Page 22 of Mountain Shadow

“I don’t understand, Sarah. You need to come home with us,” Tess said.

“I don’t want to go home with you, Tess,” Sarah said. “I love you. I’m not going to endanger you and Damien and Jamie.”

Tess looked up at Damien, looking for support from her husband. “Tell her she’s wrong, Damien.”

Damien opened his mouth to speak, but Sarah stopped him before he could get a word out. “No. I’ve thought about it a lot. At first, I was too scared. I didn’t know where else to go, and I knew you’d help me. That’s why I came here. But over the last couple of days, I’ve had time to think. By staying with you, I’d be bringing danger to your doorstep, and that’s not something I’m willing to do.”

Tess’s eyes widened with understanding, then filled with tears. Damien put his arms around his wife.

“Sarah will be safe with me, Tess. I promise,” Jens said. “I have some vacation time pending. I think now’s as good a time as any to take it.”

There was no way he was going to feel comfortable leaving her alone while he went to work.

“That makes sense. I’ll head into the office and dig into the situation with the London police, Sarah,” Damien said. “We’re going to figure this out.”

“We’re going to catch this madman and make sure he can’t bother you anymore.”

“I don’t know how to thank you all,” Sarah said, finally. Her beautiful eyes looked watery.

“You don’t have to thank us, Sarah,” Tess cried out. “You’re my sister. We’re family. This is what family does for each other.”

Jens didn’t move a muscle. He felt some surprising things for Sarah, but brotherly wasn’t one of them.

Eventually, Damien and Tess moved towards the door. While the two women embraced, Damien took Jens apart. “I promise I’ll keep her safe, Damien.”

Damien nodded. “I know that. We’ll figure this out, Jens.” Damien’s phone beeped once. Damien cursed as he read the message.

“What’s happening?” Jens said, tensing.

“The man we picked up from the plane crash. He just died.”

Jens frowned. Based on his very preliminary assessment, he’d been almost certain the man was going to survive.

“What happened?”

“Hiro’s on his way to the hospital to figure it out, but it looks like he had a heart attack.”

Jens bit his lip. He wanted to head to the hospital with Hiro and figure out what had happened, but staying here with Sarah was his priority now. “I’ll call Hiro later,” he said mildly.

8

Sarah

This is really happening.

I’m staying here with Jens.

Tess had brought her some clothes. Her little sister was taller than Sarah, so the clothes weren’t a perfect fit, but, together with the clothes she’d bought the previous day, the closet in the study-turned-guest bedroom was now filled to capacity.

She finished brushing her hair and tied it up in a ponytail. As a radio host, she was used to working alone with her team in the studio, so she usually pulled her hair up for maximum comfort, only letting it down when they were going to go on camera or have pictures taken.

“Sarah?” Jens asked, knocking on her bedroom door. “I made some lunch.”

Guilt stabbed at her. He’d cooked for her again. At some point you’re going to have to step up and—

And what?

Make him one of three dishes you know how to make?