“I think that love has been pretty clear from the start. I don’t think she would have agreed to come here, to hold your hand as you found your way back, if she didn’t love you. And just in case you keep wanting to be stubborn it’s obvious you love her, too.”

I sighed and told him to pick up the pace and turn once we hit the long, flat stretches of rough road that led out of town and towards the more rural parts of the county. It was obvious neither Dixie nor the guy holding the gun on her had any idea where they were going. The poorly marked roads that seemed to go on forever were causing them to double back and speed haphazardly along roads that went nowhere.

“How could you know I love her before I did?” I wanted to kick myself and take back every second I’d spent pushing her away. That was familiar regret and I couldn’t believe I wasn’t smart enough to learn my lessons from the first time I had done that with a woman that brought nothing but sunshine and light into my life. “Looks like they’re making a U-turn and they’re headed back towards the main road. They’re going too fast. All that gravel and unfamiliar roads …” I trailed off worried Dixie was going to lose control and flip the car.

“We’re going to block them in. We’ll be at the junction at route 9 in a few minutes. He’s not going anywhere with her.” The sirens wailed overhead as the car flew so fast over the road that it didn’t even seem like the wheels were touching the ground. I’d never been so happy that the man that raised me came with a badge and a gun before. He cut me a look and went from cop to parent in the blink of an eye as he told me, “I knew you loved her because you introduced her to your family. I knew you loved her because you stayed in Denver for her even if you had other reasons for lying low. I’m not a fool, as soon as I saw you with her I knew she was your main reason. I know you love her because instead of running from whatever is waiting for you when we get to her, you’re right here running towards it. You might be scared she’s going to get hurt, but your love for that girl is stronger than your fear, Dash.”

I couldn’t think of a response to any of it because he was right. Even though I’d let fear steal time and important moments with my family away, they were still the most important people in my world and as much as I liked Denver, the Delta was always calling me home. I’d stayed longer than I’d planned because of her. I wasn’t ready to go back to gray days and frigid nights alone without her in my life. He was also spot-on about the fact I couldn’t get to her and the danger she was in fast enough. I understood that she was in the hands of a madman, that her fate was being held in the hands of a lunatic, and there was nothing I could do about it. But instead of losing control and running from the very real possibility that I might lose her, I was racing towards whatever may come so that any time we had left together wasn’t wasted. I would fight for Dixie until the bitter end. There was no giving up on her, even if forever wasn’t a guarantee.

We watched in silent horror as the older car started to fishtail and lose traction. It screeched from one side of the road to the other, a cloud of dust swallowing it up. When it came back into sight the vehicle was bearing down on the fleet of police cars thundering towards it. “Doesn’t look like he’s letting her take her foot off the gas or pull over and surrender.” They were blurry through both windshields and the smoke screen of road debris that the tires were kicking up but I could see the stark look of terror on Dixie’s face and the gun that was pointed at the side of her head.

Jules nodded and his hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “He’s not going anywhere.”

My phone rang and I was jerked out of my pensive thoughts. It was such a normal thing in a situation that was not that it took me a minute to juggle the device and get a finger free to swipe across the screen. I winced when I noticed I smeared blood across the glass when I hit the speaker function. It was a blatant reminder of the kind of violence the man who had my girl was capable of. “Not a good time, Royal. Let me call you back.”

I’d asked the gorgeous lady cop to check out all of Dixie’s online dates but I already knew the culprit was Joseph thanks to Dixie calling his name out while he threatened her with the gun.

“Is that a siren?” She sounded alarmed but I didn’t have time to reassure her everything was okay.

“In the middle of something. Like I said, now isn’t a good time.” I barked the words at her far more harshly than I meant to.

“Okay, well, I’ll talk fast because you need to hear what I have to say.” She took a deep breath and then words erupted out of her so fast I could hardly keep up. “All the guys on the list you gave me checked out except for Erikson.” I grunted because she wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. “We can’t locate him but we did get a nasty surprise when we checked his home. There was a dead body inside the house, Church. An older woman that we’ve identified as Marie Erikson. It was bad, gruesome. If the son is the person behind this murder, you need to be careful and you need to tell Dixie to be careful. This guy is unhinged.”

“Fuck.” I bit the word out and looked over at Jules. My dad’s jaw was clenched and a muscle was ticking rapid-fire in his cheek. “Thanks for the heads-up, Royal. I’ll call with an update when I have one.” When Joseph had talked about everyone keeping him from what he wanted I had a suspicion he’d been referring to his mother. This news wasn’t good but it was far from unexpected at this point.