by Vines, Jolie
“Is that where ye think the explosion came from?” I asked Max.
“Aye, keep moving.”
Somewhere out here, the mountain rescue service was hunting Jude. Lochie had that under control, and I knew he’d succeed. All I had to do was get out of the way and stay safe. Isla was with Ma at the castle, and I so badly wanted to see the little lass.
We could be a family—I knew that’s what she’d wanted to ask before I’d left the country. Her da and I never got to have the conversation about what next. He wanted to stay, and his problems might be solvable, if they even existed. My stalker could be responsible for everything that had happened. The more I thought about it, the likelier it became.
Jude was the only obstacle between me and a future I could never have imagined possible.
Uphill, a bold colour flashed between the trees. I squinted then stalled my brother.
“Did ye see that?”
He gave a short nod, a hand out as if to restrain me.
I stared, getting a tiny glimpse of the colour again. Purple, a brilliant and unusual shade, practically glowing against the stark white and grey of the mountainside. At the distance, I couldn’t tell if it was on a person or hanging from a tree.
Then recognition dawned. Was that…?
“It’s my coat,” I spluttered. “That colour… Ma bought me a coat in that exact shade. It was stolen from work months ago.”
Then the object moved, and a person came into sight. With a white balaclava covering their face, and in my damn coat, they moved purposefully.
I focused on what he carried.
The man left the cover of the trees and strode closer.
Max and I froze and slowly lifted our arms.
It was Jude, and he had a gun trained directly on my brother.
36
Jude
Glee rippled through my body, my heart lighter than it had been in years. With a dramatic flourish, I tore off my mask and beamed at Cait. “It’s me.”
She stared at the gun then inched in front of the man by her side—her brother, I recognised, though he’d changed from the skinny teenager I’d met once before.
I stepped closer, almost dancing in my happiness. “No, baby girl. Never fear, I won’t shoot him. Not if he behaves, anyway. I’m so happy to see you out of that car. You have no idea how worried I was.”
Cait swallowed, her dainty throat bobbing. “Ye caused the avalanche that buried us.”
“Well, yes, I saw that through my binoculars, but I didn’t mean to. I only wanted you to come running to see what the bang was all about.” I spread my arms, swinging the shotgun. “Which you did! You clever things.”
Both ducked when the gun swept their way, so I trained it on the big redhead once more and cleared my throat. “There’s just a few things we need to clear up, then we can get going.”
“Get going where?”
All the hate and anger and bitterness melted. This couldn’t have worked better if I’d planned it. Cait was here, and we were together.
I had the perfect place for her to stay. Previously, I thought we’d live in her cottage, but there were too many nosy people around. Too many distractions. In my uncle’s big house, once he and his awful family were out of the way, she’d never have to be bothered by anyone else again.
“You’ll see when we get there.” I grinned again, raising my shoulders. Then I gestured uphill with the gun. “Now walk. I want you nice and visible on the hillside.”
Cait’s brother glowered at me. I stared back.
The hate returned in a rush.
“Do it now or he loses his fucking face,” I snapped.
They moved slowly, and I circled behind, careful to watch my back. Below in the glen, tiny red specs of mountain rescue people milled about like headless chickens. Spider mites, waiting to be crushed.
I only cared about one of them.
The problem.
The brute who Cait had let between her legs. Stifling, crippling rage washed my good feelings away. I’d tried so hard to forgive Cait’s trespass, her dalliance with that man, but I feared for both her sanity and mine.
There was only one solution, and now, I had every advantage.
I marched my true love through the snow, leading our quarry on the hunt.
In time, she’d forget him.
In time, she’d think only of me.
At last, Cait was mine.
37
Lochie
In concentrated sweeps, my teams moved over the hillside, searching in vain for Caitriona’s vehicle. This was a trap, we all knew it, so I’d played the strategy as best I could.
