by Kara Summers
As she drifted off to sleep once again in his arms, she hoped that they would be able to find out why they had been targeted by the bandits. She hoped that everything on the ranch was okay and that Marshal and Elijah were safe while they were gone. She knew they could trust most of Larsen's ranch hands, especially James, to watch over the boys while they were away. But despite reason telling her it will all be fine, a nagging voice in the back of her mind warned her to be wary and that the attack was no coincidence.
Chapter: XI
This time when Marianna awoke, the sun was streaming through the small entrance to the tunnel. The sunshine was a welcoming sight after what had been a long and difficult night. She was still wearing Larsen's jacket, but its enigmatic owner was nowhere in site. Marianna wasn't worried as she had a feeling that she knew exactly where Larsen was.
She picked herself up and turned toward the inner part of the tunnel. At the very end, she could see a small sliver of light and she suspected Larsen would be on the other side of it.
She made her way down the tunnel, allowing the slowly growing light to be her guiding point. When she made it to the end, she had to shield her eyes from the blaring brightness of the sun. She took a look outside the exit and was surprised to see that it opened on to an easy path that led down into a landscape that resembled an oasis. A small stream was barely concealed by a few trees. And as she glanced down, she saw a figure jump into the crystal clear waters.
She decided to be bold and make her way down the path to join him.
At least that was her plan, until a rough arm snagged her from behind.
Marianna screamed, but her cries for help barely echoed off the walls around her, let alone reached Larsen's ears.
"Shut up," a frighteningly familiar voice barked at her.
Marianna struggled to turn around and face her assailant. She let out a gasp when she saw that Marcus Maine, Larsen's ranch manager, was the one that held her in a vice-like grip.
"It's you!" she accused, as she tried to break free from him. Marianna had suspected that there was something suspicious about Marcus. He had disliked her from the moment she had arrived. His arrival in to this very spot, so soon after their attack, couldn't be coincidence.
"Stupid girl," he muttered. He quickly overpowered Marianna and used his force to tie her hands in front of her.
Marianna's wrists were still raw from the bindings that had held her captive the previous night. These fresh bindings chafed the sensitive skin and pained her greatly.
"If you hadn't broken away the first time, we wouldn't be in this situation," Marcus grumbled angrily as he finished the last knot of Marianna's bindings.
Marianna couldn't believe it. "You were responsible for all of this?" she questioned him with newfound fervor.
"You weren't supposed to be a part of that," he sneered menacingly.
Marianna gasped. "You were after Larsen? But why?"
"That's none of your business," he spat. "All you need to know is that you got in the way! Again!"
Marianna shot him a confused look. Her heart was pounding with fear, but she didn't want to show any more weakness in front of such a dangerous man.
Marcus grunted and rolled his eyes at her. "It would seem that Larsen has a bit of a soft spot for you, as after my men negotiated his release, he came back for you. I always knew he was a fool."
Marianna was shocked by Marcus's words. "What are you saying?"
"Larsen offered his ranch in exchange for your life, but my men refused to hand you over until he returned with the deed to the property. Once Larsen left, he snuck back and took down the imbeciles I hired just so he could rescue you." Marcus chuckled as he leaned back on his heels and surveyed Marianna where she was tied up on the floor, "But his affection for you will be what destroys him in the end."
Marianna couldn't believe it. Had Larsen really offered his ranch in exchange for her life? "So you are trying to take Larsen's ranch?"
"My ranch," Marcus corrected. "I was all set to buy the place, when I was cheated by a con and lost my bid on the place. I was choked when a city slicker like Larsen Dover waltzes in and buys up the place for himself and his pretty little family."
"But you work for him! He trusted you!" she gasped.
"His biggest mistake was underestimating me," Marcus advanced forward. "Now get up, we are leaving." He grabbed Marianna's arm roughly and tugged her to her feet.
Marianna complied, but all the while her mind raced with the shocking revelation. She knew that there had always been something off about Marcus, but she hadn't realized it was so extreme. He had hated Larsen and was seeking to destroy him in order to take his ranch.
"Did you burn the barn down too?" she accused vehemently as he dragged her along the short tunnel to the other side.
"I would have been rid of Larsen had you not arrived and drawn his attention away on that night. Had he died, the ranch would have most likely been sold and I would have been able to buy it," he said angrily.
Marianna scoffed. "I thought you lost your income to a con?"
"I earned it all back over the years by skimming it off of the ranch's earnings. It wasn't thieving as I was the intended rightful owner." He shot Marianna a sinister look. "Let's just say it pays to be the manager," he laughed.
He continued to drag Marianna toward the narrow path that led back down to the ground. Marianna saw that there was a horse tied at the bottom waiting. The descent was a lot quicker than her original climb, even with her tied hands, as Marcus forced her to walk briskly. More than once, she feared that she would trip and fall off the side of the cliff, but luck was on her side.
