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To his immense surprise, he didn’t feel a sense of panic when he looked down at Doc Sophia’s number on Ash’s phone. It was a sight that would have dragged him under a tidal wave of fear and anger just weeks before, but now…now it felt like a single step.

Like possibility.

Hell, it felt like hope.

I’m afraid of so much. I just promised myself that it would never stop me.

Before he could stop himself, Nicco hit the call button. And the whole time he was on the phone, Ash was right there at his side, just as he had always been.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Hanna landed hard on the concrete, but at least the throbbing pain in her thigh meant she was still alive. Iverson’s biker goons hadn’t laid her to waste without even giving her a chance to survive.

“Boss is going to be very pleased with me.”

She recognized a voice in the dark, and even though Hanna knew she needed to keep her goddamned mouth shut, she couldn’t stop the name from spilling like poison over her lips. “Karter Vance.”

They had tied a cover of some kind over her eyes so Hanna couldn’t see a damn thing, but she could hear the figure turning back to her.

“I’d be careful if I were you, Sheriff. Your family has had their time in this town. Now it’s our turn.”

And with that, a door slammed, shaking the wall at her back. She must have been in a shed or…

The garage.

Hanna’s theory was confirmed when she heard a small shuffle at her side.

“Hanna? Is that…you?”

“Grace, please tell me I’m not imagining things.”

A second later, Hanna felt the cover being lifted from her eyes. The light in the garage was dim, sneaking in only under the crack in the door, but she could still make out every sweet freckle on Grace’s face and the soft sheen in her eyes.

When their eyes locked, Hanna let out a shaky breath at the same time Grace surged forward and wrapped her arms around Hanna’s neck. “I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to me, Hanna. I just knew it.”

She pulled back and quickly began untying the knots around Hanna’s wrists. It was slow work because of the bandage around her hand, no doubt placed after a finger had been removed.

When Hanna was finally free, she hugged Grace back. “I let you down, Grace. I’m so sorry. For everything.”

Grace shook her heard. “I’ve never had anyone fight for me before, Hanna. You’re here now.”

Hanna looked around. “Yeah, and a hell of a rescue this is turning out to be.”

Grace just smiled. She might have been the sweetest person Hanna had ever met, despite all the truly terrible things she had endured. Or may because of them. “I know you’ll find us a way to get out of here,” she said. “You figured out where I was, after all.”

Doc Royal and Jinx and Hanna had worked together to figure that out. Hell, Grace had even helped them figure that out, by scratching at the wood of the garage walls.

“You helped,” Hanna admitted. “We figured out where you were from the wood splinters under your nail.”

“Good,” Grace said with resolve. “Then it wasn’t a loss. Not like I’m putting another goddamned ring on that finger ever again.”

“Your mother know you swear like that?” Hanna asked, but she was already pushing to her feet, stroking the wall, looking for a way out. From the pile of paper plates tucked against the far wall and the single blanket Grace had folded, she’d been in the garage for a while. Surely, she would have figured a way out in days that Hanna wouldn’t be able to find in just a handful of minutes.

“I have a car parked about two miles downhill to the east,” Hanna said. “We just need to get out of here before Iverson comes back.”

“He has those guys, the ones on their bikes, they’re his security,” Grace said. “I don’t know how many, but I do hear them coming and going.”

“The Iron Daggers,” Hanna muttered. “I’m familiar. Did your…did Iverson ever manage to find your leverage?”