by Nicole Helm
“Home?” she echoed.
“Bent is your home, Addie. Yours and Seth’s. From here on out, it’ll always be your home.” He’d fight a million battles and risk life and limb to make it so.
Chapter Sixteen
Addie let Noah help her off the horse. The horse was panting heavily, and Addie couldn’t help but breathe in time with her. Too shallow. Too fast.
But Noah was right. No matter that she wanted to tear through the woods screaming, shooting at anyone who got in her way with Noah’s rifle, until Seth was safely in her arms. It wouldn’t do the thing that needed to be done.
Seth. She needed Seth’s permanent safety at the top of her list. Not just these snatches of time with it-didn’t-matter-how-many people protecting him. She needed to give him safety, stability, a home.
Bent is your home. She hadn’t realized how desperately she wanted that to be true until Noah had said it, had held her gaze steady and sure. Underneath all that surety, she’d seen...she was sure she’d seen the kind of bone-numbing fear and fury she felt in her soul at Seth being in direct line of danger.
“If we’re going to convince him Seth’s dead, we have to get Seth away first.”
Noah nodded, his jaw set. She could see the way he thought the problem through. She could see the same thing she felt.
How? How? How?
“I’m not usually the one with the plan. I’m the one who acts,” he muttered.
“Well, the other plans haven’t worked. Maybe you need to be.”
He flicked a glance at her, eyebrows drawing together. “We don’t know how many men he has.”
“There were only tracks to one vehicle, right? So it can’t be more than a couple. Maybe four of them altogether. And there’s four of us. It’s a fair fight.”
“Really,” Noah replied drily.
“It’s close, anyway.”
“We’ll go with four men,” Noah said, staring through the trees. “Armed, probably better than us.” Noah glanced at her again. “Do you think he meant to kill you?”
“I don’t think he cares either way. He wants me hurt and scared, but what he really wants is Seth.”
“You don’t think he has some kind of feeling for the mother of his child?”
Addie had to look away. She should tell him. Explain the whole thing. Except they didn’t have time for that right now. “It’s complicated.”
Noah rubbed a hand over his beard. “There’s a secret passageway into the cabin. The guy who shot me saw me come out of it, but surely he couldn’t relay that information back to Peter considering you killed him.”
Killed him. She’d killed a man. And she was prepared to kill another. If the opportunity arose, she needed to be willing to kill Peter. Seth’s father.
She steeled herself against that soft spot. Yes, Peter was Seth’s father, and maybe Seth would never fully understand the threat his father posed. She prayed he didn’t. That he’d never fully understand. Even if it meant he grew to hate her.
Seth was the most important thing. His life. His future. His happiness.
“So, we’ll create a diversion,” Noah said, steel threaded through his voice. He might not be used to being the one making the plans, but he was certainly used to being in charge. “I’ll be careful and try to sneak in the cabin, but the most important thing is getting you into the secret passage. If I can get to Ty and Vanessa, we can work out how to get Seth to you through the passage. If we can, we’ll get Vanessa, too, and you two can figure out how to make it look like something happened to Seth while Ty and I fight them off.”
“That leaves you vulnerable. Four against two.”
“We don’t know they have four, and I’d bet on me and Ty anyhow.”
“You said yourself they probably have better weapons.”
“You can’t beat the bad guy without taking some risks, Addie. I think we can both agree Seth is the most important thing, right? It’s why you left. It’s why you let yourself be bait. I lost sight of that, took Seth’s safety for granted in the face of a danger to yours, and look where it led. Right here. It’s my fault Peter figured out how to get to Seth, because I lost sight of that one thing. Well, not again. I’d die before I let anything happen to him.”
Addie blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. She’d come to that same conclusion, too, and as much as the idea of losing Noah physically hurt, Seth... Seth was the priority.
“All right,” Addie managed, though her voice was scratchy from the fire, from the cold, from emotion. “We’ll go up to the cabin, scope it out. You’ll show me the secret passageway. We’ll get me in, then I’ll wait.”
“I’ll see if I can get to Ty or Vanessa without detection. You stay in that secret passageway until we get you Seth, or we can get Vanessa and Seth in. We’ll keep the rest occupied.”
“What if—”
“That’s the plan. We focus on the plan. If we get there and we can’t get to the secret passageway, we’ll come back here and reevaluate. Now we move. We have to be silent. They can’t know we’re there yet, but most especially they can’t catch sight of you.”
“Most important after Seth, that is.”
Noah nodded. “We’ll promise each other, here and now, everything we do is to protect that boy.” He held out his gloved hand.
Dwarfed and warmed by his coat, she slid her hand out of the sleeve and shook Noah’s. “Agreed.”
Noah turned to the horse, pulled some things out of the bags that hung off the saddle. Feed and water. A blanket. He took those few minutes to make the horse comfortable. “If you and Vanessa get out, you need to be able to make your way back to Annabelle. We’re going to cover our tracks, so you have to be able to get back here blind.”
Addie swallowed. She didn’t know the area at all, especially out here. “How?”
