be best if you gave me a minute.”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.” I loved Vera, but this entire situation was fucked up.
For all I knew, she’d been leading us nowhere. We’d parked nearly a mile away from where I’d been searching. As much as I loved her, I didn’t trust her. There was a very real chance that the minute she was out of sight, she’d disappear again.
Cormac would have taught her how to hide.
Even from me.
“Figured you’d say that.” She blew out a long breath, then cupped her hands over her mouth, letting out a piercing whistle.
The sound bounced off trees and rocks, until the wilderness swallowed it whole. We stood in silence, the only sound my pounding heart.
Then it came, faint and almost inaudible. Another whistle.
“He’s coming,” Vera said, giving me a pleading look. “Just hide behind a tree or something. Let me warn him first. Please?”
“Vera,” I warned.
“I’m not going to run off, Uncle Vance. I promise.”
For fuck’s sake. “Fine,” I clipped, leading Lyla to a large pine tree. I positioned her back to its trunk, standing in front of her, both as a shield and so I could keep an eye on Vera.
“You can stay right here,” I told Lyla. “You don’t have to see him.”
“Yes, I do.” Her response didn’t surprise me in the least.
“Okay.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead, then adjusted my grip on her hand. No matter what, I wouldn’t let it go.