“Myles,” she began.
He turned to her and rasied a finger to her lips.
“Not now, Roxxy,” he murmured. He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her mouth. “When this is over, we need to have a long talk.”
She nodded, unsure what that meant. A long talk?
The sound of tires slowly driving over gravel broke the silence. Roxxy tensed. She undid the holster at her side and took her Glock out. She was comforted by the weapon. Myles shifted to move in front of her. They were hidden by the thicket of trees. Only someone who was searching for them would see them.
“We can’t let them get to the house,” Myles whispered.
“Momma won’t let that happen.” Roxxy scoffed.
Her mother’s shot was true, and whoever this was arriving, was about to learn.
They grew quiet at the sight of a dark sedan driving up to the edge of the drive. It braked to a halt. Roxxy squinted in the low light, trying to see more details of the car. She couldn’t tell if it was the one from earlier, but it appeared to be the same color.
They watched in tense silence as the passenger doors and one of the back doors opened. Three men stepped from the vehicle. Each of them had guns in their hands.
Roxxy scanned the area, and the floor of her stomach dropped. She tapped Myles on the shoulder. Five men emerged from the woods on the side of the driveway. Where the hell had they come from?
Myles let out a soft growl.
“Take my phone,” he whispered. He slipped it from his pants. “Take a picture of the plate and text it to Brodie. You’ll find an old text from him.”
“I’m not leaving—”
“Go,” he snapped. He softened his words. “I need to figure out who the hell sent these people. That will hopefully give us a clue.”
She paused before jerking her head in a nod. She slid the phone in her back pocket.
The men started walking up the driveway toward the house, staying close to the trees. An owl hooted off in the distance, drawing the men’s attention. They stopped then pushed forward. Myles crept ahead slowly and disappeared into the darkness.
Roxxy cursed. She raised her weapon, not taking any chances of slipping, and headed toward the car. She arrived near the vehicle and didn’t see anyone inside or around it. She wasn’t sure why they’d brought a car into the driveway.
Getaway vehicle?
She swallowed hard. She replaced her gun back in the holster and pulled out Myles’s phone. She ensured the flash was off. It would definitely alert the bad guys that they were on to them. She sent the picture off and peeked around the car.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Where the hell was her father?
Sliding Myles’s phone into her pocket, she took the gun out and dipped back into the protection of the woods.
Roxxy tried to remain as quiet as she could as she made her way toward the direction Myles had vanished.
If they were coming for him, they were going to have to deal with her and her parents.
The men had spread out, disappearing into the woods. Myles had wondered if they were just going to walk right up the driveway to the house. When they ducked back into the shadows of the trees, it was exactly what Myles was hoping for. He had been trailing one of them unnoticed. They stopped at the end of the trees. Myles watched them and recognized they had a plan. This was no random hit. These men had carefully laid-out plans and knew what they were looking for.
There was no way in hell he was going to allow these men to cause harm to the Suttons.
Myles bit back a growl. He remained hidden amongst the trees. He briefly shut his eyes, having to draw on his days when he was in the Army.
His eyes flickered open, and he had to beat down the rage that threatened to consume him. He crept behind the guy, who had let his guard down.
Myles flew into action. He wrapped an arm around his neck and clamped his other hand over his mouth to muffle his yell. Myles dragged him back deeper in the trees. He brought him upright and applied pressure to his neck with his forearm. Within seconds, the man’s body became dead weight. Myles lowered him to the ground. He pulled out a few zip ties he’d taken from the Sutton’s shed and secured the man’s wrists.
Myles left him propped up against a tree and moved on.
He tried to will his heart to slow down.
He needed to be calm while he hunted.
Myles approached another one. He ducked behind a thick tree and looked around it at the perp. He had a radio that cut in with a person giving updates. It was on the lowest volume, but Myles heard the person.
“Lights are out in the house. They must be asleep.”
Movement caught Myles’s eye. He turned and saw another man walking toward the one with the radio. In a blink of an eye, he vanished. Myles froze. He relaxed once he saw a familiar figure.
Earl.
Looked like the older man still had it.