Noah considered the question, then pulled a small Swiss Army knife out of his pocket. “We’ll mark the trees.” He gave her a once-over. “I don’t have a gun to give you, so you’ll have to take this once we’re done. You need some kind of protection.”
Protection. She pulled out the knife she’d managed to stick into the back of her pants back at the ranch. It hadn’t helped her against Peter because she’d been trying to lure him, not hurt him, and then he’d knocked her out.
She wouldn’t be so stupid next time.
“I have this.”
Noah raised his eyebrows, since it was a pretty impressive knife she’d found with a bunch of hunting supplies in one of the supply closets at the ranch. It had been the easiest-to-conceal weapon she’d been able to find that had a kind of sheath that would keep her safe from the blade.
“That’ll do. Let’s get started.” With that, Noah began a path toward the cabin, carefully marking a network of trees with little x’s a person would have to know were there to find, while Addie carefully covered their tracks in the snow.
When they could start to see the cabin through the trees, their pace slowed, but they didn’t stop. As silently as they could, they crept forward, still working, always watching.
Addie could make out the snowmobile, empty and parked to the side of the cabin. But as her gaze searched the space around the cabin, the woods around her, she saw no sign of any men. Only their footprints around the snowmobile.
Noah nodded toward the cabin and she followed him, wordlessly stepping into the bigger prints he left. They didn’t have time to cover these. Not yet.
With one last look around the yard and tree line, Noah stuck his fingers into some crevice Addie hadn’t even seen and seemingly magically pulled, amassing snow in a large hill behind it, until a very small door opened.
He gestured her forward, and even though it was dark and who knew what all lay inside, Addie knew she had to crawl in there. So on a deep breath, she did. Squeezing through the opening and contorting her body into the
dark space that was some hidden part of the cabin. She re-sheathed her knife and shoved it where it had been down the back of her pants.
“Stay inside,” Noah said, worry reflecting in his dark eyes even if it didn’t tremble in his voice. “On the opposite side is another door, but it’s covered by the fridge. If we can get Seth, or Vanessa and Seth, to you, it’ll be through there. There’s a peephole here.” He pointed to a hole in the wall that allowed her to see out into the backyard. “But there’s no way to see inside.”
“Okay.” She tried to keep her mind on those instructions. On the plan they’d created together.
“Stay put until one of us gets you. Promise?”
She didn’t want to promise that. There were so many what-ifs in her mind.
“The only exception to that promise is if you know Seth is in immediate danger. Okay? Deal?”
She still didn’t love that deal, because she wanted to protect him, too, but... Well, they’d seen how well that worked out when Noah had rushed to protect her. She was glad to be alive, and Peter probably would have found Seth eventually, anyway, but...
But Seth had to come first. “Deal.”
Noah nodded and started to push the door closed, then he swore roughly. Addie jumped, thinking they’d been caught, but he only reached forward and pulled her to him.
“Do you want your coa—”
Then his mouth was on hers, rough and fierce. A kiss of desperation, anger and, strangely, hope.
“I love you, Addie,” he murmured against her mouth.
And before she could even think of what to say to that, Noah pushed the door closed with an audible click.
She was in the dark and alone, and she had to sit with that and wait.
I love you.
What kind of man said I love you before he closed you into a secret passageway while mobsters were after you and the baby in your care?
But neither anger nor bafflement took hold quite like she intellectually thought they would. Instead, she felt only the warm glow of love. Love. Noah—taciturn, grumpy, sweet, good Noah—had said he loved her.
After she’d spent so much of the time before Peter had come being afraid to even think he might look at her with more than blind disinterest, Noah loved her.
She couldn’t possibly predict what would happen with all this, if they’d all survive unscathed or not, but Noah loved her, and Seth needed her.
For Seth, she could endure anything. With love, she could face any challenge.
* * *
NOAH MADE QUICK work of covering up the snow around the door and his tracks to and from the secret passageway. He searched his surroundings, listening for any faint hint at where everyone was. It left a terrible feeling in his gut. Everything was too quiet.
He moved soundlessly through the trees to make a circle around the cabin, checking the perimeter. Once he was satisfied there was no lookout on this side, he focused on the tracks around the cabin.
There were quite a few sets of footprints, though he could assume the shallow ones were old and filled with new snow. The heavy ones... He counted, tried to make out different footwear, tried to decide who was who based on where they’d come from.
Three men, it looked like, though looks could be deceiving. There was the pair of tracks that had followed Noah’s original ones. They came out of the woods, then went down the road. Then the vehicle tracks.
Only one set of footprints went toward the cabin. The other two fanned out down the road.
So they had two men watching the road for intruders, and one man—probably Peter, though he couldn’t be sure—on the inside.
His odds were good, because if he only had men looking out from the road, the Carsons could kill Peter before he could make a peep.
But Noah wouldn’t be that cocky this time around. He’d still be careful. Cautious. He glanced at the snowmobile. No one was getting away on that thing. He didn’t want Addie to be seen, and Seth wouldn’t be safe on it. So it was useless to him.
He needed to make it useless to them as well. Moving as quickly but as quietly as he could, he lifted the panel to the engine and then used his Swiss Army knife to snap any wires or tubes he could find. He paused, waiting for someone to fly out of the trees or a bullet to come whizzing by, but nothing happened.
