“I’m sorry I interrupted your dinner. Who’s the lucky lady?”
“What?” Brice eyed Darren.
“The table full of food. The wine spilled on the tablecloth. You must have rushed whoever it is out of there pretty fast so I didn’t see them. You know, you don’t need to hide your affairs from me.”
Brice ignored Darren, walked to the door, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll be back soon.”
Brice walked through the living room, biting back the string of curse words that red wine stain on his beautifully set table invoked. Dinner ruined. The rest of his night could be salvaged.
Anxious to see Aurora’s beautiful face and have her back in his arms, he rushed up the stairs, ignoring the ache in his bum knee and lower back. Getting old sucked, but Aurora made him feel young and virile again. She was his fountain of youth, his chance for the life he’d given up for fortune and fame. For her. Now he’d have everything.
Adam’s door stood open at the end of the hall. He’d told that boy a hundred times to stay in his room. He’d never had a child. His desire for one grew in his heart now that Aurora had finally reached the pinnacle of her transformation. She’d be a lovely bride and soon the warm and loving mother his child deserved but Brice had never had himself.
If Brice’s mother had lived to see him finally happy, she’d find no fault in his beautiful creation. Aurora was everything he deserved. Everything he’d fought his mother to have one day.
She’d tried to change him.
Tired of her constant pressure to be someone else, or seek help for what she thought were his many faults and deviant behavior, he’d shut her up for good. She had no idea what drove a man like him. What might have been deeply hidden in her time had become part of the norm in many subcultures that were kept quiet, but not hidden anymore. Love came in many forms, even in pain that evoked a passion like nothing he’d ever felt.
Aurora felt it, craved it, wanted it from him. She understood his dark desires and how to play the game.
He missed Adam’s mother. When he hired her on at the ranch, he expected her to cook and clean and nothing more. But alone out here together, he soon found himself drawn to her outgoing spirit. Jackie liked to play, too. She’d been a nice distraction before Ashley came to him, but Jackie had forgotten her role and had gone against him.
She shouldn’t have done that and ended up like the others and left her child all alone.
He’d taken care of Adam, though sometimes it became tedious to remember the boy when all he wanted to do was be with Aurora. She’d taken longer than he expected, but he so enjoyed teaching her to be exactly as he desired.
And he desired her right now. So much so that his dick hadn’t been this hard and aching in years. Everything was finally as it should be.
He opened the secret panel on the wall and punched in the code. The vault he’d had built into the room—“for storing his art collection”—had been a stroke of genius. Temperature controlled and built to keep things in and people out—ha ha—he’d found the perfect place to hold his treasure.
Time to let her out and make her a real and true part of his life. If all went as he expected, they’d reemerge in Hollywood as royalty. They’d be the talk of the town.
They’d be the love story to end all love stories.
People thought she’d disappeared. Some speculated she’d run off with a lover. He’d use the publicity next week to hint that’s exactly what happened. And when the time came, everyone would see them together and understand why they’d wanted their privacy. A love like theirs couldn’t be denied and needed time to allow their souls to merge into one.
He’d felt it the moment it happened tonight.
Now they’d come together as one, and nothing and no one would ever tear them apart.
The locks slid free and the door popped open slightly. Anticipation coiled in his gut. She’d been waiting for him and he couldn’t stand to be away from her another moment. He hooked his fingers in the door and tugged the heavy panel open and stared into the dark—empty—room.
“Nooooo!”
He ran into the small space and checked every corner, up and down, all around, his mind not wanting to believe the truth turning his stomach and freezing his insides.
“Where are you?” he screamed, clutching both sides of his throbbing head. The blood pounded through his veins. His heart thrashed against his ribs. He brought his arms down, clenched his fists, and let the rage tighten every muscle. “Come back!”
Darren appeared in the doorway, his eyes lit with concern and worry. “Brice, what’s wrong?”
“She’s gone. Did you see her? Search the house.”
“Who’s gone?”
“Aurora. Find her.”
“Who the hell is Aurora?”
Brice didn’t have time to explain everything, but Darren would keep his secret. He’d do anything for Brice, which is why he kept his little pet around. “Ashley Swan.”
Darren’s eyes went wide. “She’s here?”
Brice spread his arms wide. “Do you see her? She got out.”
Darren gasped. “What do you mean, she got out?”
Brice didn’t have time to explain. “Find her. We can’t let her get away.”
With those words, dawning understanding lit Darren’s eyes. “Shit.”
“She can’t have gotten far. She’s got to be here. Where would she go? How the hell did she get out?” He tried to think through the panic and pain.
She’d left him. After all he’d done for her she’d turned her back on him and escaped. He’d thought those days were over. Transformation didn’t come easy. People instinctually fought change even when they wanted it. He’d helped her to find acceptance, and this was how she repaid him.
Well, he’d make her pay for abandoning him after all he’d done. She’d beg him to take her back so she could feel the connection and bond they shared again.
