Thomas collapsed onto the gravel with a sharp cry of pain.

“Please!” Thomas gasped, clutching his leg. “Marcus, let me find her. I can get it back from her.”

“You had your chance,” Marcus said, looking down at him coldly. “You failed to secure the box. You failed to keep her quiet.”

Marcus nodded to his men.

The two men grabbed Thomas by his arms, dragging him backward through the mud.

Thomas kicked and struggled, but his boots only kicked up wet gravel.

“Kiera!” Thomas screamed toward the dark woods. “Kiera, help me!”

My stomach wrenched, and I instinctively started to stand up.

Arthur’s hand clamped down hard on my shoulder, pinning me to the wet ground.

“Don’t,” Arthur whispered in my ear. “If you go down there, they get you and they get the ledger. Then both of you are dead.”

I watched, tears mixing with the cold rain on my face, as they dragged my husband toward the back of a large black van parked in the shadows of the garage.

They threw him into the back of the van like a sack of coal.