Risky Return. Virginia Vaughan

She struggled to stand and he reluctantly helped her when it was obvious she wasn’t going to remain still.

      “I have to call. Someone intentionally tried to hurt you, Rebecca. You at least need someone to look at that gash and I know he slammed your head against the car. You should be examined by a doctor. You probably have a concussion. The police need to be notified and the man who did this needs to be found and held accountable.”

      “I just want to go home.”

      He thought she must still be in shock and didn’t realize how close she’d come to being killed. Maybe she hadn’t seen the knife her attacker wielded, but he was certain she’d felt her head slamming against the car. She reached for her car door handle, but Collin intervened, keeping it closed.

      “You can’t leave the scene of a crime and you certainly don’t need to be driving in your condition.” He should probably call someone on her behalf. Her family. A husband, perhaps. She would have had their sham of a marriage dissolved a long time ago and moved on with her life. They’d only been kids when she’d gotten pregnant and they’d run away together. She’d been barely eighteen and he’d been nineteen, not even old enough to get married in Mississippi without a parent’s signature, so they’d crossed state lines and married in Louisiana, where eighteen was the legal age.

      He’d left town after everything fell apart and hadn’t looked back, so he’d never received any divorce papers, but he knew after certain public notices that she could have gotten one without his signature. He didn’t see a ring on her hand and although he knew it didn’t necessarily mean anything, he felt vindicated to know she was still single.

      He should call her parents now, but he shuddered at the thought of even speaking to them. Collin would let the police handle that, or Rebecca, when she was able.

      She looked up at him, the confusion returning to her face. “What are you doing here, Collin?”

      It had to be a shock for her to see him again after all these years, but this didn’t seem like the time to go into a lengthy description of why he’d returned. She was hurt and bleeding and had just been through a trauma.

      He glanced at her belongings, now scattered on the ground. Her purse was still there and so were her keys. The attacker hadn’t tried to rob her or even steal her car. This attack had been personal. “Who did this, Rebecca? And why would anyone want to hurt you?”

      * * *

      Rebecca’s head was still swimming when the paramedics and police arrived. She hadn’t wanted them there, but she’d agreed because she didn’t want to tell him about Missy. She allowed herself to be helped into the ambulance and her gash and scrapes tended to. Her head was pounding and she was having trouble focusing on what was happening. But she had to keep her wits about her. A girl’s life depended on it.

      An unmarked cruiser pulled up to the scene and Kent Morris got out, his hair and clothes neat and orderly. He’d always dressed impeccably ever since high school and she knew he was ambitious and had recently been made an investigator with the sheriff’s office. He approached Collin first and started asking questions.

      Collin Walsh! A new rush of confusion washed over her. What was he even doing here? She hadn’t seen him in twelve years, but today he’d appeared out of nowhere and swooped in to save her life. There was no denying it was him. He was older, but he had the same strong features and beautiful green eyes. He was a shadow from her past. Her first love. Her high school boyfriend, then later her husband when they’d eloped after discovering she was pregnant. And the father of the baby lost to them both before he was even born.

      She’d often imagined that if their baby had lived, if she hadn’t miscarried him, he would he have had Collin’s smile and curly hair. He would have been twelve now, nearly a teenager and as witty and charming as Collin had been at that age. She tamped down that train of thought. She couldn’t go there. She wouldn’t, because it hurt too much to even imagine.

      The paramedic finished bandaging her up. “You should go to the hospital to get checked out.”

      “I’m fine,” Rebecca assured her. “I don’t need to go.”

      “If you lost consciousness, you might have a concussion.”

      “I said I’m fine.” She didn’t relish the idea of sitting in a hospital for hours on end. Her head hurt but it was nothing a few Tylenol couldn’t help. She had to get back to Missy Donovan. Rebecca had promised her food and a safe place to stay until they figured out what to do and whom they could trust with her story. She’d picked up something for her at a drive-through when she took the teen to the motel, but she’d hoped to return with more food and supplies tonight. Those groceries were now scattered around the parking lot.

      Kent approached her, followed closely by Collin. His green eyes studied her, and she was suddenly self-conscious. He certainly wasn’t seeing her at her best. Her face felt swollen and the bandage on her forehead couldn’t be attractive.

      Stop it. It didn’t matter what she looked like to Collin. Not anymore. Not since he’d abandoned her after she’d lost the baby.

      Kent spoke first. “Hey, Rebecca, Collin filled me in on what happened here. Did you see the man who attacked you?”

      “I didn’t see anything.” It wasn’t a lie. The man had blindsided her. She’d never seen his face, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have an idea who’d attacked her.

      “Well, I’ve asked Collin to work with a sketch artist to see if we can identify this man. We’re also pulling prints off your car and pulling security footage from the store. Don’t you worry, we’ll find this guy.”

      “I appreciate that, Kent.”

      “Any idea why someone would want to hurt you, Rebecca?”

      Now was the time to come clean about the notes, the threats, even the girl she was helping hide out in the Batesville Motel, but something stopped her. Missy had told her that the police were involved in the trafficking ring she’d escaped from two nights ago. And her attacker’s eerie warning to mind her own business entered her thoughts.

      Collin noticed her hesitation. He could always see right through her. “What is it, Rebecca? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

      All she wanted was to go home and crawl into bed and forget this day had ever happened, but she knew she couldn’t. “I’ve been receiving some threats lately. Letters and messages.”

      “What did they say?”

      “They warned me to stop what I was doing or I would be sorry.”

      “And what is it they think you’re doing, Rebecca?” Collin asked.

      She saw the doubt in his face—he was wondering if she’d gotten involved in something illegal. Could he really believe she would have changed that much? Had he? “It’s complicated.”

      “Uncomplicate it,” Kent insisted.

      She looked at them both. The last few days had been a haze of suspicion and doubt. She didn’t know who she could trust in this town anymore. Even her own father was a suspect after Missy had told her about seeing the name Mason Industries, her father’s company, on the building where she’d been held.

      “Four months ago, a pregnant teen in my care went missing. Kent, you classified her as a runaway, but I never stopped looking for her. I think whoever has her wants me to stop looking.”

      “You believe she was abducted?” Collin asked. “Do you have any idea who took her?”

      She didn’t see an ounce of doubt in Collin’s expression and she liked that, but she had to remember she hadn’t seen this man in twelve years, not since the day he’d walked out of their marriage and left her abandoned and alone in New Orleans. “When can I go home?” Rebecca asked, ignoring his question.

      Kent gave her an annoyed look. “I still have some questions