HALLIE
The faint beepingpulled at me, shoving me out of the sea of nothingness. I let out a garbled moan. A hand squeezed mine.
“Come on, Little Minx. Been telling all the nurses what a fighter you are. Gotta prove me right.”
I knew that voice. I wanted to get to it. To reach Lawson.
My eyelids fluttered, the bright lights making me squint.
“There she is.”
Lawson’s face filled my vision. His scruff was longer than usual, and dark circles rimmed his beautiful eyes.
“Blue,” I rasped.
Pain streaked across his face. “Worried I’d never hear you call me that again.”
My hand spasmed in his as it all came rushing back. The vet’s office. The cave. “Damien?”
That pain morphed into fury. “He’s gone. You’ll never have to worry about him again.”
Relief rushed through me. Blessed relief. Maybe that made me a bad person, but this world would be a better place without Damien Miller in it.
Lawson leaned over me, pressing his forehead to mine. “You’re safe.”
“I can’t believe it was him and not Len Keller.”
Something passed over Lawson’s eyes.
My stomach knotted. “What?”
“Cops a couple of counties over found Len and got him back to the hospital. It turns out his daughter was one of Miller’s victims. It didn’t pop at first because she had a different last name. She was newly married.”
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “That poor man.”
Lawson’s fingers traced over the back of my hand. “Some part of his broken mind thought he was trying to save you.”
I couldn’t imagine how tormented he must’ve been. How much he’d lost. “You won’t charge him, right?”
Lawson shook his head. “Not unless you want to. He’s getting the help he needs now.”
“I don’t want to charge him. He’s been through enough. We all have.”
His lips ghosted across mine. “I love you, Hallie. With everything I have.”
“I love you, too.”
Lawson pulled back, searching my face. “Are you in pain? Should I get a nurse?”
I squeezed his hand. My stomach throbbed, but I didn’t want medicine. “I just need you. A few minutes holding your hand so I know for sure this is real.”
Lawson brushed the hair away from my face. “This is real. You fought for it. Battled your way back to me. To us.”
My eyes burned. “You were with me. I thought of you and the boys, and I wouldn’t give up.”
He lifted my hand to his lips, kissing it and then just holding it there so he was speaking against my knuckles. “Don’t want to waste any time. I’m already an old man.”
I grinned. “You don’t look old to me. And you definitely don’t feel old.”
