Déjà vu. The term wasn’t strong enough for when I woke up in a hospital room with Garrett sitting next to me, my hand in his. I tried to speak to him, but something blocked my voice. His head was bowed, and he pulled my hand to his lips.

I squeezed his fingers.

His head bobbed up, his eyes wide. “You’re awake.” He turned his head to the side and yelled, “She’s awake!”

He pressed his palm to the side of my face. “Red.”

I leaned against his steady pressure. Tears gleamed in his eyes as the nurse—the same one from our last visit—hustled into the room.

“Ms. Vale?” She leaned over the other side of my bed and spoke clearly and almost too loudly. “You lost a lot of blood. Dr. Turner repaired the damage to your liver caused by the bullet, but you’ll need to stay here for several days to recover. You’re still intubated to make sure you keep breathing well. We’ll take the tube out once you’re awake for a bit. You can’t talk, though. Blink one for yes, two for no. And press the call button if you need anything. Understand?”

I blinked once.

“Good. I’m going to let the doctor know you’re awake.” She tinkered with one of my monitors and took my blood pressure, then left, her shoes squeaking with each step.

Garrett sat on the edge of my bed and kissed my hand again. “You’re safe. I swear.”

I blinked once, though the shadow of Sheriff Crow passed across my mind.

Garrett seemed to hear my thoughts. “Sheriff Crow got away, but not for long. There’s a state trooper outside your door, and the governor has ordered a perimeter around the county. He won’t escape.”

I glanced to the door, the windows. I felt like the bed beneath me disappeared and I was sinking through to the floor below and lower. The sheriff was coming for me, chasing me. His footsteps sped up along with the beep of some machine. I clenched my eyes shut.

“Nurse!” Garrett yelled.

I couldn’t breathe. Sheriff Crow was going to kill me just like my dad and Lillian. The cold grave would open, and I would tumble in, landing amidst the rest of the victims and barely disturbing the sparse snow along the edges.

“Red, please.”

Squeaking met my ears again, then hands landed on me. I struggled, pushing and fighting.

Black. I tried to call black, but the word wouldn’t come out.

“Red, you’re safe. I’m here.” Garrett’s voice broke. “Listen to me. Listen. I’m here. No one will hurt you. I swear I’ll die before any of them touch you again. I swear it. Hold onto me.”

He cupped my face with his hands. “I’ve got you.”

I opened my eyes and stared into his sparkling blues.

Garrett, not the sheriff, held me. The nurse had both hands on my right arm, pinning it down. My body relaxed as I looked into his familiar, kind eyes. I was safe. The rapidly beeping monitor began to slow. Another nurse darted in with a syringe.

I shook my head as much as I could.

“Are you sure, honey?” My nurse let up on my arm and leaned down to stare into my eyes. “I can send you back to sleep for a bit.”

I blinked twice as slowly and deliberately as I could.

“All right, but if you have another attack, I’ll have to sedate you.” She pocketed the syringe. “You need to rest.”

I blinked once, and Garrett wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

“She’s all right.” He didn’t take his eyes from mine. “She’s strong. Strongest person I’ve ever met.”

“Seems to me like you’re the one upsetting her.” She scowled at him. “Ms. Vale, would you like Mr. Blackwood to leave?”

I blinked twice.

After a wary glance to Garrett, she strode out. “I’ll be just outside at the station.”

I tried to calm myself, to snap out of the aftershocks of fear. Garrett wasn’t the enemy. He’d saved me. Again.

He kissed my palm and sank back into the chair next to me. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea about any of it.” He pressed the back of my hand to his cheek. “I still can’t believe it.” He sighed and ran his lips along my knuckles. “Do you want me to tell you about it?”

Blink.

“I don’t want to upset you.”

I need to know. I squeeze his hand.

“You sure?”

Blink.

“When I found out you left with Rory, I followed. By the time I caught up, all I saw was you staggering out of the woods and into Rory’s truck.” His voice turned cold. “I saw them chasing you, and I didn’t understand, but I knew I’d kill them to protect you.” He laced our fingers together. “All I had was a pistol. I aimed for Len. He was the one shooting at the truck you were in. I killed him in a few shots. Sheriff Crow ducked behind a tree. I should have stayed and shot him in the fucking face, but I couldn’t risk losing you.”

So much killing. Death lived in the woods near the Lodge, not Blackwood. Anything that happened on Garrett’s property was spillover and misdirection by the sheriff. And I’d fallen for it.

“You were in surgery for hours. Bonnie and Ty came by but could only stay for a moment since you’re in intensive care.” He quieted, though the storm in his eyes continued to churn.

The steady beep of the machines and the comforting touches from Garrett soothed my soul. But a thought soured in my mind, and I dreaded sharing the bitter taste with Garrett. Lillian. He needed to know the truth. I drew my other hand across to him, though it took far more effort than it should have. Spreading his palm open, I traced the letter L.

