Sally listened to the retreating feet, her heart screaming out a fervent ‘NO’ as they cleared each room and then walked away.

It couldn’t happen like this.

She couldn’t come this close only to fail.

The knife against her neck was a constant reminder of her pending death, but screw it! If she was dead anyway, she might as well take these assholes down with her.

Curling her bound hands into fists, she punched backward, catching August in the groin. It took him off guard, enough for his hand to slip from her mouth. She let out a piercing scream and kept going even as he regathered her and pressed the knife back against her neck.

“Shut up! Shut up!” he whisper-barked into her ear, but she wouldn’t let up.

Squirming against his grasp, she ignored the point of the knife and kept screaming out behind his hand.

“Sally?” someone called.

She jerked still, her heart punching against her ribcage.

Had she just imagined that voice?

“Sally!”

August flinched, obviously as shocked as she was, and his grip around her mouth loosened for a moment.

“Nate,” she whispered. “Nate! NATHAN!”

Her screaming jerked August out of his surprise, and she had to fight to free her face from his viselike grip.

“NATE!” she cried, but the sound was muffled.

August tried to shut her up, wrestling to control her thrashing head. As his fingers went to squeeze her mouth shut, she clamped down her teeth, unleashing a loud howl from August.

“Sally!” Nate called. “Where are you?”

Jamie started to panic. “Fuck! Fuck. We’re done!”

“Shut up!” August raged, fisting Sally’s hair as she tried to scramble away from him.

She cried out as she was jerked back against him. The knife sliced her shoulder when he tried to rein her in, but she kept fighting. “Down here!” she screamed.

Nate.

Nate was there. He was there. And she had to get to him.

Feet thundered into the room above.

Yes! Find me! Please!

“Where?”

“The rug! Check under the rug!” a female shouted.

Cam! Sally strained against her captor while Jamie rattled off more panicked curses.

The door above Sally flew open.

August wrenched her back against him, digging the knife beneath her chin and shouting, “Don’t fucking move or I’ll kill her!”

Nate fell into the space, his gun aimed and ready.

He didn’t hesitate.

Two shots and August’s hold on Sally went slack. He dropped to the floor, blood soaking into the packed dirt around his head, and Sally’s legs buckled.

Nate rushed forward, catching her and dropping to his knees so he could cradle her against him. “Are you okay? Are you alright?”

All she could do was whimper and bury her cheek into the crook of his neck. “You’re alive.”

Blaine and Cam dropped into the room behind Nate, ordering Jamie to his knees and then onto his stomach.

Nate grabbed the knife off the floor and quickly freed Sally of the ties. Her arms complained at being set free. It hurt to move them, but she ignored the agony, straddling Nate’s thighs and throwing her arms around his neck.

“You’re alive,” she kept whispering. “Thank God you’re alive.”

He held her close, cradling the back of her head with shaking arms and not saying a word. She pressed her cheek against his and felt their tears blending together.

“Jamie Cotton, you’re under arrest.” Blaine softly read Jamie his rights while Cam cuffed him.

Nate and Sally stayed where they were, locked together in an embrace that couldn’t be broken.

As Jamie was hauled back into the house, Sally leaned away from Nate, caressing his cheek and smiling down at him. His eyes glistened as he drank her in.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life.”

His face crumpled and he held her face, gently kissing her—confirmation that he was real.

He swiped his thumb under her lashes, clearing the tears and melting her with those blue eyes of his. “I love you,” he finally croaked. “I love you.”

She let out a trembling laugh and lurched toward him. Their lips met in a deep, passionate embrace. They clung to one another, kissing like it was their last goodbye.

Nate’s mouth was a warm comfort, his tongue a hot reminder that he was alive and real, and that Sally never wanted to let him slip through her fingers again.