During Cassie’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it “vacation,” two customers had dropped off vehicles for Knights and Ladies Auto Repair. Apparently cars didn’t stop breaking down just because Kevin’s daughter was struggling, or because her own life had hit a patch of black ice.

Tobias and Ben were both gone for the day, taking part in a rescue-training course, so she had the airstrip and the hangar to herself. That was a huge relief, because she didn’t think she could handle any questions right now. Ben had been blessedly question-free during the flight from LAX, but knowing him, that wouldn’t last. He’d be dying to interrogate her.

She no longer had any desire to go to Mexico. She didn’t need to recover from heartbreak anymore. Now she was just plain pissed off.

Kevin had texted a few times. The first said, I’m sorry, can we talk? The next said, Thank you for being so kind to Holly. You’re the best.

You’re the best. For some reason, that grated on her. It sounded completely insincere and generic. The best at what? At fumbling her way through an interaction with a teenager she barely knew? Possibly screwing it up?

She didn’t answer either of those texts, or the next one, which simply asked where she was and if she had some spare time.

Well, she didn’t have time. She was busy fixing cars, doing her job, being an independent, self-sufficient woman who didn’t need anyone. So he could just cool his jets.

Once she wasn’t quite so hurt, they’d talk.

Of course they would, because ignoring the person working on the vehicle next to you was just childish. But she wasn’t about to open her heart to him ever again. She’d been stupid and fallen in love with him, but that was okay. She could fix this.

She was a mechanic, after all, and that was what she did. She fixed things. Hearts had valves just like engines. It shouldn’t be hard to do.

Since no one was around, she plugged her iPod into the speakers and selected her favorite work playlist, a mixture of rock-it-out head-banger music and old Motown hits that made her smile. She put the Toyota Camry on the lift, gathered all the tools to replace its struts, and set to work.

Dad had taught her how to replace the struts on their old Ford Explorer. He’d laughed when she’d popped up next to him, ready to remove bolts and look up torque specs.

“Does your mother know you’re here? She doesn’t need you for anything, does she?”

“Nope, she said I could go play.”

“So why don’t you go play? You don’t have to waste your time with this old hulk. And I’m not talking about the car.”

But to her, the pleasure of having her father all to herself was worth passing up a swim in the creek, or a game of touch football, or whatever else her brothers were up to.

Okay, so becoming a mechanic wasn’t the typical way to mourn your murdered father, but it had worked for her.

Lost in thoughts of her father, she didn’t notice when the music stopped. She put down her wrench—and realized with a shock that instead of hitting the cardboard she’d laid out on the concrete, it hit solid flesh. Someone’s hand.

Kevin, she thought instantly, and smiled. Maybe he was coming to apologize in person for acting like such a jackass. And maybe she’d accept his apology—after she made it clear just how deep his words had cut.

“I’m sorry, I’m all booked up,” she said.

“Your schedule just cleared.”

She froze. She didn’t recognize that deep baritone voice. It certainly wasn’t Kevin, and his tone was anything but friendly. More like menacing.

She wheeled herself from under the Camry.

A stocky man in his fifties, her wrench gripped in his fist, looked her up and down. “You look so much like your mother, though not half as beautiful.”

“Do I know you?” He wore a cowboy hat that shielded the upper part of his face and a thick beard that masked the lower half. An air of nervous energy clung to him, as if he was excited about something. Or scared of something.

“You don’t recognize me?”

“No, I don’t think so. Are you here for a repair job? As I said, I’m booked. After this Camry’s done, I have a Subaru to—” She stopped, because he took a step closer and she caught the scent of his sweat. It wasn’t clean, honest perspiration created by hard work. It was nervous sweat, that kind that poured out of your body in moments of stress.

This man was up to no good.

“Your mother knows me. You should give her a call.”

Her entire body went on high alert. The little hairs on her arms stood up and ice shot through her veins. That made two times this man had mentioned her mother. “She’s out of town right now. Why don’t you tell me what you’re here for?”

“Don’t lie. She’s not out of town. She’s staying with the Reinhards. My old house. She thinks she’s safe there. But I need her to know I’m not trying to hurt her.”

It was him. The one who had killed her father. Matthew Dearborn.

