His mother hadna helped his cause either. The woman had quickly sided with Esme, her eyes sparkling a wee bit too brightly when she’d assured him that she and his father would rather enjoy a rare few days alone without their rowdy brood clamorin’ about the keep.
Alec huffed out an irritated grunt and dumped the armload of bags into the growing pile of luggage at the bottom of the steps. Ye’d think they were going away for three months rather than just three days.
Grant leaned against the open front door, watching for the rental. He leaned farther out the doorway and scowled up at the sun. “I thought ye said eight a.m.? ’Tis nearly ten.”
“With any luck, they’ll no’ show up at all and we willna have to go.” Alec glanced back up the staircase, shaking his head in disbelief as Esme dumped four more suitcases at the top of the stairs and headed back to her room for more. “What the hell is she packin’? The entire second floor?”
Ross brushed past Alec, meeting Ramsay at the top of the stairs, and took two of Esme’s bags. “If we dinna go, I’ll no’ be the one to break the news to Esme. She’ll set up a howl for sure.”
“Damn right,” Ramsay chimed in. “ ’Twill be yer duty to break our wee sister’s heart. Yer the one who doesna wish t’go.”
“Esme!” Alec shouted up the stairs. “Ye’ve brought enough. Now get yerself down here.”
Esme appeared at the railing and leaned out over the balcony. “Is the limo here yet?”
Alec looked back over his shoulder at Grant.
Grant shook his head.
“Not yet,” Alec said. “But it’s sure to be here any time.”
Esme held up a finger as she backed away. “I just thought of a few more things I might need. If it gets here, tell them I’m almost ready. I’ll be down in just a minute.”
“God a’mighty,” Alec muttered under his breath. He clenched his fists so tight all his knuckles popped.
“You’re gonna stroke out. Calm down. She’s a teenager. It’s what they do.” Sadie patted his arm, then held out her bag. “Here’s mine.”
“Just the one?” Alec said with an exaggerated wave of both hands. “Ye dinna feel the need to take along the entire contents of yer suite?” He was in a foul mood. Something was amiss. He felt it in his bones as surely as he felt the beating of his heart.
“Don’t be pissy.” Sadie stretched and pressed her lips close to his ear and whispered, “I called ahead and found out our room has a private Jacuzzi and heated pool. Pissy people don’t get to swim naked, then have certain parts of their body rubbed with the special flavored oils I got in the mail yesterday.”
Alec got rock hard, his mood improving considerably. Perhaps the weekend would no’ be such a chore after all. He hugged her close, pressing the results of her whispered promises against her enticing softness. “Now how am I to ride in comfort with what ye’ve done to me?”
Sadie smiled and wiggled a brow. “We can sit in the back. By ourselves.” She subtly gyrated against him, her face wreathed in innocence with every grind of her hips. “And put the bumps in the road to good use.”
“By the gods, ye two need t’get a room,” Dwyn said, then growled something unintelligible under his breath. He brushed past them and dumped a bulging briefcase atop the pile. “I canna believe I allowed Sarinda t’sweet-talk me into goin’ and babysittin’ the lot of ye.”
“Stay here then,” Alec said, reluctantly releasing Sadie to join Grant at the door and look for the rented ride himself.
“Nay.” Dwyn shook his head. “I dinna trust the legality of anythin’ that Delia woman arranges. I’ll be goin’ to review all she’s done.”
A roaring boom, deep and threatening, shook the keep, rattling the windows in the casings.
“What the hell was that?” Alec stormed down the front steps, searching the skyline for the source of the sound. Adrenaline shot through him, vaulting him to battle-readiness.
A shrill peal split the air, then another harsh blast shook the land. This one was louder than the first and followed by the crackling grind and moan of snapping trees and the sound of earth shifting down the mountainside.