“Damn it, Brice. People are looking for her. I can’t believe you put everything at risk taking her.” The worry in Darren’s eyes didn’t hide the other thoughts he quickly put together about what would happen to them if they were caught. Brice made Darren his accomplice. “I’ll search the house. You check outside.”
Brice expected Darren to help him, but relief swept through him anyway, knowing Darren was now fully committed.
Brice rushed out of the room and checked the others down the hall.
Darren’s feet pounded down the front stairs. The front door slammed behind him as he rushed to check the property.
Brice approached Adam’s slightly ajar door, hoping to find her there, taking her place as Adam’s mother. They’d raise the boy together with their own child. He pushed open the door. It swung wide and thumped against the wall. He held it open with his hand splayed on the wood and silently seethed, the rage boiling in his gut and spreading to every part of his being, pushing against his skin. But he held back the explosion. Barely. “If you’re hiding from me, Adam, I suggest you come out now or you will never leave this room again.”
Nothing. Not even one of Adam’s pathetic whimpers. The kind Brice’s mother used to despise and punish Brice for making as she educated him on the proper way to think or behave. Brice had learned to be silent and take the pain she’d inflicted. It made him stronger. It transformed him. Brice used pain to transform Adam and Ashley, though she’d taken much longer than the boy.
And now she’d taken Adam, too. She’d pay. Dearly. And never defy him again.
He ran down the back stairs and out the side patio door. She had to have gone this way. He stopped on the back patio and searched the area, trying to figure out what she’d do. The last time she tried to leave him, she’d gotten as far as the front lawn before he’d shown her there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her here with him where she belonged.
Once he showed her no one would help her, she’d stopped trying to get away.
“Seems you didn’t learn your lesson the last time. I can’t wait
to teach you again,” he said to the night. He listened for any sign she cowered behind one of the large potted plants or raised flower beds. Nothing.
“Have you seen her?” Darren huffed in and out as he ran toward him from around the side of the house.
Brice stared into the night, then looked up at the dark clouds rolling in. He didn’t need to see them to know they’d be buried in snow soon. The temperature seemed to drop by the second.
Overcome with the need to find her fast, he ran across the yard and into the night. He didn’t have a clue to follow. She wouldn’t have a plan or idea of where to go. He hoped to find her stumbling around in the dark, lost and ready to come home.
Darren followed on his heels. They called her name, following what seemed like the easiest path. How far could she go with Adam? She hadn’t touched a bite of the lovely meal he’d set out for them to enjoy before they were so rudely interrupted.
Somehow, she always managed to foul things up before they enjoyed the delicious meals he spent hours planning.
“Ashley!” He used that name because he didn’t want to explain to Darren what he’d been working toward and achieved this past year. Every time he used it, his frustration intensified until he felt it in every cell.
He stumbled over another rock and kicked it, sending it tumbling into the dark until it thunked against a tree. A stick snagged his pants and tore the expensive material. He thought he heard a sound to his left and ran toward it. Ten minutes later, his lungs burning, his breath sawing in and out, the cold air burning his throat and lungs, he’d found nothing. Not even a glimpse of her. For two hours he chased every whisper, shadow, and divot in the ground that might be a trail.
Darren spread out from him. Both of them frustrated when the sound they chased was each other. Time grew long and Brice’s patience frayed to the point he stopped in his tracks and screamed, “Where are you?”
Brice listened for any sound, any indication of her direction.
Leaves and brush rustled to his right.
Darren stepped out from behind a tree, his breath floating on the wind as he gasped for every breath. He closed the distance between them, lumbering on his fatigued legs. Brice’s muscles ached with the desperation he’d put into the search to find her as soon as possible.
Darren put his hand on Brice’s shoulder. “We can’t keep doing this. We don’t even know where to look. There’s no sign of her. It’s freezing out here.”
Brice turned on Darren, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest to help ward off the shivers. “You’re giving up?”
“I’m being realistic. We’re stumbling around in the dark. We’d need a huge search party to find her out here.” Darren threw his arms wide to indicate the massive ranch.
“We can’t call for help.” His frustration came out with the yelled words.
“Then we need to be smart. If she’s hiding out here, she might come back to simply get out of the cold. She’ll need food and water. If she manages to find help, you’ll need to spin this to your advantage. If she’s lost out here, well, then problem solved.”
Brice didn’t want it to end this way. He didn’t want to lose her. She belonged to him. But Darren was right—he needed to face reality.
“If you come back now, I’ll forgive you,” he shouted into the night. “This is your one and only chance.”
Nothing. Not one damn sound. Not even one of her soft whimpers, telling him she’d do as he said.
He’d given her a chance and been generous with his offer. If she’d heard and ignored him, she’d pay. One way or another.
The dark clouds obliterated the full moon, sending them into deeper darkness.
If she knew what was good for her, she’d find her way home and beg his forgiveness.
If she stayed out and the snow hit, she’d freeze to death.
If she found help, she’d wish she was dead.
Chapter Four
Ashley and Adam came to a jarring halt. Brice’s threat echoed across the land and in her ears. Her heart and lungs seized for one heartbeat, then two.
Is he close?
