I hurried through the woods, which I knew like the back of my hand, being careful of the downed limbs and trees.
I glanced over my shoulder again to find him gone.
I stopped as my gaze searched for him. Had he fallen and hit his head? Had he drowned?
My heart demanded that I go check when the voices in my head were yelling at me to run.
Finally, I spotted him. He’d fallen, his body strung over a tree branch. He’d been lucky that when he’d fallen, he hadn’t hit his head and landed submerged in the water.
The water level was up to his chin.
If I left him, he could drown. He could slip below the current, unconscious.
Fear and anger assaulted my senses. Fear I wouldn’t get away. Anger that I couldn’t bring myself to run.
I sloshed toward him. When I was within arm’ length, he sprang out of the water and squeezed me in the muscular bands of his forearms
“I knew you’d come back.” He chuckled as I struggled to break free.
The sound of a boat in the distance grew closer, and Hugh slapped his hand over my mouth to stifle my screams.
When the boat pulled into view, Hugh tensed, and hustled us behind one of the standing trees.
Three men, dressed all in black and holding semi-automatic guns were in the boat.
These guys weren’t my saviors, they weren’t my sisters, and they damn sure weren’t cops. They were getting out of the boat and breaking into my damn house.
I quit struggling, and held my breath as they trolled past.
Hugh lowered his hand. “Now, do you believe me?”
Gusting out a breath, I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“Good, then let’s run,” Hugh said, taking my hand and pulling me farther into the trees and standing brush, trying to put more distance between us and them.
Hugh shoved me in front of him, shielding me from the men searching my home. His hands were strong and sure every time he caught me as I slipped over a branch or debris. He righted me without a single word and urged me forward.
We hit the lake and finally slowed when we were out of sight of my house. When Hugh gestured to the ridge above the lake that led to the top of the waterfall, I kept moving to the other side of the lake instead.
“We need higher ground,” he growled, pulling me to a stop.
“We need my sisters, and they’ll be this way.” I gestured over my shoulder. “If you want higher ground, there’s nothing stopping you from going that way.”
“We. Need. Higher. Ground,” he growled a bit slower and deeper, as if I hadn’t heard him the first time.
“We need a hiding spot and backup,” I answered and spun to wade away.
I didn’t get far. He grabbed my hand and spun me around. “Why in the hell do you have to be so difficult? You saw Victor’s men. The rain won’t stop them from looking for you. Or finding you, for that matter.”
I yanked my arm free and pointed toward the path that Hugh had wanted to take. “That way leads to a road. They’ll spot us on that road. My way leads to a place that only my sisters know about. A place we’ll be safe.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did you call your sisters? Because if you did, they’ll be walking into that.”
Hugh pointed an accusatory finger back in the direction of my house.
“I may have paid a house visit to one of my sisters via astral projection, and she’s the one who told me to go wait at the other place. She and my sisters will come for me. I guarantee it.”
A boat motor roared in the distance. my heart skipped a beat. He gestured in the direction I wanted to go and followed behind. “If you’re wrong about this, then we’re dead.”
“According to you, I’m dead either way, but I’ll always bet on family coming through for me before anyone else.”
