Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (best free ebook reader .txt) 📕

Anth since that day over a decade ago. The ways he could have gotten into the house are legion if we go back farther than we’ve been on guard.”

“So, why now?”

Dev shook his head. “I couldn’t say. But, to Sarah’s point, it’s all planned. It’s careful, and even if it’s not logical, there’s a pattern. It’s not random and even if it doesn’t make sense to us, there’s some thread of sense. If we can access it, we can stop it.”

“And if we can’t?”

“There’s an end game. There has to be. We just have to keep fighting until it gets there.” He looked around the stables. His entire family. Everyone he loved. Everyone he...

Sarah’s hand slid into his. He looked down at her, pregnant with his child. So determined to figure out the pattern. When he wanted to act, she wanted to sit and think it through—and he figured the opposite was also true.

Balance. They had it—always had. Evened each other out, even when they were bickering. Or were they always bickering because it had been the only way to get him to engage at all for a while there?

She’d brought him back to life, whether he’d wanted to admit that for a very long time or not. It was true. She and the baby were the last missing piece and that was why he was scared of them—better to believe he didn’t deserve it than reach for something that might bring him back to fully living.

But there were bigger things to be scared of—real things. Anth and losing any of these people to a madman’s whims. He’d once vowed to fight everything Ace was and touched, but he’d given up on that when he’d almost died.

But there was too much at stake to ignore who and what he was. “There’s too much at stake to lose, so we’ll figure out a way to win.”

Chapter Fourteen

Eventually between the local police department and Cody’s connections to the North Star group, a bomb expert was called in. It took most of the day, but they managed to defuse and take away the bomb.

Jamison and Cody had talked about the technicalities. All the Wyatts currently employed by Valiant County helped the other officers dust for prints and try to figure out how Anth, or someone else, had gotten in to plant the bomb.

But there were no answers to be had. Everyone was on considerable edge. The house didn’t feel safe. Nowhere felt safe.

Cody and Dev had set out to change all the locks in the house. Brady and Gage had gone out with the other officers to do a sweep of the property. Jamison, Duke and Tucker were keeping a watch on the outdoors with Felicity and Nina, while Rachel, Grandma and Liza were entertaining the girls by decorating the tree.

Sarah was superfluous—in actuality and size. She couldn’t do anything fast. She couldn’t do anything. She sat on the couch looking at the twinkling lights, feeling sorry for herself and thinking how pointless she was.

Which didn’t do anyone any good. Maybe she couldn’t act in the ways she might like, but she could still think. She had to think.

When Cecilia came into the room, she looked...drawn. Sarah wasn’t sure what she’d been doing upstairs, but it certainly hadn’t been resting up for her night assignment of lookout.

Sarah motioned her to come sit next to her. Cecilia made her way through the Christmas debris, giving Brianna’s braid a little tug on the way. Brianna grinned up at Cecilia, then went back to unwrapping ornaments.

Cecilia plopped on the couch next to Sarah and sighed. “Seems so weird to be doing normal things.”

“It’s almost Christmas,” Sarah offered, even though she’d had the same negative reaction this morning.

“Yeah. And we’re dealing with bomb threats and hanging up crystal angels.”

Cecilia sounded somewhat disgusted, but Sarah had begun to accept it was comforting. Stars and angels and all the symbols of the season of peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Too bad there was one man she didn’t have much peace or goodwill for. Brady would be next, if the notes kept following the pattern. Maybe that was why Cecilia looked so worried. While they were all family and all loved each other, it was probably more stressful when your husband was the next target of unknown sentencing.

Sarah should probably let it be. Focus on Christmas and hope, but... Well, there had to be some way to figure out what was coming next. “Tell me about when you and Brady faced off with Elijah.”

Cecilia sighed. “I don’t really want to relive that particular moment in my life, Sarah.”

“Even if it helped us figure out what’s next?”

Cecilia scowled. “I don’t see how it would,” she grumbled, but she scooted closer to Sarah on the couch so she could speak in low tones the girls wouldn’t hear over their chattering. “It all started with me hiding Mak from Elijah.” Cecilia’s friend had had a baby with Ace’s protégé in the Sons. When the mother had been hospitalized, Cecilia had taken the baby to keep him from going to Elijah. She and Brady had worked to keep Mak safe from both Elijah and the dangerous reach of the Sons.

“You miss him.”

Cecilia shrugged. “I’m happy Layla’s happy. Jarrod is good for her and spending a few weeks with his family in Denver is great for all of them. But, yeah, I miss having them closer.”

“So, in reality, you started it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, you took Mak and Brady got involved. Before that, Felicity was the one being framed for murder, and Gage got involved. In fact, Felicity was the one who shot Ace, even if he did survive.”

“Well, yeah, but—”

Sarah straightened in her seat, trying to find a more comfortable position for her belly. “And Nina went on the run because Ace threatened her. She came back because Ace sent men after her. Liza came to Jamison when Gigi disappeared.”

“What’s your point? The only reason the Wyatt boys are ever in trouble is