Even though she’d stared long and hard at the photo Will had shown her, he looked different in person. Bulbous nose. Dilated pupils. Crazy eyes. Cheap cowboy hat, like something from a souvenir shop. The look of someone who wasn’t trying to hide his insanity anymore.

He was strong, too. That was clear from his grip on the wrench, and the hunched bulk of his shoulders. He was big and beefy and could overpower her without blinking, if that was what he intended.

“You killed my father.” It was so surreal to be saying that. As if she were acting in a play. Badly.

He waved his hand, the one that wasn’t holding the wrench. “Accident. I just wanted to talk to her. If he’d just let me do that, we would have been happy. He wasn’t right for her. He should have stepped aside like I asked.”

Cassie’s throat closed up. She told herself not to react, not to move, not to feel. Her feelings could wait until this man was no longer here, until he was locked away somewhere. Right now, she just had to get through this moment.

“So go ahead,” Dearborn said, gesturing at her phone, which lay on the workbench—next to lots of tools that she could use to attack him. “Call Janine.”

“Sure.” She walked slowly toward the bench, scanning the items she could use against him. A hammer seemed like the easiest thing, and it wasn’t far from her phone. “What is it you want me to say?”

“You’re going to tell her to come here.”

No, she wasn’t. She was going to tell her to call the fucking police, then lock herself behind the Reinhards’ security gates and stay put until this man was arrested.

“I know what you’re thinking. You think you can call for help, or tell her to call for help. I planned for that. I’m good at planning. I lie awake at night planning everything out, every single little step. I knew your brothers would be at that training today. I know where your oldest brother is right now. He’s chasing a clue I left for him. A tip about the hutch you all are so interested in.” He gave a nervous little giggle.

Her stomach clenched into a tight little ball. She had no idea where Will was, but if Dearborn knew about the training, he probably wasn’t lying about Will. Shit shit shit!

“Bet you don’t know where your youngest brother is. Aiden, the little one. I always felt bad for him. I would have been the father he deserved. I would have paid attention to him, the way Robert never did. I watched you all when you came to church, the poor little guy always left behind.”

Crazy dude. Aiden was never left behind. Sometimes he rode on one of his brothers’ shoulders, sometimes Cassie held his hand. Cassie wanted to leap to her dead father’s defense, but she also knew there was no point. Dearborn would believe whatever he wanted, whatever fed his delusions.

“Well, he grew up just fine, so I guess you didn’t need to worry so much.” Her hand was almost on her phone now. If only she had 9-1-1 on speed dial. Wait, wasn’t it automatically programmed in? What number could she press to reach a dispatcher?

“Halt right there.”

She froze.

“You didn’t answer my question. Do you know where Aiden is?” The hidden glee in his voice made her sick.

“He’s at school. College.”

“Evergreen, very good school. He’s getting good grades. Settling in well. I’ve been keeping my eye on him because I know Janine would want me to.”

No, she wouldn’t, Cassie wanted to scream. She wants you to go away and leave all of us alone.

“But you’re wrong,” he continued. “He’s not at school right now. Not to worry, he’s somewhere safe. Somewhere no harm will come to him. But that could change, so you’d best do exactly what I say.”

Oh my God. This man had Aiden stashed somewhere? Her little brother Aiden, one of the best people in the entire world? “I don’t believe you. If you had Aiden, you’d use him to get to Mom. You wouldn’t need me.”

Something ugly flashed in Dearborn’s eyes. Did that mean she was right?

“Are you willing to bet on that?” He whipped a Polaroid from his pocket. In the photo, Aiden, his blond bedhead hair even more tousled than usual, stared defiantly at the camera from a chair—to which he was tied.

Dearborn stuffed the photo back in his pocket. Cassie tried to hide her shudders. Would he hurt Aiden? This same man had kidnapped Felix, Savannah Reinhard’s son, and he was only eleven. He’d threatened Julie when she was only seventeen, and scared her so much she’d stayed away from Jupiter Point for twelve years. Dearborn clearly didn’t mind hurting people of any age.

He’d slashed Dad’s throat. Killed him right in his own kitchen.

She put her hand to her throat as if she could feel that pain in her own body. “If anything happens to me or Aiden, my mother would never forgive you.”

