If you are looking for While I Was Bleeding Out He Lit Lanterns For Her Chapter 1 read online…
Chapter 557
Chapter 557:
Less than two minutes later, the sound of heavy tires on gravel cut through the air. A black SUV skidded to a halt at the trailhead. Crawford stepped out, moving fast, his face a barely contained storm of fury and relief. He didn’t slow down to look at the thief or the operative. He walked straight past them.
He stopped in front of June, still pressed against the rock wall, and his eyes swept over her with rapid, clinical intensity, checking for injury. The muscle along his jaw ticked.
“June,” he said, his voice rough with a post-adrenaline anger that lent his words complete, convincing authenticity. “Are you hurt? I couldn’t stop worrying after I realized you were out here alone. I had my security team keep a distance behind you. Thank God I did. What were you thinking, coming out here by yourself p>
June looked up at him.
The terror she had been holding in suspension throughout the entire encounter finally broke through. Her legs gave out from under her. The pepper spray slipped from her fingers and hit the dirt.
Crawford moved immediately. He caught her before she fell, pulling her trembling body firmly against his chest, one arm wrapping securely around her back.
June leaned against Crawford’s chest, the familiar scent of cedarwood cologne filling her lungs and slowly steadying her pulse.
Within minutes, two local police cruisers arrived, summoned by the Ghost Team operative. The officers took one look at the thief’s snapped wrist and broken ribs, cuffed him without ceremony, and dragged him toward the nearest cruiser, offering the operative a respectful nod on their way past.
𝗗i𝘴𝗰𝗈𝗏𝗲𝗋 ոе𝘄 𝘴to𝘳𝗶𝖾𝘴 𝗈𝗻 𝗴аlո𝘰v𝘦𝗅ѕ.с𝗼m
Crawford kept his arm around June’s waist and guided her away from the cliff trail and back to the main road, where the armored SUV was waiting. The interior was warm. He handed her a bottle of Evian and watched her drink it, his eyes fixed on her with an intensity he made no effort to hide.
As the adrenaline drained away, June’s mind came back online.
She lowered the water bottle and turned to look directly at him.
“Why are you here, Crawford?” she asked. The question was quiet and precise.
Crawford didn’t flinch. His expression remained open and faintly self-deprecating, as though the question were entirely reasonable and the answer perfectly simple.
“A nightmare of an acquisition deal in Silicon Valley,” he said, his voice carrying just the right measure of weary frustration. “The founder has been playing hardball for weeks. He owns a vacation villa here in Carmel, so I flew out personally to corner him on his own ground and show some sincerity. It was either that or lose the deal entirely p>
June nodded slowly. The explanation fit the profile perfectly — the kind of aggressive, hands-on maneuvering that Wall Street billionaires used without a second thought. Her suspicion receded.
The SUV pulled back into the center of Carmel and stopped in front of the Cliffside Breeze.
But when Crawford pushed the heavy wooden doors open for June, they walked straight into chaos.
The inn owner was shouting rapid instructions at three maintenance workers who were hauling soaking, mud-stained carpets down the main staircase. Water dripped from the ceiling onto the lobby floor in a steady, dismal rhythm.