She married a rancher 5 years ago." As we prepared to leave the cave, I caught myself watching her. How she moved, how natural it all looked, even with her height. Everything about her challenged things I'd never thought to question. "Sihaya," I said as we reached the entrance.
"Why do you trust me? I could be working for Holt." She rested a hand on Gravewind's neck and looked at me like she could see straight through my bones. "Because when you cut those ropes," she said quietly, "your hands were shaking. Not from fear, from anger at what they'd done to me."
She was right. Men who sell people don't get angry over suffering. I hadn't even realized she'd noticed. But seeing her tied up like that had stirred something in me I thought was long dead. And it wasn't just that.
It was the way she looked at me. No fear, no suspicion. None of that usual mix I'd grown used to seeing in people's eyes. "There's something else you should know," I said once we were riding again, "about me." "What is it?"
"I'm not just some drifting cowboy. There was a time I made my living with these guns. Not always on the right side of the law." She stayed quiet for a moment, letting it sink in. "And now?" she asked.
"Now I'm trying to be different, someone better." "That's good," she said softly, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Because the man I saw today, Dax Calder, he's exactly the man I hoped to find." As we rode toward Willow Run, my mind drifted to everything I'd spent years avoiding. What it might mean to stop running, to build something real with someone.
For the first time since I was old enough to carry a gun, the future felt like something worth thinking about. But first, we had to survive long enough to reach it. The ride to Willow Run took us through some of the finest country I'd ever seen. Rolling hills painted with wild flowers, cold, clear streams cutting through the land, mountains rising like cathedral walls beneath an endless sky. And still, I couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched.
"Holt has more men than just those three," Sihaya said, as if she'd read my thoughts. "His network stretches across three territories. Someone's probably already riding ahead to cut us off." "How do you know so much about his operation?" I asked. She didn't answer right away.
I could feel the tension in her as she leaned against me. "Because my brother worked for him," she said at last, "before he understood what Holt really was." My grip tightened slightly on the reins. "What happened to him?" "Varick Holt killed him when he tried to leave," she said, her voice steady but heavy.
"Made it look like an accident, but I knew the truth." Her arms tightened around me. "That's why I was watching his camp," she continued. "I was looking for proof of what really happened." And just like that, everything fell into place.