Two teams rounded the mountain to approach from the other side, on skis or snow mobiles to cover the ground. Another group remained at the castle to protect Isla. The car I’d sent to meet Cait would bring backup, but we were thinly spread.
I couldn’t leave her out here.
I’d chosen to walk straight into the lion’s den. Cameron and I had taken the east route, and Wasp, Ally, and Maddock the west, none of us hesitating.
Cameron shot out an arm and grabbed me then pointed. Ahead, the road ended in a thick ridge of snow. I drove to the edge then stopped.
“An avalanche,” I breathed.
Then I was out of the car and into the drift.
Cameron followed, scanning our surroundings. “Keep low,” he warned.
“If they’re under that, we need to get them out,” I retorted.
He uttered agreement, and I pressed on, searching with an edge of desperation. Skiers sometimes wore avalanche beacons, giving us a guide to locating them. But Caitriona wouldn’t have had anything like that.
How much time had passed since the explosion? Under the snow, every minute counted. She could be suffocating. Despair rocked me.
I wanted to yell for her, shout down the mountain until she called back. But that risked too much.
Cameron held up a hand and knelt. “Footprints.”
My heart leapt, and I studied his find. “You’re right. Two clear sets, aye? It has to be theirs.”
“I think so. It’s hard to be sure with the fresh snowfall. I dinna think they’ve been here long.”
Then I spied a hole in the ground, its shape not one found in nature. A car window? I strode over and peered down. “Christ, it’s Caitriona’s car.”
I was directly on top of it.
Panic and fear loaded into my system. She’d been stuck under the snow. Ah fuck.
Cameron joined me and lowered his head inside. “There’s no blood and no interior damage. We know they got out. Breathe, man.”
No blood. No blood.
“But they were in there. She could’ve died.”
I wanted to fucking howl with worry, but we had to keep going. She’d got out, Max, too, so they couldn’t be far. Except…
“We should’ve seen them on the road,” I bit out. “Why the fuck weren’t they on the road?”
Cameron’s expression flattened. He reported the find into his radio, summoning the second team to us. “If they didn’t take the obvious path home, there’s a good reason. Come on. Back to the footsteps. We’ll try to follow them.”
We jogged back over the compressed snow, searching the ground. Partial prints broke the choppy snow layer every few metres, and we traced them past the car.
Cameron hesitated at the Jeep. “I’ll drive, ye lead.”
“Do it.” It would be foolhardy to give up our car before we had to.
I powered on, jogging back along the way we’d come, stalling to check the faint prints were still in place. At the junction to Hill House—a route we’d passed but ignored—the footprints clustered.
They continued on up the steep road.
I gestured to the car, my throat tight.
Cameron leaned from the window. “Why would they go up there?”
“No clue.”
I took a few more steps, searching the dark trees to one side and the ridge to the other. The house wasn’t
in view yet, but we were almost in the exact position Cameron had speculated Jude would target.
The icy weather had nothing on the chill that rippled down my spine.
“They’d only go this way for two reasons. Shelter, if desperate, and assuming there’s anything of the house remaining. Or because they were made to.”
With a grim nod, Cameron hopped down and joined me, and we advanced.
At the same moment, we both spotted the one thing I hadn’t wanted to see.
A third pair of prints.
Until now, we’d followed two different-sized boots, huge clumping depressions that were Max’s, and daintier walking boots that could only be Caitriona’s.
The third was in between, and the tracks led into the forest.
“It’s him. It has to be.” I fought the urge to drop to my knees. “It’s Jude. They’ve gone with him. Why the fuck would they?”
“They were forced to,” Cameron said with vehemence. “Lochinvar, he has a gun. He must have or both Max and Cait would’ve run. We need to change tactic. I have to stop them being approached directly by the other searchers.”
“He’ll hurt her,” I bit out.
“He could do. I need to tell the teams.”