He crept closer to the cabin. The windows were boarded up, so there was no way to see in. He frowned at the door, because it appeared to be cracked open.
Noah moved toward it, gaze still darting behind him and at the road. The closer he got, the more he realized he could hear someone talking in there.
“You lot seem to think you’re awfully tough.”
Noah reached for the rifle on his back. Still, no matter how he maneuvered himself, he couldn’t see inside the crack of the door. He could only hear.
He was tempted to bust in and start shooting, but he couldn’t do it without knowing what was on the other side. He couldn’t risk his brother or his cousin any more than he could risk Seth.
“Tougher than some pissant who has to hide behind a mob to make himself feel like a big strong man. What are you compensating for, buddy?” Ty’s voice drawled the question lazily and Noah shook his head. You’d think a former Army Ranger would have more sense than to poke at the enemy with people’s lives on the line, but Ty had never been what Noah would consider predictable.
“The only reason I haven’t shot you in the head, you miserable sack of nothing, is that I’m waiting on one of your loved ones to show up so they can watch the life drain out of you. That might be avoidable if you tell me where the boy is.”
Ty laughed and Noah nearly sagged with relief. They’d hidden Seth somehow. In the cellar maybe? It’d be impossible to get him out of there without Peter seeing him and Vanessa, if she was down there with him.
Noah winced as a flash of light hit his peripheral vision. He did a quick scan of the tree line, but he didn’t see anyone or any sign of a gun. He turned his attention back to the cracked door of the cabin, but the flash of light persisted. Flash. Flash. Flash.
Noah studied the tree line, over and over again, seeing no sign of anyone. Another flash, and he finally got it.
It was coming from the barn, and since it seemed purposeful rather than the precursor to being picked off, Noah moved toward it.
He wouldn’t lead Peter to Seth again, so he took a long circuitous way that involved using some of the other men’s tracks to hopefully throw anyone off the scent, then his own back into the woods. Once hidden in the trees, he took off on a dead run.
When he reached the back of the barn, he gave three short raps against it. When they were returned in double time, he rounded the corner. He kept his body close to the barn, dragging his feet hoping to make the trail simply look like melted snow runoff causing a rut in the snow.
When he reached the barn opening, which had no closure anymore as the barn was almost never used and falling apart, he slid inside.
Vanessa was holding a very frightened-and bundled-up-looking Seth. She had a quilt around them that had hay stuck all over it, and he assumed Vanessa had hidden them in a pile of old hay.
Noah winced, but he didn’t have time to worry about whether Seth was comfortable. He had to keep the boy alive. “What’s going on?”
“We heard them coming. Ty sent me to the barn. I have no idea what’s going on aside from that. I’ve been trying to stay hidden, but Ty’s been in there so long...” She bit her lip, sending an uncharacteristic worried look toward the cabin.
“I heard him. He’s holding his own, it appears. They’ve got men watching the road, but none watching the cabin. I don’t think they expected to be followed, but maybe they’re expecting police to show up. They think Addie’s dead. She’s in the secret passageway. I need you to go get her. She’ll lead you to Annabelle, then you take the quickest route to Bent.”
&nb
sp; He started pulling Vanessa toward the opening, glancing every which way before he nodded toward the back of the cabin.
“What about you?” Vanessa asked as she ran.
“Ty and I will take care of it.” He did his best to hurriedly cover the tracks they were making. “Get Addie and go. Now.”
“If either of you die, I swear to God I’ll find a way to make you pay,” Vanessa said angrily, eyes suspiciously shiny.
“Love you, too, Van,” Noah muttered, pulling the rifle off his back. “Now get him and her the hell out of here.”
With one last angry look, she gave a nod and pulled the door open. Noah kept watch, ready to shoot anyone who might appear and try to intercept.
Addie scooted out, wide-eyed, and then immediately held out her arms and Seth fell into them, crying faintly. Addie soothed him, and Vanessa encouraged her into a run toward the trees.
She never even looked his way.
Chapter Seventeen
Addie wished she could go faster, but following the small marks on the tree back to Annabelle wasn’t as easy as it had sounded an hour or so ago. Though she could somewhat follow the disturbance in the snow that was her and Noah’s covered tracks from earlier, the wind and fading daylight had made that difficult as well.
Vanessa had a thin, weak flashlight out and Addie was using her fingers to feel the bark of the trees for the heavy slash of a cut. But Seth clung to her, whimpering unhappily, and that kept her going regardless of the frustration.
“It’s okay, baby,” she murmured, searching the trees, every pain and ache in her body fading to a dull numbness.
“Here’s the next,” Vanessa announced. They’d been trying to cover their tracks, at the very least obscure how many people had run away from the cabin. It was all getting so tiring, and she needed to get Seth somewhere warm, even if he was bundled to the hilt.
“Man, you guys sure made a trek,” Vanessa mumbled as they searched the next grouping of trees.
“Noah wants them to think I’m dead.”
In the dim twilight Vanessa looked back at her. “Dead? Well, that’s smart. I’d prefer him dead, but that’d do, too.”
