You are.” Looking into those green eyes, seeing she wasn’t getting anywhere, Samantha decided to take another tack. If he was going to believe her, she’d have to tell him something concrete. And yet he wouldn’t believe her if she did. She could hardly believe it. “Look, I know how crazy this sounds, but Kramer is either reaching out from the grave or someone is pretending to be him.”
He shot her a look that had her wondering if he thought she was crazy. She hadn’t thought about how all this might look to an outsider until then. There was a hint of curiosity in his eyes, too.
“You have my word that I won’t try to run away from you, Dylan. Now let me go.” She jerked her shoulders, surprised when he loosened his grip.
“Tell me something, Samantha. Because right now you look guilty of something bad, something that has you on the run, and if I didn’t know you better, I’d be calling the cops.” As if for emphasis, he picked up his phone.
“No cops. Promise me.” She rubbed her shoulders to bring blood back to them, trying to figure out what she could say that wouldn’t implicate her father. She wanted to trust Dylan, but she couldn’t risk it. If he knew, he wouldn’t walk away. He wasn’t the type.
“Sorry if I hurt you.” He motioned toward the couch. “Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
Sharp green eyes stared at her. He’d been wild when they were young, and there was more than a hint of that same feral tendency in his features now. “We can do this one of two ways. You sit willingly. Or I tie you up until you tell me the truth. Your choice.”
She moved to the couch and plopped down. Anger boiled inside her. Everyone thought that the Mason Ridge Abductor was gone, but he wasn’t. And he was coming after her. He’d surprised her, then called and threatened her if she didn’t meet him after she got away.
Dylan glanced out the front window and then focused those intense greens on her. Eye contact wasn’t the best idea, because when he looked at her, her stomach flipped. Dylan was easy to look at. She wouldn’t deny an attraction sizzled under the surface, one that had been simmering since before high school. Even with his bad-boy reputation, she’d always known there was something good about him deep inside.
“I was careful not to leave a trail.” The blood was finally returning to her shoulders. Bruising would be the least of her problems.
“Your lack of a path helped narrow the search. You were somewhere within driving distance because you used your car. I also knew you’d want an internet connection. Austin’s your favorite city, so I took a chance. From there, all I had to do was figure out which house you’d rented.”
She’d been that transparent? So much for thinking she could hide. Frustration burned through her. Too bad she didn’t have the criminal tendencies of her mother’s side of the family.
“I’m truly sorry about earlier. You know I would never hurt you on purpose,” he said.
She did know. Dylan was a good guy.
“I’m going to ask you again. What’s going on?” His brow arched and he was examining her face as if her head was about to start spinning.
Could she risk telling Dylan anything else? He already looked ready to strap her into the first straitjacket he could find. And what if she told Dylan what she feared? That her father was somehow involved or at least covering for someone else that night Rebecca and Shane had gone missing fifteen years ago? Or that if she shared what she feared, Dylan would be in this as deeply as she was?
The crackle of a branch breaking sent both of them to the front window.
“Don’t let anyone see you.” Dylan pulled her down, his strong hands firmly on her hips.
In the street, the screech of tires sent her adrenaline into overdrive. “We can’t stay here.”
Dylan opened the curtain in the front window and cursed. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. You haven’t given me anything to work with yet.”
“I don’t know who I can trust anymore. All I know is this whole thing is bigger than we originally thought.” Kramer was believed to have acted alone. What if he hadn’t? What if others had been involved in the crime or the cover-up?
“What ‘thing,’ Samantha? What are you talking about?” He stared at her for a long moment.
Could she tell him? She wanted to talk to someone. The past four days had been terrifying alone. She shook her head.
“This is a college town. There are people everywhere, so the noise outside might be nothing.” Dylan’s voice came out in a whisper as he surveyed the area through the windows.
She had to admit, having Dylan with her steadied her fried nerves. “Do you really think I’m crazy? Or involved in something illegal?”
“No. But I’ve never seen you this scared.” Dylan held out his hand. “Come back to Mason Ridge with me and we’ll sort this out.”
“I can’t go home.” She didn’t take it.
“You can stay at my house.” His expression had her thinking he believed she needed to be locked up in one of those high-priced sanctuaries by the ocean rather than his place, but to his credit, he didn’t say it.
Even so, she dared to allow a small bubble of hope to expand, the first since this nightmare had begun a week ago.
Another crunch noise came from just outside the glass.
“Stay down.” His gaze ping-ponged from her to the window as he tightened his grip on the handle of his gun. His movements were assured, graceful.
Even with him there, Samantha couldn’t relax. Not when a man could reach out from the grave, as Kramer had. What if the guy really was dead and all logic said he was? What if someone else was involved? How big could this thing be?
The little bubble of hope burst. Despair pressed heavy on her chest.
“Several men are headed this way.” The concern in his voice was enough to fry what was left of her nerves. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I told you everything.”
“I asked this before and I’m going to ask it again. Are you involved in something illegal?”
“No.”
“Drugs?”
“That would be illegal.”
“Is someone forcing you to do something you don’t want to? Are they coming?”
“It’s not like that.”
Dylan scooped his cell off the floor next to her. “Obviously, there’s something else at work here. I don’t like this one bit.”
With him on her side, she might have a chance of fighting back. Grabbing money from her account and disappearing had been a knee-jerk reaction. She could see how that might make her look guilty of a crime.
“You
