Please.
“Put. Her. Down.”
Her eyes darted to the door in time to see Michael charging through it.
Blue didn’t let go, but his stance shifted, like he was on the defensive. “We are trying to get her the help she needs.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me.” Michael’s voice was cold as he continued across the greenhouse toward her.
The men glanced at each other before Blue said, “Elizabeth’s husband passed away a few months ago, and since then, she hasn’t been herself. She’s in the middle of a mental breakdown, and her family is desperately trying to find her.”
Fear jolted through Ellie like a live wire to her system and she sagged against the man in the navy coat. Elizabeth. Her family. The words rattled through her, shaking loose shards of memories from behind the heavy fog that hung over her brain. An image of her parents flared in her mind, both tired and sunburned, eating in silence at the dinner table. Next came Clint and Janice, her in-laws: Janice, with her ever-present frown of sour disapproval, next to Clint’s hard, blank stare. Ellie had never been good enough for the Alexander family. The Alexander family? Aidan Alexander’s face appeared before her, those piercing blue eyes, his sandy hair short and carefully combed, and the easy smile that never sat quite right with her. In her mind, he stood with his arms crossed, like he owned the room. The way he rested his hand on her shoulder long enough that she’d avoided getting into conversations alone with him from that first time it had happened onward.
Another sliver of a memory appeared. Aidan and Sean standing on the back deck of Aidan’s mountain home, deep in a heated discussion. Sean. Her husband. That memory washed over her with a heaviness that pulled her under. Sean was gone.
She and Sean had built a life together, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, ’til death do us part. Ellie had spoken those words with all her heart in a church filled with people she barely knew, but it had never once crossed her mind that the last part—death—would come so soon. Now Sean was dead and those vows felt like a warning. Another shard of memory sliced into her: that moment her legs gave out and she sank to the floor of the checkout lane of the grocery store, next to the rack of flashy magazines, when Aidan had called, informing her of the crash that had taken Sean’s life. Why this, God? she had whispered over and over again.
But the sadness faded as bone-deep, paralyzing fear took over, closing in on her. Ellie’s body shook as she tuned in to the words Gray Jacket spoke.
“We’re worried she’s a danger to herself. And probably to others.”
Had she done something terrible? Every instinct inside Ellie shouted no, but she couldn’t be sure of anything right now.
“Put her down and get off my property,” said Michael, standing over her. “I’m only saying this once.”
Michael’s authoritative tone left no question that he would take action. He had been so careful with her, but now she could see another side of him, equally protective. This man was ready for anything.
Gray glanced at his partner in the navy coat. “I’m leaving,” he finally said and hobbled toward the door.
Blue looked at Michael, his blue eyes wary over the gator mask. Then he dropped Ellie. She hit the floor, scrambled to her feet and watched, still stunned, as the men walked out the door.
“I’ll be back,” said Michael, turning away from her, heading for the door.
“No,” she gasped. “Don’t leave me alone.”
Ellie hated how desperate she sounded, but she couldn’t handle watching him walk away again.
Michael glanced at the men disappearing through the snow then swiped a hand over his face.
He turned to her. “These men came on my property, entered my house and attacked you. Men like this won’t hesitate to come back, and the next time, they’ll be better prepared. I need to find out who they are.”
She couldn’t let him go out, and not just for her own sake. For his sake, too.
“No. I’m leaving,” she said. “You didn’t ask for any of this, and now I’m putting your whole house in danger.”
Michael saw a look of terror on Ellie’s face. The men had said she was dangerous, but nothing about her suggested that. Even now, just after she had been attacked, she was worried about the threat she’d bring to the rest of the household. This wasn’t someone who posed a threat. But on the point of putting his whole house in danger—that, they agreed on.
He turned and watched as the men rounded the corner of the main house. He listened for the start of their car engine and waited until the sound of the engine faded. Then, fighting against every instinct, he forced himself to sit on the bench.
“Is any of what they said true?” he asked.
“The parts about my husband—his...death—that’s true.” Her throat bobbed as she seemed to swallow back emotion.
This woman had lost her spouse, too. Michael ignored the twist in his gut.
Then she added, “But the part about me being crazy? That’s not true. At least, I don’t think so.”
She gave him the faintest of smiles. It was a beautiful smile; one that hinted at another version of this woman, confident, not afraid. Not bowing under fear and sorrow. His gut twisted again.
“The man called you Elizabeth. Is that what I should call you?”
She tilted her head, like she was considering the question. “It’s what my husband and his family called me, but I prefer Ellie. That’s what my parents called me when I was growing up.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she blinked, like the words she’d spoken had surprised her.
Michael frowned. There was something he was missing here. Just help her the best you can.
He glanced down at her bare feet then at the hip she was rubbing. “Are you hurt?”
She shrugged, rubbing the back of her head. “I have to get out of here,” she said quietly. “The next time they come back, it will be worse.”
“Hold on,” he said, ignoring the way his heart pounded at the urgency and fear in her voice. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
He waited as the greenhouse grew quiet.
Ellie stared at him, as if she was assessing just how much to say. Finally, she let out a sigh. “That’s the problem. I—I don’t remember.”
Michael quirked a brow. “What do you mean?”
