Horrified, Holly couldn’t defend herself against Greer’s angry outburst. Thankfully, Diamond didn’t have the same problem.

“How dare you?” Diamond jerked the letters away from him. “And you wonder why Holly didn’t mention them to you or your brothers? Because you wouldn’t give her time to explain! She’s right; it isn’t any of your business, but I know you won’t let it go and will make her miserable when she comes home, so I’ll tell you. She kept them, because Mitch has written her to apologize numerous times. The man actually cares about her and regrets what happened. Holly hasn’t responded once to the letters he sent her. I’m the one who told her to keep them, so if he does come back to town, I can use them to get a restraining order against him. I don’t think it will be necessary, but unlike you, I’m watching her back.”

Holly felt no sympathy for Greer as his face paled.

Diamond was so furious she didn’t give Greer time to say anything. The lawyer in her cut his masculine pride to shreds. “Mitch was wrong when he held a gun on me to find the information for Sam, but I was the one he held the gun to, not you. I forgave him a long time ago when he asked to see me after his trail. He truly regretted his crime, unlike you when you tossed my office and nearly shot me the night I confronted Dustin.

“Mitch has served his time, and he deserves his parole. You, on the other hand, have never been held responsible for being such a jackass. And if you don’t get out of my office now, I’m going to call Knox and get him to arrest you for trespassing. And this time, I won’t be the one representing you, so you’ll be in jail until hell freezes over.”

“I’ll leave your keys under your car mat.” Greer abruptly left the women.

Holly started to say something, but Diamond’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Don’t you think about it.”

Holly frowned at Diamond’s penetrating glare.

“I know you. You tell yourself it’s all right that he acts like a judgmental idiot. You couldn’t be mean if you had to. But I’m not going to watch you let him off the hook. You’re too nice to him. You’re too nice to everyone.”

“He doesn’t mean half the things he says,” Holly tried to excuse him, avoiding Diamond’s scornful expression.

“Even if Greer means half of what he says to you, it’s too much. You don’t deserve to be treated like that by him.” She went from angry to curious. “Why do you put up with it?”

Holly picked up the letters Diamond had thrown down on her desk. “Logan. He’s all I have.”

“No, he’s not. You have me and Knox, Tate and Dustin. Do you think any of us would let Greer keep you away from Logan?”

Holly let her see the real fear that she lived with every time Greer made the threat. “I can’t lose him, Diamond. Logan is my son. I might not have carried him in my body, but he is of my heart. I’m the one who walked the floor with him when he had colic. I’m the one who kept trying to find doctors to see why he was sick. I’m the one who rocked him to sleep every night … I can’t lose him.” Holly broke off in a heartfelt sob.

Diamond pulled her close in a comforting hug. “You’re Logan’s mother; no one doubts that. Dustin knows that, too, right?”

Holly nodded in agreement.

“Then you don’t have to worry. Dustin is his legal guardian, so it doesn’t matter what Greer says or does. Even if they decide not to let you see Logan, the courts would give you visitation—I’d see to that. When Logan screws up, do you expect him to keep apologizing after you forgive him? It’s time you realize we love you the same way. The only one who can’t forgive who counts is you. Until you do, Greer will pick on you like a scab on a wound that’s already healed.”

Diamond was right. It was like a heavy weight had been taken off her chest from the constant fear of losing her son.

“I’ve always felt so bad about what Mitch and I did. It just seems I can’t make up for what happened. You didn’t have to help me. Anyone else would have pressed charges against me …”

“Holly …” Diamond became as tearful as her. “I’ve told you a thousand times that I forgive you. You’re my bestest friend in the world. If the zombies take over, you and Logan will be with Knox and me on our island. I haven’t even made that offer to my own sister.”

Holly gave a shaky laugh. “Really?”

“Can you imagine Sex Piston on an island? She would take it over in a day.”

She agreed with her. Sex Piston would probably declare herself queen and throw everyone off the island.

Diamond’s face grew serious. “Promise me that you’ll stop being afraid of Greer taking Logan away?”

“I promise.”

Diamond raised disbelieving eyebrows. “I’ll believe it when I see it. You don’t know how to be mean, and it’s going to take you being mean to deal with Greer.”

“I won’t have to say anything mean. I’ll just stop cooking for him.”

“Make a big salad, using some of that pot he’s growing. Maybe it’ll put him in a better mood.”

“He’d have a heart attack. Those plants are his babies.” Holly giggled at just imagining Greer’s expression if she did.

“Since Greer is taking Logan home after school, how about we get some drinks after work?”

“I’m up for that. Greer can cook dinner for everyone. I’ll text Dustin and tell him.”

As soon as she did, they went back to work. Using the extras hours, she got caught up on her filing and Diamond’s emails.

“Ready?”

Holly stretched her aching back as she closed the lower filing drawer. “Yes. We need to get another filing cabinet. The ones we have are full.”

“You can go buy one tomorrow. The rest of the day is for fun.”

“I can deal with that.” Holly smiled as she grabbed her purse, while Diamond turned off the lights and set the security alarm. “Where are we going?”

“We have a choice: The Pink Slipper, King’s, or Rosie’s?”

“Let’s go to King’s. We won’t have to move our cars, and if we need a ride home, Knox will be close.”

The restaurant and bar was busy, but they managed to find a seat at the bar. They ordered their drinks and were talking about going on a shopping spree in Lexington next month when Holly felt like someone was watching her.

“Something wrong?”

Holly shrugged. “I don’t know.” She looked around the bar, not seeing anyone watching her. “You ever get a creepy feeling and not know why?”

“Every time I go to court.” Diamond motioned for the waitress to bring her another drink.

The waitress, who was talking to one of the customers at the bar, gave her a snarky look for interrupting their conservation.

