Fear jolted through Ellie like a live wire to her system. Aidan’s voice. A dark cloud of dread came over her.
Her breaths came faster as she neared a full-system panic. The attack outside the cave came back in full detail: the way he had yelled at her, overpowered her, the stars that had crept into her vision as the world faded away.
Now it was happening again. Ellie took a deep breath. Another. Was she having some sort of breakdown? Aidan’s comment back in the cave came back. This is your fault, Elizabeth, he’d hissed. All of it.
How could she be sure that she could trust anything else about herself right now? The echoes of her past were determined to swamp her.
She’d thought they could come and go from the house without being caught, but as she’d crossed the hallway, go bag in hand, the alarm pierced through the house. For a moment, she’d considered bringing it with her, but what if the intruder got ahold of the only money? So she’d shoved a few things into her jacket and thrown the go bag into the cabinet below the bathroom sink. Then she’d waited, listening as Aidan had spun a new version of events for Michael.
What if Michael believed Aidan over her? She knew she’d been acting odd, secretive, and she wasn’t even sure she could trust herself. Michael might give her away, either accidentally or intentionally. Ellie closed her eyes and prayed. She prayed for help, and she prayed for calm, for a way out of this panic. Trust God. He will guide you. Trust God. It’s the only thing you have right now.
But... This is your fault, Elizabeth. All of it.
Ellie had almost tripped down the steps as those words rattled through her, warring with the calm she was desperately grasping for. The fragment of that morning in the cave had come back, just a flash of words and emotions. Your fault. Those words, the cold that had seeped through her wet boots, all the way up to her neck, and the sinking pit of dread inside, the dread of being trapped by him. Your fault.
Ellie’s heart jumped in her chest. She had to keep it together, for her sake but also for Michael’s.
Anger shone from Aidan’s eyes as he looked up at her, struggling under Michael’s firm hold.
The alarm wailed, over and over, incessant, demanding her attention. She ignored it, ignored that fragment of memory. She had to close all her memories off and focus on the gun. Get it far away from Aidan.
She swallowed, feeling the weight of it in her hand. She hated guns, hated the one Sean had kept in the house, even after she told him about the time her neighbor had accidentally shot her father in the arm. It had left her dad with chronic pain, a pile of medical bills, and a ranch that her parents could no longer keep up with on their own.
But I’m careful, Sean had said. We should have one, just in case.
In what case would he have shot someone? She hadn’t pushed the point with him and, truthfully, she was glad she’d never know. It was the first thing she had gotten rid of after he’d died. And now there was another one in the house.
“Ellie, go!” Michael shouted.
She looked down at him.
But, like she’d told him, there was no way on earth she was leaving him behind.
Instead, she shook her head, took out the bullet cartridge and walked into the kitchen, out of Aidan’s line of sight. She stopped in the middle of the room, looking across the sleek counters, scanning the modern white cabinets. Where could she put the gun? She couldn’t keep it with her—just holding it made her hand shake. The trash was out of the question. Somewhere where Aidan would never look. She could get rid of it later... She opened the pantry door, scanned the shelves, and shoved it behind a roll of paper towels. She closed the door quietly, as the alarm continued to squeal. At least the noise blocked out the sound of her movements.
Ellie studied the room again, the cartridge like a live hand grenade in her palm. The silverware drawer? No. Maybe inside one of the mixing bowls? Better. She opened the cabinet door and deposited the heavy black case between two stacks of stainless-steel bowls, then ran back down the hallway.
Michael strained to keep Aidan under control. How much longer would he last? She crossed into the front entryway and tapped in the code to disarm the alarm. The sound died, leaving her ears ringing in the silence.
“You’re going to pay for this,” Aidan hissed into the silence, shifting under Michael’s grip to look at her. She avoided his glare, focusing on Michael.
“What do you need?” she asked him.
He hesitated. “A rope?”
Had she come across one in the frenzy of cleaning she’d done after Sean had died? Nothing that she could remember.
“I don’t think we have anything thicker than kitchen twine.”
“What about duct tape?”
“I’ll find something. Be right back,” she said, and headed for the garage.
“You know you’ll pay for this,” said Aidan as she stepped past him. “I will never forget this. It will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
Ellie was trying to ignore him, trying to ignore the shudder that ran through her body, but she knew he was serious. He’d warned her before: he would never leave her alone.
Worry about that later. One problem at a time.