I lifted my head enough to acknowledge him then, as he spoke to the rescue crew, focused inwardly. Again, the game had changed. Jude had Caitriona, and Max, too. Even through my horror, I could perform the basic checks. We’d heard no sound of a gunshot, nor was there blood, or an unconscious Max anywhere in sight. Plus the footsteps continued. He’d directed them somewhere, but together.
That was in our favour.
My radio bleeped. “Come in,” I said.
“Dinna tell me to hold back,” Maddock blurted down the line. “That’s my sister and my fucking twin. We’re coming after ye.”
We needed them, but we also needed clear heads. God knows mine was already fucked.
“Come up as far as our Jeep then proceed with extreme caution,” I ordered. “I fucking mean it. Stay out of sight. We have to continue on foot—the prints lead away towards the hills. Once ye see us, dinna move a muscle. We cannae spook this guy.”
A pause followed, then Wasp’s voice returned. “Roger that. We’ll show restraint. Stay safe, both of ye.”
My safety didn’t mean shite right now. I wasn’t at risk, and I’d throw myself in front of Cameron if it came to it. All that mattered was getting Caitriona back.
With that in mind, I followed her trail.
38
Caitriona
There was a tactic I’d read about in kidnapping scenarios, where women befriended their attackers in order to maintain their safety. Something to do with creating a link at the human level and therefore making the villain less likely to hurt them.
I should flirt with Jude and go along with his make-believe world.
But I’d never been any good at pretending.
Instead, I slunk a look of hatred over my shoulder, my body frozen from our long walk through the snow. At my side, Max moved stiffly, his jaw set. Without the ability to zip up his coat, he must be bitterly cold.
At least the storm had eased. Though an icy breeze ghosted over us on the exposed slope, the snow had stopped, and the clouds lightened to the point sun broke through here and there.
The brightness on the crisp, white hill stung my eyes.
Behind, Jude chattered merrily, sounding the same as when he’d come to dinner, telling jaunty stories of university and of things he wondered about.
He was insane.
Dangerously so.
We left the ridge and rounded a foothill, staying in full sight of the glen below, the aircraft hangar visible in the distance. With my jacket being dark blue and Max’s black, we’d be nothing but dots on the hillside. Jude, however, stood out in the stolen coat.
A memory jolted then sickened me. His uncle said they’d kicked him out after finding him masturbating while lying on a woman’s coat.
Mine, no doubt.
This man was seriously fucked up. Dangerous and unpredictable.
The very last thing I wanted was a confrontation with Lochie on the hill. Jude had a gun. There could only be one outcome.
Fear fizzled.
“We have to stop soon,” I whispered to Max.
“I was about to say the same thing,” he mouthed back.
“What?” Jude called. “I can’t hear you from here. Speak up, darling.”
My brother glanced at me and gave an infinitesimal nod. He widened his eyes then gestured subtly ahead. Beyond, smooth white hid the rough, rocky ground.
What was there? I hadn’t noticed anything, though at a pinch, I could work out that we weren’t far from the cliffs over the unicorn pool. That was a long way down. Maybe a rally point for the rescue team?
It was enough to interest Max, but I didn’t want the crew to find us. If they did, Lochie would be at risk.
“Nothing to say? Never mind,” Jude continued. “I have so much to share with you. Not you, ugly brother. Shut your ears. Cait, do you remember the first time we made love?”
Queasiness clamped hold of my stomach.
“I haven’t forgotten a minute of it. I wrote down every single thing you did so it couldn’t get lost in the time that’s passed. You and I were meant to be, right from that moment. Your soft hair, so pretty on my sheets. Your lovely, pliable body receiving mine.”
Ugh. I stifled a retch.
“Fuck’s sake,” Max muttered.
“I heard that. I told you not to listen.” Jude’s tone dropped from jovial to disturbed. “Now stop. Stop right there.”
We halted and turned. Deliberately, I stepped in front of my brother again, my boots catching on the dead heather under the snow.
