“You weren’t...supposed to come back for me.” Her mouth tasted dry, bitter. How long had she been here? Hours? Days?
“That credit goes to your team. Agents Cantrell and Duran tracked the SUV’s location after I called them from a burner phone you’d left in the glove compartment.” He rested his elbow on his knees, one hand intertwined with hers. Shadows darkened under his eyes, his voice choked by something she couldn’t put her finger on. “I wasn’t going to leave you there to die, Ana. Not after everything you’ve done for us.”
Was that why he was here? Because she’d done her job and he thought he owed her some semblance of repayment? Pain worked through her chest as she tried to sit higher in the bed, but the morphine dripping from the clear bag above her head should’ve taken care of that. No. This pain was something she hadn’t allowed herself to feel for a long time. She’d spent so long trying to control her feelings, trying not to let people get close. While she and Benning had reunited after all these years in grief, held together by blood and fear, facing down the man who could’ve taken it all away had brought one life-altering realization into focus: moving on to the next case would hurt far more than ever before. In a matter of days, he and the precious soul tucked into Ana’s side had carved their way into her heart without her realizing it until it was too late. Leaving would take everything she had left.
“How is she?” Ana set her mouth at the crown of Olivia’s head and inhaled the scent of shampoo. Memories flashed like lightning across her mind. She’d provided cover for Benning and Olivia as they’d raced through the trees toward the SUV. Only...she’d taken another bullet before they’d reached the vehicle. She’d tried to stay on her feet, tried to give them a chance, but she’d lost too much blood and her body hadn’t been able to take any more. She’d collapsed. The man in the mask had stood over her, weapon aimed directly at her head, but then...she’d blacked out.
“She’s fine. Thanks to you. We made it to the SUV and were able to get out of there before he could get to us.” Benning rubbed circles into the pressure point between her index finger and thumb, and an immediate sense of calm flooded through her. “You saved our lives, Ana, and I’ll never be able to repay you for that, but don’t ever do that again. We almost lost you.”
Air caught in her throat. The way he’d said those last four words almost made her believe his concern was more than professional courtesy, and her insides warmed. Did that mean... No. He might’ve been right about the fact her guilt had colored her relationships with the people around her, but she wasn’t stupid enough to believe that any feelings built from their stress-induced situation were real. Or would last. She couldn’t give in to that hope. Not when she still had so much work to do. Smoothing Olivia’s hair out of her face, she rested her cheek on top of the girl’s head. “I gave you my word. I’m not going anywhere. Not until I find your son.”
The blue of his eyes deepened in color. Sliding his hand from around hers, he leaned back in his chair and ran his uninjured hand through his hair. “They lost the shooter’s trail about a quarter mile into the woods. He must’ve had an ATV or a snowmobile waiting. He’d planned everything before he’d even walked into that cabin. And without him, I don’t know if I’ll ever see my son again.” He picked up the phone she’d taken from the shooter, the one loaded with video of Owen. Alone, in the dark. The hospital staff must’ve recovered it with her personal effects when she’d been brought in, but seeing Benning with it pooled dread at the base of her skull. “Except with this.”
“How many times have you watched that?” she asked.
“I lost count after they brought you out of surgery.” He smoothed the pad of his thumb across the screen, and, even though she couldn’t see the video clearly, she had the feeling he was imagining smoothing his son’s face. “Your team is still processing my house, and they won’t let me go inside, so this is all I have of him right now. A video.”
“Benning, you have every reason to hate me right now for turning down that bastard’s offer, but I promise you, he was never going to give up Owen’s location. He would’ve baited you until you were no longer useful, then killed you both, and I couldn’t let that happen.” She wanted to reach out for him, take the phone from him, protect him from the pain so obviously pushing him to his breaking point. And protect herself from feeling that same pain.
“I don’t hate you.” His words barely registered over the beeping of the monitors at her side. “I tried. Those first few weeks after I’d found out you’d requested to be transferred back to Washington, I was angry. At first, I didn’t understand what I could’ve said or if I’d done something wrong.” His gaze narrowed on her, head cocked to the side. “But no matter how many times I tried to move on, even after I married Lilly, had the twins, lost her, you were still in the back of my mind. I hated myself more for not being strong enough to realize you weren’t coming back than I ever hated you. Now you’re the only one standing between my family and the man who wants us