She opened the door and headed for the tool bench. She opened the toolbox, pulling out wrenches and pliers. No duct tape. Ellie raced across the garage to the stack of moving boxes, scanning the labels for something useful. Clothes, photos...her sewing basket? Opening the box, she moved aside her blue fabric scissors and a handful of spools of thread but stopped at a coil of red grosgrain ribbon. That might work. She grabbed the coil and the scissors and ran back into the house.
Michael grunted under the weight of Aidan’s kicks. Aidan had started a full-on assault of Michael, swearing at him, calling him every terrible thing he could imagine. Michael’s expression was focused as he maneuvered to stay on top of the other man. If Aidan’s words were getting to Michael, he wasn’t letting on.
“Start with his knees,” said Michael. “Tie them together.”
Aidan kicked and swore as Ellie wound the ribbon around his legs, dodging his feet. She pulled his knees together and tied it, cutting off some of the flailing, then cut the coil free.
“I need Elizabeth alive, at least for now, but I don’t need you,” said Aidan through gritted teeth.
What did that mean?
“Good job,” said Michael, ignoring Aidan’s curses. “Now, his ankles.”
That proved harder, she thought as a wet boot grazed her face, just missing her nose. Also, the knot that tied his knees was already loosening. He’d moved around enough that the knot wasn’t as tight as she’d thought. But how long could Michael hold him there? This was the best she could do.
She managed to get his ankles together and pulled the knot as hard as she could, wishing she hadn’t dropped out of 4-H at such a young age. Maybe then her knots would hold better.
“You’re doing great, Ellie,” said Michael as Aidan muttered more threats. “Now drop the ribbon and the scissors next to me.”
She lay them on the stairs.
“You don’t have time to clean off your own snowmobile. We need to take mine,” he said. “The key is in the left pocket of my coat.”
Ellie’s breath caught in the back of her throat. “I told you I wouldn’t leave you.”
Michael winced as Aidan’s elbow hit his side. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Ellie met his stare, his brown eyes steady and serious.
“Trust me,” he whispered.
Those words echoed inside her, trying to take hold. She had trusted Sean, and this was where it’d gotten her. But what was the alternative?
Ellie swallowed a quick breath and nodded. She reached for his pocket and fumbled for the key inside. After one more glance at Aidan and Michael, she turned away and ran down the hallway. The helmets sat on the kitchen counter. She grabbed them both and flew out the back door.
The cold was a jolt to her system as she trampled through the snow, heading down the deck stairs to the snowmobile. The machine was covered in a new layer of powder. Ellie quickly brushed it off and sat down, fit the key into the ignition, and turned it. The snowmobile shuddered once and died.
No. Please no.
She tried again. The motor sputtered and then raced to life. She turned the vehicle to point out, facing the open mountain. And waited. Waited.
Please, God, don’t let Michael come to harm. Not this man.
Ellie tried to settle her mind, to focus on their best escape route, but as she stared at the door, worry clattered around in her brain. What if Aidan came out first? How long did she wait until she went back in to help? The memory that Aidan had loosened rattled around with the rest of her thoughts. What was her fault? Whatever it was, it had shaken her.
The door burst open and Michael ran out, his coat flying wide behind him as he bounded through the powder and scrambled onto the snowmobile.
Ellie’s heart jumped as Aidan flew out of the house after him, coming straight for them.
“Hold on,” she said.
Michael grabbed his helmet, leaned against her, and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m on. Go.”
Ellie gunned the motor, launching them into the endless white landscape.
“Head left, toward my property,” Michael said through the intercom.
He knew every inch of the land, even covered in layers of snow. That gave them an advantage—one they sorely needed.
Because that was too close. Much too close. Ellie turned the snowmobile. They raced away from the house. As they neared the clump of trees that lined the back of her property, a gunshot rang out from behind them over the mountainside. Another. And another.
Ellie gunned the motor again and they wove behind the trees and down the mountain.
“You okay?” she asked.
“He missed me,” he said, panting. “You?”
“Fine.”
“I wouldn’t call this fine,” he said dryly. “What happened with the gun?”
“I hid it in the pantry, and the bullets were across the room. There’s no way he had time to find them when he was chasing you out.”
Michael frowned. “Now we know that Aidan has another gun.”