That is, if she could call any of this luck. Life hadn't favored her much as of late. She hoped that Larsen would return and see that she was no longer there, but she couldn't guarantee it. He would have no idea that Marcus was the one behind the attempts on his life. And if Marcus had been against him this whole time, it was possible that some of Larsen's other employees were scheming against him as well. That thought lingered in her mind and sent a sickening feeling to the pit of her stomach. Larsen's sons were still on the ranch and could potentially be in danger. At least Marcus was away from them, but who knows what else he had planned? She hoped that Larsen wouldn't come looking for her, as it appeared that Marcus wanted to use her to trap him.
At the bottom of the cliff, Marcus attached a longer rope to Marianna's bound wrists and tied it to the horse. With a sickening feeling, she realized he was going to make her walk behind him to wherever they were going.
He climbed up on the horse and spurred the animal forward. "March," he commanded to Marianna as the pull of the rope lurched her forward.
Marianna took one last look up at the face of the cliff. She wasn't sure if she hoped to see Larsen, as she was afraid that if he knew where she was, he would risk his life again. She didn't need him to do that.
"Stay safe," she murmured into the wind.
Chapter: XII
It was a painful walk. The sun beat down on Marianna and she was overwhelmed by the intensity of the Texas heat. She hadn't worn proper shoes for the amount of walking she had done in last twenty-four hours and her feet ached in their leather confines.
However, their journey wasn't long, as Marcus led her to a campsite populated by a small group of men that looked a lot like the group that had originally detained Larsen and her.
Marcus stopped the horse and dismounted, but left Marianna still tied. She swayed with exhaustion and her throat felt parched with dehydration.
"Look what I found boys," Marcus bragged as he approached the small campsite.
The men turned and looked at Marianna, eyeing her with malicious curiosity.
"Where is Larsen?" asked one of the men lazily.
Marcus swaggered closer toward the group. "He won't be bothering us anytime soon," he drawled.
"Finally did him through then?" another man joked as he took a swig from a tin flask.
Marcus sputtered. "Not
yet," he said with a vengeful air. "But now that I know he is willing to give up the ranch for the chit, we finally have the leverage we need to see him ruined."
The first man nodded amusingly. "Well, how will he know that you have the girl?" he pointed out. The men appeared to be questioning the logic of Marcus's plan, poking holes where more thorough planning was required. "We failed the first time, because you didn't calculate that we would be taking the girl with us. And now you are changing the plan and saying we are going to use her as bait?"
"Don't think of it as a failed attempt," Marcus tried to smooth over the tension that had begun to accumulate in the small group. "Think of it as a new opportunity to destroy Larsen Dover!"
A third man chuckled at Marcus’s grand statement. "I never quite understood why you hated Larsen, he seems like a decent enough fellow."
All the men in the camp turned their eyes on Marcus, waiting to hear his response.
Marianna could sense that Marcus’s hold on his group was failing. It finally occurred to them that Marcus was driven by more than just financial gain, which was the only thing that motivated these men. Making it personal blinded him to his faults. And as the personal reward diminished, so did the investment of the men he was working with. Marianna hoped that if the men turned against him, she might be able to get out of this whole thing no worse for wear.
"Because he stole my ranch and I will do anything to get it back," he sputtered. His eyes blazed red and his face turned a frightening shade of purple.
The first man rubbed his jaw in thought. "I don't know," he said finally. "I'm not sure I want to have anything to do with your plan. It’s already gotten more complicated than it needed to be."
The other men nodded their agreement.
Marcus appeared to be toeing the edge of violence. "So you are just going to give up then?" he said in an eerily calm voice.
"Not exactly," the second man added. "We were all talking and we were thinking it would be best to put the plan on hold. At least until we can come up with something better than using some girl as blackmail to get the ranch."
"I was thinking of upping the stakes," Marcus said with a frightening gleam in his eyes. "I was going to make sure that Larsen knew that if he didn't sign over the ranch without question, that he would be responsible for the girl's life."
Marianna felt like she had been hit in the gut. Her life? It was clear that Marcus was so obsessed with taking the ranch away from Larsen, that he would injure anyone if they stood in the way, including her.
"Whoa there," the first man raised his hands in protest. "This whole thing is too risky. We will have the sheriff and his men on us in an instant if they got wind of the situation. How do you even know Larsen will comply so easily, he may not even believe that you would harm the girl just for the ranch."
"I. Just. Do." Marcus stated through gritted teeth. He leveled a fiery gaze at the men who were questioning him. "I am going to send bits and pieces of her until he either hands the deed over, or there is nothing left," he said coolly.
Marianna went white. Marcus was talking about her life as if she was a sack of flour. Fear gripped her, but she did her best to remain calm. She hoped that the other men would be able to talk reason into Marcus before it was too late.
The first man interrupted the silence that had descended after Marcus's had revealed his gruesome plan. "I'm not a cold-blooded killer. I will kill an opponent in a fair fight, but not like this," he stood up. "I don't want anything to do with this anymore."
The other men rose up with the first man, voicing their agreement as they turned away and toward their horses.
"Sorry Marcus, the risk is too great for me," one of the men said as he swung up into his saddle.
"You are on your own Marcus, I ain’t killing a woman" the third man shrugged lightly.
