Lily slowed to a crawl when the GPS told her she was nearing her destination. It wasn’t as secluded as she’d expected; she’d driven only about fifteen minutes west before the directions sent her down a packed dirt road through the trees, skirting Summit Lake. Driveways periodically dotted the side of the road, some with grand wrought-iron gates, others with stonework. She bit her lip as she searched for a place to park.
She approached a quiet road—more like two tire tracks worn into the dirt, overgrown from lack of use. However, someone had already parked a car there. As she drove past, her headlights caught the back of it, and a patch of purple flashed.
She froze as all the hairs on her body stood on end. It was the car that had been tailing them. It couldn’t be a coincidence that it was there. She just didn’t know what that meant yet, and she didn’t really have time to dwell on it.
The GPS said the next cabin was the judge’s. She couldn’t very well roll up and park on his property, so she slowed and peered down his next-door neighbor’s driveway. The large home was silhouetted against the dusky sky, but the lights were off. Maybe no one was home. Taking a chance, she swung onto the property.
A flick of her high beams showed no cars, no signs of life. She parked off to the side, so no one could see her from the road, and faced the exit for a quick getaway. She killed the headlights and shut off the engine.
Ding.
Her phone’s screen lit up with a text from her mum. Lily thought about checking it, but she couldn’t go there right now. She needed to stay focused on finding Ethan. She certainly didn’t need her mum blowing up her phone and giving her away while she tried to sneak around. Turning it to silent, she shut off the vibration and dimmed the screen.
When she stepped out of the car, it was near dark. A stillness hung in the air; it was quiet enough that she could hear the lake water lapping at the shore nearby.
“Help!”
Lily’s head jerked toward the judge’s cabin. The yell lasted only a second before it was muffled, but she recognized the voice as Ethan’s. Her hand fluttered to her chest as her body cried out for him, desperate to run to his side.
She’d been right to go there. And since the men who’d kidnapped Ethan said they were bringing him to the Phantom, that meant the crime boss was there. But did that mean Judge Banks was the Phantom or just working for him? Either way, she had to be clever about this, careful, cunning …
Another muffled shout pierced the air. Molly barked and slipped out of the open door. She dove through the bushes, heading straight for her owner.
“Bollocks.”
So much for careful and cunning.
Lily raced into the trees after the puppy. The canopy blocked out what little light lingered in the sky. Worried someone would see her shine the light from her phone, she forged on by feel, her ears tuned into the sound of Molly scrambling through the underbrush and over dried leaves—at least, she hoped that was her.
Who knew how many men the Phantom had working security detail for him, just waiting for someone as daft as her to sneak onto the property? Or she might have already tripped a wire and there was a bazooka aimed at her.
The trees thinned ahead, and the bright lights from the Judge’s cabin burned her eyes. However, “cabin” was a bit of an understatement. It was more of a fortress made from massive logs.
She studied the home, following the low stone wall surrounding the wraparound deck. Inflatable inner tubes leaned against a shed. Children’s toys lay scattered across the grass. She scowled. A family-friendly cabin didn’t seem like the greatest place to run a criminal organization from.
As her eyes adjusted, she spotted the black van parked off to the side. They must have taken Ethan inside. Two men hung out at the front of the home. And since they didn’t seem like family visiting for a relaxing holiday, she assumed they were the lookout. Thankfully, they didn’t appear to be doing much looking.
“Molly,” she hissed.
A dark patch moved in front of her. She could just make the pup out. Molly’s back hunched as she did her business on the immaculate lawn, as though this were her contribution to the mission.
Take that! No one messes with my dad!
Lily knew Molly would somehow get her and Ethan killed. All it would take was one bark. So she crouched and whispered, “Come on, girl. I’ll give you some treats. As many as you want.”
And like the well-trained dog Molly was, she dashed toward the house, a black shadow slipping across the lawn.
Lily sighed. With one last look around, she sprinted after the pup, her footsteps sounding like drumbeats in the night. When she reached the cabin, she practically vaulted herself over the low stone wall around the deck. Pressing her back against the stones, she listened for sounds of pursuit.
A quick tapping approached. Terror pressed down on her chest. Her body coiled, preparing to either fight or flee. This was it.
Then Molly came trotting around the corner, nails clicking on the wooden deck. She glanced at Lily’s shocked face before disregarding her and continuing on her mission.
Lily practically fainted with relief. When no one shouted or started firing off bazookas, she peeled herself away from the wall and crept after the pup.
At the back of the home, the deck was cast in a warm light coming through a set of French doors. Subtle shadows danced on the wooden planks, so she already knew someone was inside, but when voices drifted out, she realized they’d left the door cracked open.