She had tied Aidan’s feet as best she could with the ribbon, but Michael had known it wouldn’t last long. And without someone to hold Aidan down, he wasn’t able to do much better with the man’s hands. But there was no way he’d keep Ellie in the house while he let go of Aidan. Both their odds were better when he wasn’t worried about her safety. Something had crossed her face while Aidan had spouted his threats at her, something Michael couldn’t quite read. She had looked...shaken.
Getting out of the house ahead of Aidan hadn’t been easy. Michael had held the man’s arms behind his back until he could hear the whir of the snowmobile motor. Until he was sure that Ellie could get to safety. He had managed to shift both Aidan’s wrists into one hand while he’d grabbed the ribbon, but tying a knot one-handed was hopeless. And, sure enough, as soon as Michael had moved, Aidan was already loosening the knots. Michael had bought them those precious few moments, enough to grab the scissors and get him out of the house, so he’d taken those minutes and run. And he’d made it. They’d gotten away. For now.
Thank you, Lord.
“A little further to the left,” he said, straining to see through the darkening landscape. “Up there, just past those trees.”
“I see them.”
“Watch your speed here. The boulders are hard to see when it starts to get dark.” If they drove over the back of one of the big ones and crashed the snowmobile in the fall, they’d have a whole new set of problems.
Ellie slowed the machine as they entered the forest that marked the boundary to Tang Ranch land. It was home, where Michael knew exactly how to navigate. Home. He hadn’t felt this surge of comfort from the ranch in a long time. He pushed that thought away and focused on the landscape.
“We need a plan,” he said as she wove through the trees. “We need to find a place to stop.”
He pointed to a large boulder sticking up into the trees and covered in white. “Right there. On top.”
The height would give them a good view of their surroundings. The falling darkness had one advantage: they could see the lights of any vehicle from much farther away. Ellie slowed to a stop on top of the large mound, then turned off the motor. The headlight flickered off. Michael could hear Ellie’s rapid breaths through the intercom.
“That was a mistake to go back,” she said quietly.
“You needed to try.” He did understand that part.
Michael climbed off the snowmobile and sunk into the deep snow. He pulled off his helmet and stretched his arms. His right biceps was throbbing from the fall on the steps, and Aidan had gotten a couple good jabs into his ribs that still ached. And she hadn’t even found what she’d come for. Or had she?
“Any sign of the go bag?”
Ellie took off her helmet and her bright curls sprang out from underneath, like they’d been waiting to escape.
“I found it right about when the alarm went off. I...” She blew out a breath. “I was scared Aidan would get a hold of it, so I left the bag in the closet.”
“You’re not going back in there.” The words came out more forcefully than he had intended. Michael laced his fingers behind his head and looked up at the sky. They weren’t going to get anywhere if he talked to her like that. “Please. Tell me you’re not planning to go back.”
She shook her head slowly. “At least not now. I grabbed a few things. It’s not much, but...” Her voice trailed off. She tugged off her gloves and dropped them in her lap, then unzipped the black ski shell he’d lent her. From the inside pocket, she pulled out a stack of twenty-dollar bills, two passports and an envelope.
“I didn’t get a chance to look at this,” she said, holding up the envelope. “A letter from Sean. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to find some sort of message from him those first few months after he was gone. Now... I’m not so sure.”
He just nodded, trying not to pry. The clouds had scattered and patches of sky were lit with distant sunset somewhere behind the mountains, turning the tops of the gray clouds shades of purple. Motors buzzed in the background, but he couldn’t see anything on their side of the mountain.
“How dangerous would it be to rest right now?” she asked, rubbing the back of her head.
Michael came on full alert. “Is your head hurting you?”
“Just a little.”
“We can rest,” he said quickly.
The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, telling him to run, to get away from there, but he knew better than to listen to that. She had been running on empty all morning. If they didn’t rest soon, she was going to crash. Michael looked around at the opening through the trees, down the vast mountainside. It was cold but clear, at least, for the moment. If they were going to stop, now was probably the safest time. When they had shaken Aidan—at least for now. But first, he needed to get her somewhere safe.
“It’s getting dark,” said Michael. “We need shelter.”
“But we can’t lead Aidan back to your ranch.”
“Agreed.” He pictured his parents, his grandparents, Isabel and the new hires gathering in the main house for supper. How much would Isabel tell them about his conversation with her? “There’s a fire tower on the other side of our property, above the canyon. No one uses it during the winter.”
“How far?”
“Maybe a mile,” he said. “Can you make it?”
“I’ll make sure I do. But you should drive.”