Page 45 of Wrecked By You
I put her hand in mine and then moved to the group. “McCrae, will you fill her in?”
McCrae filled her in about the break-ins and the dead chicken.
Her face went white as she turned to me and asked, “Do you think this is Kyle?” She looked around at the whole group like she was hoping it wasn’t true.
“I don’t know.”
McCrae crossed his arms. “I just wanted you to be aware. We have not had anything like this happen, and it just reminded me of what your ex did with the dog.”
“I should leave Refuge Falls.” She shrugged and took a step backward. “I’m putting everyone in this town in danger.”
I grabbed her and pulled her back to the circle. “No.”
My father moved to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “Now you listen. This town can handle things. Especially if we work together. And I’ll tell you something else: this family can handle a lot.”
I felt myself becoming emotional, and I looked around at my brothers and sister and their determined expressions. They were all nodding.
My dad continued, “Let’s make a game plan, but today you’ll be with us. McCrae is on duty today, so he is going to go investigate. We can have a good day.”
Isla didn’t say anything.
Noah cleared his throat. “Isla, if it’s all right with you, I can call in a team of guys that can be here tomorrow. We can set up some nice security around the place.”
She looked uncertain. “What would that entail?”
“Cameras to survey the front, a few inside the house. Of course, we’d stay out of private places. We would have the back done, and we could even do around the barn.”
Kayla went to her side and hugged her. “You could come stay with me? It’s in town. Maybe it’s a little safer. My brothers have a couple of cameras up, because they like to check in on me.” Sherolled her eyes and gave Isla a compassionate look. “We do all care about each other, and we care about you.”
Suddenly, tears were running down Isla’s face. “You all are so great. I’m sorry to bring this to you guys.”
My father shook his head. “Nonsense. You didn’t bring this to us. Your ex is the one that needs to be held accountable if he’s behind it. And we don’t want him to be a threat to you.”
Dylan cleared his throat. “We could file some restraining orders.”
Of course, the attorney would think that way. I nodded at him. “We definitely could, but we don’t know if it’s him, and she is trying not to let him know where she is.”
Dylan was unconvinced. “You can’t run forever. Whether it’s now or later, these things always catch up. Let’s be on the offense.”
Isla looked out of sorts.
It was perfect timing that Jason ran to my side. “Dad, you’re missing the end of the parade.”
I smiled at him and nodded to everyone else. “Let’s enjoy the day, and then we can all help put up some security if Noah can wrangle up some stuff.”
We all dispersed, and Isla clung to my hand like I was the only thing keeping her steady.
I put my arm around her and whispered, “It’s okay. As Dylan mentioned, we’re just trying to be on the offense.”
She leaned into me, staying close to me as the parade started to wrap up. Horses and more fire trucks went by. I watched my kids giggling and having a good time, and I was immensely grateful that my family could support us and that Isla was by my side. I would defend this woman, no matter what.
Twenty-One
Isla
That afternoon, I rode with Damon’s family on what they told me was a brand-new boat of Nora and Frank’s. Refuge Lake was big, so we had a lot of room to cruise on the boat, drinking cold water and laughing. The boys wore life jackets, and Frank looked totally happy captaining the boat. I could almost forget this looming threat that seemed to curse me. I could tell Damon wasn’t completely relaxed, but he was more relaxed out here on the boat in the sunshine.
Kayla was sitting by Nora, and they were talking about something that made them both laugh. Canyon and Dylan were having an easy conversation. The boys kept asking their grandpa questions, and he was giving them turns letting them hold the steering wheel with him.