by Lisa Childs
So Anthony had all the time he needed to make her pay for how she’d treated him.
He stared at the little log cabin. This one was smaller than the first one. Just one floor—probably just one room. She’d kept the door locked and the curtains drawn, so he hadn’t been able to look inside yet.
But he would soon.
He would be inside with her.
And when he was done, well, this cabin would burn down even faster than the other one. Then there would be nothing left of Teddie Plummer but ashes.
* * *
Penny Payne-Lynch had given her son the correct advice when she’d told him to trust his gut. Of course Cooper had been wrong about Teddie. But when Cooper had told Manny what his mother had said, Manny had taken her advice to heart.
Ever since he’d seen that photo of Anthony Esch, his gut had been telling him that Teddie’s photographer ex-boyfriend was the guy. He was the right height. The right build. And there had been something in his eyes.
Manny shuddered.
Something cold and just a little inhuman.
Nobody else had noticed it. Everyone else had probably thought Manny was just jealous that the woman he liked had once dated someone that good-looking. But it wasn’t how Esch had looked to everyone else that had unnerved Manny. It was how he’d looked at everyone—out of that picture. Like he was above them.
Smarter than them.
Better than them.
Her stalker obviously thought the same thing. That he was smarter than them. Better than them.
And unfortunately, for most of this assignment, he had been.
Until now...
Using some computer skills he’d learned from Nikki, Manny had easily tracked down the proof he needed. It wasn’t enough proof to get a warrant issued for his arrest or probably even to convince Teddie of the guy’s guilt. But it had been enough proof for Manny.
And for his friends.
Nikki’s voice emanated from the headphones Manny wore as he circled over this remote area of the UP, looking for a place to land. It was so heavily wooded that he couldn’t find anywhere to put down Cole’s plane.
“The fire inspector said Teddie looked at the evidence from the cabin,” Nikki told him. “She knows there was a camera planted inside it. So she must know that she was wrong about you.”
Manny didn’t care about that, not right now. He wanted Teddie to know she’d been wrong about Anthony Esch. He was the danger to her.
What if he just showed up at her cabin?
Would she smile and let him inside? Would she think she was safe just because she knew the guy, because she used to date him?
“It doesn’t prove it was his camera,” Manny reminded her. They had all been harping at him about not having enough proof for the authorities. So he had had to go after Esch alone.
In addition to being a photographer, the guy was a pilot. He had filed a flight manifest. He was headed to a very remote area of the Upper Peninsula. And he could have only one reason for that: Teddie. He had found her even before Payne Protection had.
He must have planted another camera somewhere. They had searched her penthouse. But what about her mother’s house? Esch had broken in there, as well.
Her mother had shot at him. Too damn bad she’d missed.
Teddie was close to her mother. She would have called her mother, would have told her where she was going. Her mother had probably written it down.
He shuddered and hoped he wasn’t too late. Where the hell had Esch put down his plane?
Manny was about to put down Cole’s brand-new Cessna in Lake Superior. But even if he survived the crash and the icy water, he wouldn’t make it to Teddie in time. Esch had too much of a head start on him.
“I might be able to trace the camera back to him,” Nikki said. “We’re getting close to getting enough evidence together to turn over to the authorities. We’ve got him.”
“No, we don’t,” Manny said. “Not yet.”
But he was worried that Anthony Esch might already have Teddie.
What was he doing to her?
How was he hurting her?
The man had terrorized her for months. He was so obsessed, so fixated, that he had to have a plan. Was he going to carry out all the threats he’d sent to her?
His heart pounded nearly out of his chest with a fear more fierce than any he’d felt before.
Manny had thought Teddie had hurt him worse than he’d ever been hurt. But he knew now that he’d been wrong. This hurt more—knowing that she was in danger and not being able to help her. This was torture.
No. This was worse than torture.
He had survived that. He didn’t know if he could survive this. He didn’t know if he could survive if he didn’t reach Teddie in time—if she was already gone when he got to her.
Chapter 25
Because she’d been reluctant to start a fire, Teddie had plugged in the space heater she’d brought up with her. It would have been enough to heat the structure if it hadn’t blown a breaker or fuse and plunged her into sudden darkness.
When had it gotten so dark outside?
It was hours ago that she’d had that feeling, that creepy sensation of being watched. But it must have been just her imagination, because when she’d peeked out the curtains, she’d noticed no one outside.
Of course, this area was more heavily wooded than where her previous cabin had been. So her stalker could be out there, hiding behind trees. Waiting for her to come out.
She’d had no intention of going out there until the breaker had blown. Unlike the other cabin, this one didn’t have an electrical panel inside the house. All the utilities were enclosed in a small shed that had been built onto the back of the cabin.
Did the shed have a lock? She’d bought a new one for the door and installed it herself. But she couldn’t remember if there had been one on the shed. She’d gone inside it to turn on the pump and the water heater and to flip those breakers on when she’d first arrived.