“Lillian?”

Blink.

“Are you saying Pete…”

Blink.

He squeezed my fingers. “I fucking knew it. Lillian didn’t kill herself. The photos, hanging around with your father—they found out about what he was doing at the Lodge.” He hung his head. “How did I never see it?”

I ran my fingers through his hair, giving what little comfort I could.

He wiped at his eyes, then glanced up at me. “Just rest. I’ll be here. I’ll always be here. I swear.”

I believed him, every word quieting my ragged nerves as I lay back and closed my eyes.

Something nagging broke through the veil of sleep. My chest hurt, and I couldn’t seem to fix it.

Sheriff Crow loomed above me, one hand wrapped around my breathing tube and the other pressing a knife into my throat.

“Shh. It’s just you and me now.”

The tube blocked my air flow as I tried to take a breath. I was suffocating, Sheriff Crow’s fist squeezing the life out of me as I tried to pull his hand away.

“No, no. It’s got to be this way.” He kept his voice low and gave me the same friendly smile that I’d first seen at the diner. “No witnesses. I can pin it all on the mayor, easy. But not with you around.”

Garrett. I searched the room for him. He was gone. Where?

My lungs convulsed, desperate for oxygen, but none was coming. I scrabbled for the nurse call button, but the sheriff grabbed my wrist. I used my other hand to try and push him away. Nothing. He was too determined, and I hadn’t recovered enough. I glanced to my closed door, hoping for the trooper.

“Trooper’s on a smoke break, sweetheart. Just you, me, and the heart attack that’s about to kill you.” He crimped the tube completely in half.

My lungs seized again, and I sucked in violently, this time catching some air from around the tube.

The sheriff frowned. “That won’t do.” He grabbed the tube and yanked it off, the tape ripping and my throat turning to fire as it pulled out.

I sputtered but only got a small breath before he slapped his palm onto my mouth and used the other to pinch my nose.

A door squeaked open. A roar ripped through the room. And then chaos. Garrett had walked out of the small bathroom and tackled the sheriff. Both men rolled on the floor, knocking over hospital equipment as Garrett screamed and fought like a wild creature.

The door opened, and the nurse stared, perhaps just as unable to believe the sight as I was.

“Call the trooper!” She dashed around the struggling men and came to the other side of the bed. Yanking my bed to the far wall, she put her arms around me, as if that would defend against the sheriff. “Get security!”

Sheriff Crow swung his knife and caught Garrett in the arm, but it didn’t stop him. Garrett slammed his elbow into the sheriff’s face. The man howled and tried to roll away.

Garrett grabbed him by the hair and yanked him down onto his back. Straddling him, Garrett grabbed the sheriff’s knife hand and beat it on the floor. Smack, smack, smack. The sheriff gave up, and the blade clattered loose.

“Lillian?” Garrett roared. He grabbed the sheriff’s head and slammed it down, blood spurting across the white tile. “Elise?” Another slam.

The nurse screamed as two more people in scrubs crowded at the door. The sheriff bucked and grabbed for something on his belt. Garrett swung wildly, fury in every vicious blow.

“Garrett!” I screamed as the sheriff sprayed Garrett in the eyes with something noxious.

The sheriff took the opening to shove Garrett off. Horror crawled around inside me, trying to scratch its way out of my throat.

Sheriff Crow, his back to me, reached for the knife as Garrett swung blindly.

I moved, slowly at first, the pain telling me I couldn’t do it. I ignored it and shook off the nurse’s clutching hands, but not before I grabbed the syringe from her pocket. Agony ripped through my abdomen as I struggled off the bed onto my unsteady feet. Surging forward, I ripped the IV free from my arm.

Sheriff Crow grasped the knife, then raised it over Garrett as he continued trying to wipe the spray from his eyes. I lunged forward and stabbed the syringe into the sheriff’s temple. He screeched and grabbed my wrist, but not before I depressed the plunger.

Dragging me to the ground next to Garrett, Sheriff Crow screamed and raised his knife again, though this time his arm wobbled. Garrett swung and landed a blow on Crow’s jaw with a sickening crunch. The sheriff dropped the knife, and his left pupil, near where I’d stabbed in the syringe, blew—the growing black hinting at his soul underneath.

With a shudder, he fell backwards and began convulsing on the floor. Garrett pulled me into his arms and rose to his feet. The sheriff stopped moving, his mouth slack and his eyes open wide. Backing away, Garrett and I both stared at him, hoping he was dead, fearing he wasn’t.

“I’ve got you, Red,” Garrett whispered into my hair. “I’ve got you.”

My nurse rushed around the bed and hit her knees next to the sheriff as others poured into the room. Garrett went against the grain, leaving with me in his arms, where I belonged.