“There.” Sadie pointed toward the northernmost ridge of the park. Debris billowed out from a jagged hole just below the crest of the mountain. A huge cloud of black smoke boiled out across the land like blood gushing from a wound. “Oh my God. That’s close to Castle Danu. I think it’s right behind it.” She clutched at Alec’s arm. “The vault. The tunnels. Could something have gone wrong with the ventilation system to cause an explosion?”
“I must go.” Fiery rage and ice-cold certainty surged through Alec’s veins. There’d never been an attack since they’d arrived in North Carolina. Not until today. This was no malfunction in the ventilation system. This was evil. Premeditated. He felt it more surely than the ground upon which he stood.
Alec turned and pierced the air with a shrill whistle. Grant, Ramsay, and Ross had already reached the stable and thrown the doors open wide. Two riderless horses, Max and Bess, thundered toward them, followed by the three brothers on their mounts. Miss Lydia, Sarinda, and Emrys rushed out of the keep with a fluid ease that belied their age.
Alec swung himself up on Max, then pointed down at Sadie. “Wait here. I’ll no’ have ye endangered whilst I fight this battle.” There was crisis enough to worry about without the loss of Sadie added to the mix.
“I’m not staying here.” Sadie hurried Bess over to the front porch, scampered up the steps, and climbed over the railing onto the horse’s back. “I’m not about to let you go alone.”
“Dammit, woman. Do as I say. I’ve no’ time to argue.” He urged Max toward the narrow employees-only road running along the outer side of the stone skirting wall surrounding the keep. He could save time cutting across country.
“Son!” Sarinda called out clear and strong.
“Aye?” Alec turned, silently willing his mother to hurry. There was no time t’be wasted.
“Keep the Heartstone,” Sarinda intoned, thumping her fist to her heart. “And keep yerself safe as well,” she added.
Alec acknowledged his mother’s orders with a single nod, then he turned to Sadie, wide-eyed, astride her mount, and waiting beside him. She was determined to follow and there was no time t’argue. “If ye must come, come, but stay behind me and do as I say. Aye?”
Sadie bounced her head up and down in quick agreement. “I promise I won’t get in the way. Now let’s go.”
“To the Heartstone,” Alec roared, spurring Max into the forest.
May the goddesses lead me to the evil bastards and make my aim sharp and true.
Chapter 22
“Oh my God.” Sadie pulled Bess up short, suddenly unable to breathe. Disbelief and shame filled her. So much destruction. So much damage. Delia had outdone herself this time. “Oh my God.” She bit her bottom lip and pressed a clenched fist against her mouth. “How…how could she?” she whispered against her cold, trembling hand.
Sadie blinked against a surge of nausea. A dark, sick feeling of overwhelming guilt threatened to topple her from the saddle. What the hell have I done? How the hell could I let this happen?
She turned and frantically searched the woods, a strange mix of panic and relief washing across her when she didn’t see Alec or his brothers anywhere. She’d fallen behind, lost sight of them in the dense thicket of trees, so she’d gone off in another direction. The direction that would take her to the filming crew—or at least where they were supposed to be. They hadn’t been there, so she’d cut through and found her way to the castle.
Sadie hugged herself, digging her nails into her arms. He’s gonna hate me forever. I’ve betrayed him and lost him for good.
One entire side of Castle Danu was gone, nothing left but a low, tumbled-down pile of blackened stones and smoldering rubble. Crumbling mounds of shifting earth and splintered trees still creaked and groaned, the heaps of debris occasionally sliding lower to join the avalanche of soil, rocks, and broken
logs spilling over all that remained of the wall of the keep.
The landslide had filled what once had been the chieftain’s sitting room—the room with the ingeniously designed hearth containing the hidden doorways leading to the tunnels. The entrances to the passages to the sacred vault were now buried, and the tunnels themselves had probably caved in from the blast. Everything was gone. Destroyed. Hot tears slipped down Sadie’s cheeks. Why didn’t I stop her?