But had she had to unlock the door to access everything?
She shivered as she realized she hadn’t.
Anyone could be inside that shed, waiting for her. Maybe the space heater hadn’t blown a breaker. Maybe a person had.
The heater had warmed the place enough that she would be fine for the night with a few extra blankets. And as for the lights, she had candles. Using her phone as a flashlight, she found the matches and lit the candles.
They glowed and spread the scent of apple spice throughout the cabin. Losing power wasn’t terrible. It certainly was no reason for her to unlock the door and step out into the darkness.
But she should have known the stalker would not give up so easily. He hadn’t yet. The knob began to rattle on the door. But the lock held.
He wouldn’t be able to break down the door, either. It was made of nearly as thick wood as the log walls.
The windows weren’t thick, though. They shattered easily, glass raining onto the floor beneath the drawn curtains. She couldn’t see who it was yet. But she wasn’t going to stick around to find out. She ran toward the door.
Before she could unlock it, strong hands grabbed her shoulders and whirled her around. And she gasped. But she shouldn’t have been shocked.
Manny had figured out who it was. Why had she been so stubborn about what he’d said? About trusting him?
“Anthony?” She shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t understand.”
He laughed. “Neither did I, Teddie. I didn’t understand why you weren’t crazy about me. Why you didn’t feel what I felt for you.”
But that was why she hadn’t suspected him—because he had never seemed to feel anything at all. There had been no spark between them, no interest on either part.
She tried to back up, tried to escape him. But the door stopped he
r short. “I—I didn’t think you were attracted to me,” she said.
He had never tried anything beyond a couple of chaste good-night kisses.
He touched her face, and his hand shook. “You’re beautiful...”
“But there was nothing between us,” she reminded him. “No connection.”
He grimaced. “Not like you had with that damn bodyguard, huh? How could you find someone that crude—that uneducated—more attractive than me?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. Maybe she should have humored him or tried to charm him. But anger surged through her at what he’d called the man she loved. “Manny is not crude or uneducated.”
He was far smarter than she’d been. How had she never noticed the madness in Anthony Esch’s beautiful blue eyes? That was why she hadn’t recognized him in the hospital. He must have been wearing dark contacts, and also she had never seen that look in his eyes before.
Anthony sniffed the air like he’d smelled something repulsive. “Of course you would say that. You’re just as crude and uneducated.”
“How do you...?” Their dates had been awkward and full of long silences. She had never told him the things she’d told Manny about herself.
“You know who I am,” he said, full of self-importance. “My parents had you investigated right after our first date. They warned me that you were probably only after my money—or introductions to them.”
She’d worked for his parents before. That was how she’d met Anthony. But then she’d only been an employee to them.
She tried to assure him, “I wouldn’t use you like that—”
“Like you used Ed Bowers,” he interrupted. “He got your career started and you left him. They knew about that.”
But nobody knew the whole story. Or at least, they didn’t want to believe it.
“And you used your bodyguard,” he said, smirking now. “He risked his life over and over again for yours. And yet you so easily believed that he betrayed you.” He sighed. “I almost feel sorry for him.”
Teddie felt sorry that she would never have the chance to apologize to Manny. She would never have the chance to tell him how much she’d loved him—unless she fought.
She had to fight.
“I didn’t use you,” she insisted. “I didn’t want your money or to meet your parents.”
His grip on her shoulders loosened slightly and he studied her face in the candlelight as if trying to determine whether she spoke the truth.
“I wanted to go out with you because you’re good-looking,” she said, hoping flattery would get her somewhere. It didn’t sound as if his parents had ever done much of that with Anthony. “You’re talented.”
He sucked in a breath and shook his head, as if unwilling to believe her.
“You are,” she persisted. “The pictures you take...” She barely refrained from shuddering as she thought of the ones he’d taken recently.
His head bobbed up and down in a series of quick, nervous nods. “Yes, yes, of course, you’re right. I am good. I’m really good.”
“So don’t throw all that away,” she encouraged him. “You haven’t really hurt anyone.” Yet. But now his hands tightened on her shoulders again. “You won’t be in any serious trouble...if you leave now.”
He laughed. “You don’t know.”
“What?” she asked. “What don’t I know?”
He shook his head. “You don’t know what I’ve already sacrificed for you.”
Had he killed someone? Was it too late for him? For Manny?
He’d tried for Manny even when he hadn’t been protecting her—probably because he’d known before she had how much the bodyguard had come to mean to her. Just as he’d once told her she’d meant everything to him.
Manny meant everything to her.
“Did you hurt...?” She swallowed hard. “Did you hurt someone?”
“This is all your fault,” he said. And now he jerked her away from the door.
Maybe she could get to the window, though—to the one he’d already broken. She wasn’t giving up.