Molly traipsed right up to it. Lily’s eyes widened. Keeping her footsteps light, she caught up with the furball. Snatching the bold puppy up, she pressed her back against the rounded log siding and sidled as close to the doors as she could get without being seen.
“I’m gonna ask you one more time. Where is the evidence?”
She recognized the gravelly voice as Coil’s, the man who’d held Ethan by gunpoint at the campsite.
“If the Phantom wants it so badly, then why doesn’t he come in here and ask me himself?”
Ethan.
Her body sang with gratitude at the sound of his voice. He was alive, his sarcasm and mettle fully intact. Molly’s tail whipped back and forth, slapping against her chest. Lily placed a hand over the tail in case it made a noise.
“You want to meet the Phantom? All right. Congratulations. You both just earned yourself an interview you’re going to regret.”
Both? So Ethan wasn’t alone.
There was a scraping noise and a thunk of wood, like a chair falling over, followed by sounds of struggle. As it faded, she assumed the men were dragging someone away.
“Please, no,” a man begged. “I swear I don’t know. I don’t know!”
She couldn’t tell who it was. Were they taking Ethan? A wave of dizziness washed over her. What were they going to do to him?
Risking a peek through the glass doors, she peered into what looked to be an office or a study. Books lined the walls. A sofa and a coffee table sat at one end, and at the other, an executive desk with two club chairs facing it. Tied to one of them, wrists fastened behind his back with rope, was Ethan. Relief coursed through her veins.
His usually meticulous hair stuck up at all angles, and his rumpled clothes were torn. While she could see only his profile, he didn’t appear to be injured.
It hurt to see him so powerless. And yet, the tension to his jaw and the tightness next to his eyes told her he hadn’t given up the fight. A grim determination stalked behind his glare.
She’d found him, and by some miracle, she hadn’t gotten caught … yet. Before that changed, she pulled out her phone and texted Piper. She hit send after each sentence, just in case she got caught at any moment.
I found him.
He’s at the cabin.
He’s tied up.
It’s the Phantom.
She’d barely sent the last one before a message popped up.
Thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes until what? She was about to text back, but then she heard an agonizing screech from somewhere inside the house. How long until they came back for Ethan?
She slipped inside, hoping there wasn’t someone standing guard in the corner, just out of view. She spun in a circle. It was just the two of them. Well, and Molly.
At the sound of her footsteps, Ethan craned his neck to see who it was. His eyes practically popped out of his head.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he whispered.
“What do you think?” she asked in a hushed voice. “Saving you again.”
She set down Molly, who instantly began sniffing with a purpose—probably because the rug was a grassy green. Lily raced across the room and tugged on his ropes.
“You brought Molly?” he asked incredulously.
“She didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“You need to get out of here,” he begged.
“Not without you.”
The rope was cinched so tightly that she could barely work out the knot. She turned to the desk to search for something sharp. A letter opener sat in plain view.
She grabbed it, thinking it seemed like an odd thing to leave around the place where you tie up and torture people. She jammed it in the knot and began to pry it apart.
“Stop,” he hissed. “I don’t know who the Phantom is yet. I need to know. Please.”
She froze, compelled by the urgency in his voice. “I think the cops are almost here. Let them find out.”
“He could take off before then.”
She planted a hand on her hip. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Then stay and hide. Once you know who he is, you can report it to the cops. But if you free me now, he’ll figure out that it was you, and he’ll hunt us both down. Maybe he’ll even hurt your family.”
Her legs weakened at the thought. Damn him. He knew how to hit her where it hurt. As though to drill his point home, another pained scream tore through the cabin. Ethan cringed, and Lily shuddered.
She didn’t want to see her family in danger or hurt. Every cell that she shared with them cried out to protect them, to run. But when she imagined turning her back on Ethan, she felt the same impulse to stay.
She placed a hand on either side of his face and looked him squarely in the eyes. “Ethan Summers, I’ve come this far. If you think I’m leaving you now, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Footfalls stomped on the hardwood floor outside the study door.
Lily’s knees wobbled. Ethan’s face fell slack, and he mouthed the word “hide.” He thrust his chin at a set of double doors behind the desk.
She hesitated, caught between the desire to stay and fight for him and the fear that doing so would mean absolute death for both of them. Her face twisted, and she clutched the letter opener, but as the footfalls grew louder, she set it down.
Grabbing Molly, she slipped around the desk. She wrenched open the doors to reveal a closet-sized liquor cabinet recessed into the wall. She’d just barely slipped inside and shut the doors when someone walked in.