Marcus exploded. "Alright! I will collect the reward and you will all be sorry. Cowards the lot of you!" he bellowed as they all turned their horses away and began to gallop off.
As the men rode away, they carried with them Marianna's last hope of being rescued. They knew what kind of monster Marcus was and yet they left her with him anyways. Her only hope of making it out alive was by persuading Marcus to let her go. She doubted that she would be able to reason with the deranged man.
At the moment, Marcus was focused on throwing expletives at the retreating backs of his ex-followers. But her terror quickly returned when Marcus turned his attention back on her, his eyes blazed with unchecked fury and vengeance.
"You," he spat viciously before advancing toward Marianna. He grabbed her roughly by her arm and shook her. "This is all because of you," he screamed at her.
Marianna tried to defend herself, but Marcus quickly over powered her. She was exhausted from the long walk and rough night, but she gave her resistance the last bit of strength she had. She pushed back at him with her tied hands and brought her foot around to kick him away.
However, her actions only seemed to incite him further. Marcus quickly jerked her to the ground.
Marianna refused to give up though. She kept flailing and kicking wildly until the last of her energy was spent, and then she kicked even harder. She refused to allow him to win. She was tired of always seeming weak, of never being able to defend herself.
When Marcus tried to hold her down with his body, she kneed him expertly in the groin. He groaned and loosened his hold on her just long enough for Marianna to use her bound fists to whack him in the nose.
"You little-"
Marianna broke off his words by jamming her elbow into his chest. She used the momentum to roll out of his grasp. She made an attempt to stand, but Marcus grabbed her skirt and pulled her back. She brought her leg behind her to kick him in the arm, dislodging his grasp in the process.
She moved to get away, but the rope that held her hands together was still attached to the horse. She turned back around and saw Marcus struggling to catch his breath. She knew this was her last chance. She ran to the side of the horse, hooked her bound wrists on the saddle and with strength she had not realized she still had, swung her body up onto the mare's back.
She moved her legs to kick the horse into gallop, but was stopped by a sudden sharp pain in her thigh. She cried out as she turned her gaze to her left and saw a knife sticking out of her leg where Marcus had thrown it. Blood quickly began to seep through her torn skirt.
Marcus rose from where he had been kneeling on the ground. "Thought you could get away?" he sneered. "No one gets away from Marcus Maine!"
The sound of a gun exploded in her ears and cut Marcus's words short. The man staggered for a moment, before clutching his right shoulder in distress; the fabric around his hand darkened with the telltale crimson stain. He had been shot. He staggered for another moment, before he collapsed from the shock.
Marianna too, slumped forward on the horses back. Her leg throbbed from where she had been stabbed, and her head felt dizzy from the loss of blood. Yet, through the haze that descended over her, she could hear a familiar voice.
"Marianna?" Larsen called out.
"Larsen?" she gasped as the vision of him, accompanied by a group of heavily armed riders, came into view.
Larsen was off his horse and at Marianna's side in an instant. A wave of relief washed over her has she allowed his strong arms to help her off the horse.
"My leg," she gritted as the movement jostled the fresh wound.
Larsen laid her down on the ground and bent to examine where she had been stabbed. He quickly tore a strip from his own shirt and made a makeshift tourniquet to stop the blood flow. "This is going to hurt," he warned her as he grasped the edges of the knife.
Marianna braced herself, but despite the warning, she still felt unprepared for the painful sensation of having a knife pulled out of her leg. Likewise, she definitely wasn't prepared for the shock when he pulled out a flask and doused the fresh wound with splashes of liquor. She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from crying out in pain.
>
In an instant, it was over. Larsen quickly used another strip of his shirt to bandage up the wound. "We need to get you home so I can attend to the wound properly. I don't want it to fester," he explained.
Marianna simply nodded, her eyes stinging with fresh tears of relief. She tried her best to hold back them back, but a single droplet managed slide past her barriers and down her cheek.
Larsen noticed it and his expression softened. When he first had arrived, he looked like a man on a case for wild vengeance. But as soon as he saw the single silver tear slide down Marianna's dirty face, his features changed. He reached up and brushed away the wet trail that the tear had made down the side of her cheek. "I'm very sorry," he said with obvious pain in his voice.
"It is not your fault," Marianna whispered to him.
"I wish that were true," he said sorrowfully. His hand lingered on her cheek, while his eyes searched hers. "I will never let anything happen to you again," he promised.
Marianna reached up and placed her hand over his where it rested on her cheek. "I know," she said softly.
The Sheriff was the first to interrupt their moment. "Well Larsen, we have Mr. Maine in our custody. We should head back into town now." He glanced down at Marianna and her bandaged thigh. "This little lady will need to see a doctor," he added.
Larsen looked away and nodded toward the Sheriff. He reached down and lifted Marianna up in his arms. "Let's get you back home," he said softly.
Chapter: XIII
Marianna was growing wary of being confined to bed. However, this time, she felt like she could finally rest with the knowledge that justice had prevailed.
Marcus Maine had been arrested and was due for a fair trial next time the judge came to town. Marianna felt safe with the knowledge that Marcus was no longer free to terrorize the Dover Ranch.