“What did I do?” she asked, hoping to distract him.
“You hired that damn Payne Protection Agency.”
Oh no. He had hurt one of them. Manny?
Her heart pounded harder now with fear, not for herself but for her bodyguard lover.
“They’re not going to stop,” he said.
“I fired them,” she said. “They’re gone.”
He shook his head. “They’re looking into me. Talking to people about me. The truth is going to come out.” He shuddered. “And my parents...”
“They’ll understand,” she assured him.
He laughed now—bitterly. “You don’t know them. They won’t understand at all. They’ll punish me.”
“Anthony—”
“So I need to punish you.” He moved his hands from her shoulders to her neck. He slid his fingers around and began to squeeze.
She clawed at his hands, trying to get his hold to loosen. And, remembering the moves Nikki had taught her in the Payne Protection conference room, she lifted her leg and kneed him as hard as she could in the groin.
With a howl of pain, he dropped to his knees.
She gasped at his loosened hold and turned toward the window. But he caught her hair in his hand and jerked her back. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said.
And something cold pressed against her temple.
He still had the gun he’d taken off Dane Sutton.
She shook her head. “You don’t have any bullets,” she said. “You fired them all at Manny.”
He pointed the barrel at the other window and fired. Glass shattered all around them. “I got more...”
And Teddie lost all hope. She would never get the chance to tell Manny that she’d been wrong, about everything—except falling in love with him. That had been the smartest thing she’d ever done.
Tears burned her eyes, blurring her vision. So she wasn’t sure if she was only imagining the curtains rustling at one of the broken windows. If the fabric really was moving, it must have been because of the wind.
But then why was only one set of curtains moving instead of both?
Someone was out there. Someone had come to her rescue. And as her pulse quickened, she realized who it was. But she didn’t feel relieved, because she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed those curtains rustling.
Anthony swung the barrel of Dane’s gun toward those curtains. So, no, Teddie wasn’t relieved. She was terrified that she was going to die, and she would have to watch the man she loved die, as well.
* * *
The son of a bitch had a loaded gun. Manny had heard the blast. And his heart pounded madly as fear overwhelmed him. Had he shot her already?
Was he too late to save the woman he loved? He pushed the curtains aside and jumped through the broken window. Jagged glass caught at his clothes, cutting him. But that wasn’t what hurt most.
A blast rang out, and something tore through his arm. Pain radiated out. But he ignored it and the ringing in his ears.
All he could hear was Teddie’s scream.
Candles illuminated the space clearly enough that he could see Anthony Esch, on his knees on the floor—one hand in Teddie’s hair, the other gripping the gun. He raised the barrel toward Manny again.
And Manny raised his. Another shot rang out.
And another.
But Manny was squeezing the trigger, too. And he was a better shot.
Anthony Esch stared up at him, his eyes wide with shock over the bullet in his forehead. Then he fell back onto the floor.
Teddie kept screaming.
Had she been hurt?
Manny tried to focus on her, but his vision began to blur. And the gun dropped from his hand as something warm and thi
ck ran down his arm from his throbbing shoulder. “Are you all right?” he asked her. “Did he hurt you?”
But he was the one on the ground now, lying on the floor. He stared up at her, trying to determine if she’d been hurt. Had Esch touched her?
It had taken Manny so long to get to her. Too long...
He reached up and skimmed his fingertips across her jaw. Tears dropped from her eyes and fell onto his face like droplets of rain. “Teddie,” he murmured.
Her lips moved, but he couldn’t hear what she said. There was a roaring, buzzing noise in his ears, deafening him. Then he couldn’t see her lips. His vision blurred, then went completely black as he lost consciousness.
* * *
Cooper had known someone was going to get hurt. He’d even figured it would be Manny. But he’d thought the guy was just going to lose his heart.
Not his life, too.
He paced the hallway of the small Northern Michigan hospital. The waiting room was crowded, so crowded that he hadn’t been able to breathe in there. He also hadn’t been able to face Teddie Plummer.
But now he didn’t have a choice because she stepped out into the hall with him, leaned back against the wall and slid down it to the floor.
He dropped to his knees beside her. “Are you okay?”
Back at the cabin, she had refused medical help. All her concern had been for Manny, who’d lain bleeding on the floor when Cooper and the others had arrived. Cole had found a helicopter to make the trip north.
If he hadn’t...
Manny might have already bled out on that cabin floor.
Teddie had done what she could to stop the bleeding. She’d ripped towels and wrapped them around his bleeding bicep and another around the bleeding shoulder of his other arm.
Before killing Esch, Manny had taken two bullets. At least...
Maybe the surgeon had found more. They’d had him in the operating room for a while now. Too long.
Teddie must have been thinking the same thing. Tears streamed down her face, and her shoulders shook as sobs racked her body.