“That’s why I don’t want anything to happen to you guys,” he said as if that made total sense. “I really don’t. It would break my heart to have to hurt either of you. Now go ahead, pick up your phone and call Janine. Tell her you have a present for her. Don’t worry, you won’t be lying.” He reached in the pocket of his bulky olive-drab jacket.

She flinched, expecting him to pull out a weapon of some kind.

Instead, he came out with a locket.

She peered at the jewel dangling from his fingers.

The sight of it sent horrified chills up and down her spine. She knew that locket well. Her grandmother had given that locket to Janine when she got married. It held a baby picture of Janine on one side, and on the other an old vintage photo of her parents’ wedding. Mom had worn it constantly, claiming it was her favorite piece of jewelry. Then she’d lost it.

“Where did you get that?”

He chuckled. “A suitor has to have his secrets. Sorry, that’s privileged information. But I know Janine will be glad to have it back. And that’s just the start of what I can give her. I know she’s tired of traveling. You and she have been wandering all over the country, and I understand that. She had to work through something personal, and I’ve been patient. But I know what she really wants. She wants to come home to Jupiter Point. She wants to make a life here. The life she would have had all along, if Robert weren’t such a prick. She should have everything she deserves, and I’m going to give it to her.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“All that money the Reinhards paid for my family’s old house? I invested it. I can buy it back now if I want. You people think I’m just an accountant? Just part of the scenery? The guy who takes the fat slob roles in community theater? I’m worth millions now. And it’s all for her.”

“She doesn’t want money. She just wants to be left alone.”

“Dial,” he ordered.

She picked up the phone and dialed. Not her mom’s current number, but her previous one. Luckily, it hadn’t been reassigned yet, or maybe Janine had held onto it for some reason. At any rate, her voice mail answered. Cassie put it on speaker so Dearborn could hear.

“I’m not here right now, please leave a message.”

Dearborn’s eyes closed halfway as he listened to her mother’s soft voice floating into the room. His expression, almost erotic, made her sick to her stomach.

“I tried to call her. She’s not answering. I guess you can leave now.”

“You’re partway right. We’re both going to leave. I need you with me. The Reinhards will let you in.” He waved the wrench at her. “You’ll drive and I’ll be in the backseat, with this.”

“You can’t whack the driver in the head, genius.” That retort flew out of her mouth before she could stop it.

The man’s face tightened into a completely different expression, something hard and terrifying. “Don’t sass me! I’m not playing around here. I’ve been waiting too long for this day. I won’t let a disrespectful little brat ruin it.”

He grabbed her by the wrist, his grip like steel, and pulled her toward him. “I wouldn’t hit you on the head. But it only takes one hand to drive, and I don’t mind breaking every little bone in your right hand if that’s what it takes.”

“My mom would hate you for that,” Cassie gasped as his disgusting odor and body heat enveloped her. Bile rose in her throat, making her gag. “Hurt me at all, and you’ll lose any chance you ever had of being with her.”

“She’ll come around, for Aiden’s sake. Besides, she loves me—whether or not she knows it. And she will know it, soon enough.” He wrenched her arm behind her back. “Now come on. Car’s waiting.”

He manhandled her toward the exit.

She dragged her feet, making it as difficult as possible for him, but her efforts barely slowed him down. He was so strong, like a bull.

When they were a few feet away from the door, it swung open. Light streamed in from outside, silhouetting the familiar muscular form of Kevin.

“Get out!” Cassie screamed to him. “Call the police!”

The next thing she knew, something slammed her right cheekbone. Her vision blurred and pain radiated through her skull. Not the wrench. Gun.

She heard the click of the safety coming off.

“Come inside or she’s dead,” growled Dearborn.

Kevin stepped inside and the door slammed shut behind him with an ominous clang. She saw him quickly read the situation, his face still and watchful, green eyes capturing every detail.

He raised his hands slowly. “I’m inside. I don’t want trouble. I’ll do whatever you ask. Why don’t you let her go, man.”

Dearborn laughed, a caustic, almost hysterical sound. For the first time, he seemed panicked. Clearly, Kevin’s appearance had thrown him off. All his careful planning hadn’t included that plot twist. But was a panicky Dearborn better or worse? Was it good or bad that Kevin was here?

With the gun now pressed against her temple, she had no idea. But God, she was so glad to see him.