“Who is Blackwood?”
Gabriel sat by the fire.
“A man who buys things people think cannot be bought.”
“Like women?”
“Like judges.”
Eliza stared at him.
“And men like my father?”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Especially men like your father.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
“Gabriel.”
He looked at her.
“You knew this would happen.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Blackwood would come.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my father.”
“No.”
Eliza felt anger rising.
“Then stop treating me like a child.”
Gabriel stood.
“Your father wasn’t supposed to lose you.”
“What?”
“He was supposed to lose something else.”
Her anger vanished.
“What are you talking about?”
Gabriel walked toward the window.
“Your father owed Blackwood a great deal of money. But money wasn’t what Blackwood wanted.”
“What did he want?”
Gabriel looked outside.
“Something your father stole.”
Eliza’s heart began beating faster.
“What?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
Instead, he said:
“Go to sleep.”
She hated him for that.
The next morning, she found him gone.
His horse was missing.
His rifle was gone.
So was the second horse.
Eliza waited until noon.
Then evening.
At sunset, she saw smoke on the horizon.
Not from Gabriel’s chimney.
From the direction of Redemption.
A wagon was approaching.
She grabbed the revolver.
Three men rode toward the cabin.
Eliza backed against the wall.
Then one man called out.
“Miss Hart?”
Her blood froze.
Hart.
Her family name.
“Who are you?”
“We’re friends of your father’s.”
She almost laughed.
Her father had no friends.
Not anymore.
The men dismounted.
One held up a white cloth.
“We came to take you somewhere safe.”
Eliza tightened her grip.
“Where is Gabriel?”
The man’s smile disappeared.
“He’s dead.”
The world stopped.
“No.”
“He was ambushed near the river.”
“No.”
“He told us where you were.”
Eliza stared at them.
“You’re lying.”
The leader sighed.
“Your father is alive.”
That hurt more than anything.
“What?”
“He wants you back.”
Eliza’s fingers trembled.
“He sent you?”
“Yes.”
She lowered the gun slightly.
And that was her mistake.
The man lunged.
Eliza fired.
The shot struck his shoulder.
She ran.
She reached the barn.
Grabbed a horse.
And rode.
Behind her, gunshots tore through the night.
Eliza rode until the horse collapsed.
She fell into the dirt.
For hours she crawled through the darkness.
She had no food.
No water.
No coat.
No weapon.
Only fear.
At dawn, she reached an abandoned church.
She stumbled inside.
And found Gabriel sitting in the front pew.
Alive.
Eliza stopped breathing.
He looked up.
His face was bruised.
Blood darkened his shirt.
But he was alive.
She ran toward him.
She struck his chest with both fists.
“You were dead!”
Gabriel caught her wrists.
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead!”
