All of a sudden, from up above, she heard a loud, “oof”.
What the hell?
Fists hitting flesh reverberated through the darkness.
“Where is she, you bastard?”
Cisco?
Oh, my God. Cisco! He wasn’t dead!
Joy flared inside of Hilly, growing so intense it threatened to consume her. The feelings that had been attempting to take over her heart since the moment she’d reconnected with Cisco—something she’d desperately been trying to ignore—were suddenly let loose, and securing them deep inside again was no longer on her agenda. Her feelings for Cisco were far more powerful and all-consuming than she’d previously allowed herself to admit, and now that both she and Cisco had faced death and survived, Hilly was ready to let her emotions loose; to shout them to the world.
She loved Cisco.
She. Loved. Cisco.
Admitting it didn’t scare her any more, and she had to tell him, right the hell, now. If she could make herself heard.
“Cisco,” Hilly rasped, but frustratingly, she couldn’t manage to get any volume behind her cry.
It didn’t help that Cottins was still spewing vitriol.
“She’s dead,” the developer chortled from above, “and she did it herself. She threw herself over the edge because she thought you burned.”
“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” Cisco’s cold voice wasn’t one she’d heard before. It was filled with grief, anger, and the dark promise of pain.
The sound of Cisco’s renewed punches carried down to her, and she worried for him. If he killed Cottins, he’d go to jail. The developer wasn’t worth it. She had to stop him.
And seriously, Hilly didn’t actually want Cottins dead. That would be too easy an out for the vile man. She wanted the asshole to stand trial; get locked up for a very long time over everything he’d done.
Hilly drew in a pained breath and tried again. “Cisco!”
Her voice emerged a little louder, but the beating Cisco was administering above, clearly had him oblivious to everything else.
She was about to try again, when—
“Cisco. Stop.” Mason’s strong order rang out in the dark. “That’s enough.” There was an immediate cessation of blows. “You’ve done enough. He’s not going anywhere.”
“But…Hilly,” Cisco’s distraught lament, howled from the depths of his soul, filled Hilly’s eyes with tears.
Mason growled. “Mike. JD. Deal with Cottins.” His tone gentled. “Cisco, we’ll find her. I promise.”
“She…fell, or he pushed her,” Cisco moaned. “She… He said she’s…”
No.
Hilly would not let the man she loved suffer another second.
With everything left in her, she raised her voice and cried to the heavens.
“Cisco!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“Hilly?” Cisco whispered, staggering on his feet. Mason’s hands supported him, keeping him from collapsing again after he heard his name.
Cisco didn’t know what to think. He was either delusional with grief and was hearing voices, or Hilly had just called to him.
“Is that…? Did you…?” He couldn’t get the words out.
Nel was whining by his side, then spinning abruptly on her back legs, she made a run for the overhang. Mike made a dive and caught the determined pup at the last minute before she threw herself over the edge.
Mason held up a hand. “Everybody quiet,” he demanded. “Hilly?” he called out. “Where are you?”
“On a ledge,” came the raw reply from somewhere down below them.
Cisco threw off Mason’s grasp, and dropped to his belly, his head hanging over the side of the precipice. “Flashlight,” he barked frantically.
Someone handed him a light, and he flashed it down; first into the depths of the gorge, then quickly refocusing his aim back toward the cliff wall, and…
“There!”
Hilly’s small form lay huddled on a five-foot-wide shelf of rock, at least a dozen feet below.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Cisco called out, his voice breaking. Dammit. He’d been undone, thinking she was…
Nel whined from somewhere behind him.