She wanted to believe he was too far away to catch them. But if he was close enough to hear, he was too close. He’d discovered her gone too soon.
She needed more time.
She needed to get away.
She needed help.
But the night didn’t offer anything but ominous dark clouds closing in to curtain the nearly full moon, her only means of seeing the obstacles in front of her, and a spotlight on her bright dress. If Brice was close, he’d see her.
She tugged Adam’s hand and ran away from the monster stalking them in the dark.
She wouldn’t be a sitting target.
So she ran past trees and bushes, across an open field of grass until the forest swallowed her and Adam again.
Fast and slow, they ran. Through the pain radiating up and down her battered legs, she ran.
Brice’s threat faded into the night long before Ashley stopped. Adrenaline and fear pushed her forward when all she wanted to do was stop and rest. With little energy and even less surety that she’d find a way out of this, her spirits dipped, but she pressed on, telling herself over and over again to just keep going.
They ran as fast as they could for as long as they could into the night, but they couldn’t outrun the biting cold. Her cheeks and lips chapped. Her back and ribs screamed every time her feet pounded against the ground. Adam’s energy sapped out way too soon. She stopped again to catch her breath and pray for a miracle, though all the other times she did so went unanswered.
Adam leaned heavily against her thigh, hurting her many bruises and sore muscles. She pressed her hand to his back, held him close, and tried to think through the still-rising panic.
They needed to get out of here.
For a split second she thought she saw a pinpoint of light in the distance. She second-guessed herself, thinking it too far away to see anything real. Too many obstacles stood in her path for her to have actually seen anything. But her heart pushed her to go forward toward that glimmer of light she could no longer see but which still called to her through the trees and over the rough landscape to that far-off place that promised nothing but a very long night of walking. Even then, she might not reach it by morning. She knew the road lay behind her past Brice’s ranch, but a small voice inside her told her to go deeper into the open countryside.
Adam couldn’t make it on his own. She wouldn’t leave him behind, and they needed to keep moving. She bit back the pain and picked him up. She held Adam close to keep them both warm, ignored the pain slowly being concealed below the cold seeping into her skin and down to her bones, and put one foot in front of the other long into the night.
Thank God the storm held off. Just another ominous presence behind her.
Her head told her to quit, but her heart forced her to push on into hours and hours of perfect quiet.
Adam alternated between walking on his own and her carrying him. He fell asleep with his head on her shoulder, his sweet face buried in her neck for warmth she no longer felt. She forced herself to keep going, keep moving, desperately trying not to let every sound around her freeze her with fear that they’d been discovered.
This was her chance.
The one chance she had to get her life back.
She’d keep going, or die trying, because there was no way in hell she would stop and let that bastard find her. If she was going to die, she’d die trying to save herself, not meek and battered at the hands of a monster. She’d rescue Adam, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.
Light-headed, freezing, hungry, desperately in need of water, she continued on as the first touch of gray lit the black night. Her heel caught on yet another rock or root and was pulled off. Too weary to care about the loss of her shoe, too numb to feel the cold, jagged earth beneath her bare foot, she took two more uneven steps, her eyes drooping, the dizziness and darkness tunneling in her blurry vision. She stumbl
ed and fell to her knees, sad she’d failed getting Adam to safety, but happy she hadn’t died by Brice’s hand, and resigned to the fact she’d done all she could, but she’d been right to believe she’d die tonight.
The light she’d seen before blinked on. So close, just past the trees and a wide pasture, but still too far and out of reach.
Adam jolted awake with a soft whimper. Her arms felt like lead weights. She couldn’t hold on to him another second. “Whatever happens, Adam, don’t let him find you.”
He stepped out of her embrace and tried to hold her up, but as hard as she tried to keep the blackness at bay, it took her.
Chapter Five
Trigger woke before the crack of dawn, tearing free of another nightmare that followed him through his day with incessant bursts of adrenaline, anxiety, and frustration. He wanted to forget, but his mind replayed the shooting over and over again.
Paula, the woman he manipulated to get information on her boyfriend, Marco, had jumped in front of Marco during the drug bust in a naïve attempt to save the man she loved from the inevitable. Trigger’s bullet, meant to take down Marco before he killed Trigger, slammed into her back. Horror filled her eyes as blood poured out of her. Marco’s bullets slammed into Trigger’s chest and side, leaving an agonizing pain that raced through him like lightning moments before the meth lab exploded. A searing wave of heat and flames hit Trigger, catching his leg on fire, shooting agony along its length.
The pain echoed through him now even after the burns had healed. He still walked with a slight limp, but the stretching exercises worked. The flexibility in his ankle got better by the day. He wished he could say the same about his mind.
He’d retreated to his secluded property, taking a leave of absence to heal from his wounds and figure out what the hell he wanted to do next. He wasn’t sure he could go back to undercover work. Not when he’d become too comfortable living the lie rather than facing his real life. When you felt more comfortable surrounded by drug dealers and thugs than you did around your family, maybe it was time to get the hell out before you got sucked in so deep you became the thing you’d spent your life fighting to take down.
Montana Heat: Escape to You Page 3