“Don’t,” Max whispered.
There was no chance I’d listen. Jude wanted me. Ergo, he probably wouldn’t shoot me. He’d hurt my brother, though.
Jude peered at us, unhinged, his cheeks burned red by the cold, and his eyes too bright.
I wanted to scream at him. Despite the cold, my blood boiled. The problem was, I didn’t know his plan. Was it to get Lochie into sight so he could shoot him? Or was he leading me somewhere so he could trap me? If so, why had he brought Max?
Fuck.
Jude hadn’t expected us to walk right into his lair. He’d caused the explosion then sat in wait. He’d intended to snipe Lochie from a hidden position.
He blathered on, and I stared at the weapon pointing at Max. I knew little about guns, but I’d seen them with the stalker who managed the deer herd on the estate. Cameron refused to shoot animals, so another person was brought in whenever a deer was hurt or a cull needed.
Jude held a shotgun, not a rifle. At a distance, it was ineffective, blasting the pellets into whatever was in range.
Did Jude know this? Was this intentional? He’d hurt more people as they came at him, but his risk of killing was low.
Unless he intended to be up close.
I backed up to my brother so my body covered more of his. On the long walk here, I’d tried to keep directly behind him, lessening the chance of Jude getting a clear shot.
“Here’s good enough.” Jude brushed his floppy blond hair back then pointed at Max. “You, walk up the hill.”
“No,” I snapped.
Jude rolled his eyes. “Yes.”
“He’s not leaving me.”
Jude’s lips turned down in the corners. “I’m not leaving you. He’s fucking off now. Go on, red. Off you pop. Take a long walk off a short cliff.”
At Jude’s back, over the crest of the hill, movement caught my eye.
Max’s hand subtly pressed my shoulder blade. He’d seen it, too.
Jude hadn’t.
I opened my mouth, needing to distract him. “It’s cold, I’m freezing, and I don’t want to be out here anymore. I’m terrified because ye have a gun on my brother. Why are we here? What do ye want from me?”
The gun in Jude’s hand shook. “I
’m here because you want me to be. You chose me.”
“What are ye talking about?”
I wanted to get him arguing and focused on me alone.
“You want me, Cait. You asked me to sleep with you and led me on. And since then—”
“I had sex with ye as an experiment, and an unsuccessful one at that.”
The two figures crept ever closer.
Jude wiped his gun arm over his nose, swinging the weapon. “No. It wasn’t like that. You loved me and seduced me. Then you waited for me to realise everything we had. I know it now. I worked it all out.”
“You’re fucking nuts,” I hissed.
I slid my hand behind my back and pointed at the ground, indicating to Max that he should drop to lying. If he did, I could move in on Jude, pissing him off until I reached him and grabbed the gun.
Then he couldn’t shoot anyone.
Especially not Max or the people moving slowly in.
No one I loved would die.
“What about your emails? You put messages in there for me. You want a baby. I thought at first it was because you were on your own, and you were punishing me, but then it finally made sense. You were still waiting for me, over all these years. You didn’t want anyone else and you just needed me to see it. I’m going to father your babies. I’m sorry I made you wait.”
Max gripped my jacket right as I took a step. He held me back, and I wrestled his hand.
“What are you doing to her? Leave her alone,” Jude yelled, his voice going shrill. “Don’t touch her.”
“Get down,” I said to my brother.
“Dinna move,” Max gritted out under his breath.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Jude. Even so, I flicked a tiny glance at men creeping in.
Lochie.
Cameron.
My heart ached, and I held back my reaction, my bloom of fear and love and everything in between.
In their mountain rescue red jumpsuits, and at fifty feet away, they manoeuvred over the hill to be directly behind Jude, Cameron slightly closer. Lochie made some sort of gesture. I couldn’t make it out.
Max held me to his side and bent his head to my ear. “We have this, Cait. Dinna argue. When I say go, we’re going to run.”