“She doesn’t seem too happy about waiting on us.”

“No, she doesn’t. I don’t recognize her from court, so at least I don’t have to worry about her spitting in my drink.”

Holly looked at her name tag when she brought another round of drinks.

Lindy saw her staring at her name tag and stiffened with an aloof expression. At first, Holly had thought it was Diamond she had a problem with, but from her frosty eyes, Holly realized it was her. Even Diamond noticed as Lindy walked away without asking if they wanted anything else.

“Wow, maybe you’re the one who should be checking your drink.”

“I’ve never met her before.” Shocked at the waitress’s behavior, Holly could only stare after her.

“You might not know her, but she definitely knows you.”

The women didn’t let the waitress’s attitude damper their fun. They became determined to irritate the waitress by ordering more drinks. By their fourth drink, Holly knew she and Diamond wouldn’t be driving home, so did Diamond.

“I’ll text Knox to come and get us if you’re ready.”

“No, but I think we’ve had enough … after the next drink.” Holly finished the drink she was working on, then motioned to the irritated waitress to bring another.

“Dammit!”

“What’s wrong?” Holly set Diamond’s drink down in front of her, waving the waitress away.

“Knox is on call. He said it might be an hour before he or one of the deputies can give us a ride home.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get Dustin to give us a ride home.”

“You sure? Knox said one of The Last Riders could give us a ride, but I didn’t think you would want them to.”

Diamond knew The Last Riders freaked her out. Diamond might have been married to one, but they frightened Holly, especially Rider. He always stared at her breasts as if he was gauging how big they were.

“Dustin won’t mind.” Holly looked at her watch, thinking he might still be at work, and was surprised to see that it was much later than she had thought. They were sitting at the back of the bar, so she couldn’t see out the windows, missing how dark it had gotten. She was starting to get worried that Dustin wouldn’t see her text, then she would have to resort to taking a ride from one of The Last Riders, when Dustin replied. “He’s on his way.”

Holly reached for her wallet to pay for their bar tab, but Diamond stopped her.

“I got it.”

Diamond frowned as she searched through her wallet.

“What’s wrong?”

“I left my business card in my desk.” She sighed in frustration.

“You’re going to make our drinks a tax deduction?”

“Of course. We talked about the filing cabinet you’re going to buy tomorrow.”

“Technically, we were still at the office when we talked about it.”

“You see an IRS agent around here?”

“Nope.” Holly laughed, getting up from the table. “I’ll go get it. It’ll clear my head.”

“I can—”

“It takes you forever to remember the codes to the security systems. I’ll be quicker and be right back.”

Diamond always mixed the two codes up. The building had one, and then you had to put in another code for her office.

Holly skirted through the crowd in the bar, going outside. The cool air cleared her head as she walked to Diamond’s office. It wasn’t far, but she decided to take the shortcut from the parking lot through the church’s back playground instead of walking around the block.

She was almost through the playground when she heard the metallic sound of the swing hitting its post. Turning around, Holly nearly screamed when she saw the shadow of a man running toward her.

She didn’t take time to think, just reacted, running as fast as she could. With a burst of speed, she ran toward Diamond’s office, angry at herself for leaving her phone with her purse back at the restaurant.

She almost started to run toward her car, but it would take precious minutes for her to get the car keys from under the mat. Therefore, she ran toward the office building as fast as possible, hearing a muttered curse as she managed a spurt of speed. Thankfully, no cars were coming, or she would have been killed as she darted quickly toward the door of the office building.

“Please let me make it. Please let me make it!” she panted as she lifted her hand to push the buttons to open the door.

As soon as she heard the lock opening, she swung it open then turned to slam it shut behind her. Trembling, she looked out the window as a huge rock burst through the glass, shards going everywhere.

Holly screamed in terror as she ran up the steps to Diamond’s office.

She was at the top when she heard the door being opened and boots crunching on glass. She quickly ran to the office, keying in the code. And as soon as the door opened, she shut and locked it before running to her desk for the phone.

Dialing 911, she ran into Diamond’s private office and locked the door.

“911, what is your emergency?”

“Someone is chasing me. I work for Knox’s wife, and I’m in her office. Please help!” Holly screamed again when she heard the front office door being smashed open. “Hurry!”

“An officer is on his way. Stay on the phone with me until help arrives.”

“Okay.”

“What’s happening now?”

“I hear him in the front office,” Holly whispered.

“The officer is en route. Just hold on.” The voice on the other end of the line tried to keep her calm, but when the doorknob turned, she screamed again.

Panicking, she turned, trying to find a place to hide. The only option available was under Diamond’s desk, and it wouldn’t take a genius to find her there.

Going to the window, she looked down the two-story drop. If she hung over the ledge, she might be able to make it without hurting herself.

“The police are coming! You better leave while you have the chance!” She didn’t see the red glow of a police car, but maybe the person in the other room might believe her.

“Do you see Knox?” the voice from the phone asked.

Holly didn’t say anything, trying to hear if who had been chasing her was still there. The only thing she could hear was silence.

“Are you still there?”

Holy went to the door, pressing her ear against the hard wood, listening. Her eyes went to the doorknob again when she heard steps come from the other room.

Sinking down to the floor, she braced herself for the inevitable assault on the door to continue. Warily, she saw the doorknob turn, then stop.

“Holly, open the door. It’s Knox. It’s safe to come out.”

Dropping the phone, she unlocked the door, dropping the phone to the floor. She practically collapsed into his arms, talking and crying at the same time. She had never been so frightened in her life.

Knox steadied her as she tried to explain what had happened.

“Did you catch him?” She finally took a deep breath, afraid of his answer.

“No, Holly. He was gone before we got here.”