Page 64 of Wrecked By You

“I look up to you too.”

“With all that you’ve gone through and the faith you have, I really do appreciate that. I want goodness in my life.” I didn’twant to compare her to my ex-wife, but I couldn’t help myself. “Missy was not that good. She wasn’t focused on God, and I sort of let myself go in the faith department. Since you’ve been back, I want you to know I’ve been praying. Morning and night, just like a kid. I have found myself praying throughout the day. For you. For my boys. For my family. That I can be a good police chief. And I think it has helped me. And that is because of you.”

She sniffed, and I knew she’d be crying.

“No more crying,” I scolded her.

She laughed. “I’m crying happy tears. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Thirty

Isla

Friday night, Damon dropped me off at the ranch house and brought a couple of things for the wedding night the next day. I felt so good to have him bring stuff, even though we planned on moving into his house once we’d built a home down the street from his parents and Noah. We held each other on the front porch and kissed.

“I feel like a teenager,” I said, and I laughed. “We are getting married tomorrow.”

He squeezed me and kissed my head. “I can pretty much say this is one of the most exciting nights in my entire life. I am like a kid on Christmas Eve.”

I didn’t want to pin him down on the other exciting nights, like his other marriage and possibly his kids being born. I was pretty sure that’s what he would say. “It’s going to be great. I don’t know how your sister and mother and Ella have pulled everything together so quickly for a reception. They are just amazing ladies.”

He laughed. “I would say that all of them thrive under pressure. They love it. It was a challenge to them, and it justdelights them to be rallying all the resources in this town. Plus, the whole town’s invited.” He laughed again.

We held each other and rubbed noses. “One more night. Then you’ll just come in the door with me,” I said.

He squeezed me closer to him, then let go, giving me one last kiss. “One more night, and I’d better go before I just walk in now.”

I giggled and then watched him leave.

When I walked back into the house, I instantly felt that something was different. It was almost like I could sense someone.

I sucked in a long breath and tried to calm myself. One more night. One more night.

I got ready for bed and prayed. I thanked God for all his goodness and for all the good things I’d been able to experience in my life. I slipped into bed and waited for Damon to get home and put his kids to bed and then call me. I lay there and thought about everything I was so grateful for.

And then I heard it.

Someone was breathing underneath the bed.

Adrenaline shot through me and I knew it was Kyle. He was here. He was lying beneath my bed.

I didn’t want to panic and alert him that I knew he was there. I thought about the fact that Damon and I had just walked through the house and looked underneath things. My mind raced, and I wondered how Kyle had gotten inside. Tragically, I had always known that this reckoning would happen. Kyle would show up.

Then I steeled myself. I was no longer a victim.

I moved to open the bedside table, but then I remembered the gun was beneath the pillow. I grabbed the phone instead, pretending to tap it while I reached down and felt the metal of the gun. Quickly, I switched the safety off.

I waited. I could hear him breathing. I knew what he sounded like when he was asleep. He wasn’t asleep.

I closed my eyes and prayed to the Lord. “God, please help me. My Heavenly Father, please help me know what to do.”

I distinctly heard the words in my mind.Shoot him.

I stilled and felt warmth rush through me, which was crazy, because I was about to hurt someone. Carefully, I aimed the pistol so the barrel was pointing into the mattress, and then I pulled the trigger.

A wail came out of Kyle as I jolted up and off of the bed.