There was a dark, ragged hole in the side of the mountain just a few yards above the smoldering ruins. The gaping black maw belched out smoke and rock as though the land was sickened by the sight of its precious castle’s destruction. The wide swath of the landslide’s route had ripped through the once lush pine forest. It looked as though the blast had rudely scraped away all in its path, leaving the earth raw and torn.
But the worst sight, the most shocking sight that ripped out Sadie’s heart and tore it to shreds more than any other, was the film crew. Producers, directors, and cameramen were laughing and high-fiving one another. They all stood there surveying the scene while the grips adjusted the booms and lighting to better portray the actors standing in the middle of the chaos. Makeup artists and hairdressers nonchalantly chattered and smiled while they flitted around the actors, touching them up to make them look as though they’d just survived a life-threatening explosion.
So that had been Delia’s angle. Get them all out of the way so she could hold true to form and do whatever it took to film her fucking movie. Sadie slowly shook her head. Heartbroken. Filled with despair. She slid down to the ground and leaned heavily against Bess, praying this was all just a bad dream. How the hell could I let this happen?
Delia had ruined it all and Sadie had helped her. She’d kept the unsuspecting MacDaras occupied so Delia could trash and burn their land all in the name of cinematic greatness, no matter the cost.
“I shall kill every damn one of ye!” Alec’s roar echoed down from above. He sat astride his great black horse just outside the still smoking hole in the mountainside. He held a sword raised high overhead. Bloody rage and fury emanated from him as he glared down at them all. His brothers flanked him, each of them on horseback wielding his own weapon. They looked like the weapons Sadie had seen on display beside the ancient Heartstone. But how could they have survived the blast? Were those just replicas, or had the MacDara brothers managed to locate the real ones in the rubble? Sadie closed her eyes, then slowly forced them back open. “I hope those are the real weapons,” she whispered to herself.
The four MacDara brothers looked as ominous as the four horsemen of the apocalypse—and even more intent on dealing out death and destruction. Alec moved forward, taking the lead. Teeth bared and the MacDara colors lashed across his chest, his plaid snapped in the wind, goading him on to battle. “Get the hell off m’land or surrender yer life t’me! I’ll have yer heads on pikes so all will ken what happens to fools when they break their oaths to the MacDaras.”
“Holy shit, that guy’s nuts. Hey Delia!” A middle-aged man that Sadie recognized as one of Delia’s producers from the East Coast scurried past, coming to a halt as he glanced her way and saw who she was. “Hey! You! Do something. You’re his whore while we’re here. Go calm him down. Give him a blow job or something.”
“Where is my bitch of a sister?” Sadie asked, not giving two shits about the pompous little asshole and his insults. There was more at stake here than name-calling. Too damn much more. “Where the hell is she?”
“Right here, baby sister. Help you with something?” Delia picked her way out of the woods overlooking the wreckage, arms calmly folded across the front of her flawless silk blouse. She smiled proudly as she demurely flicked a finger toward the assembled actors below. “That scene was perfection!” Gingerly working her way across the rough ground, Delia stopped and hugged herself with a delighted shiver, then turned and winked at Sadie. “And I saved about half a mil by pulling it off here instead of renting a closed set and hiring a team of pyrotechnics specialists. Even after I pay off the MacDaras for the damages, it’ll still be way cheaper.”
“How could you?” Sadie charged toward her sister. “I’m gonna kill you…I’m going to fucking kill you!”
Delia’s eyes widened and she stumbled backward, jabbing a shaking finger at Sadie. “You’d better calm down and remember who signs your paycheck.”
Sadie drew back and unleashed the rage-infused uppercut she’d been holding back for years. It felt so right when her fist connected solidly with Delia’s chin and knocked the vicious bitch backward, sending her tumbling down the hillside. Sadie rushed after her. No way in hell was she even near finished kicking Delia’s ass.
Delia floundered to her hands and knees, weaving and skittering sideways like a wounded crab. “I’ll ruin you!” she shrieked. “I’ll make you wish you were never born!”
Sadie grabbed Delia by the hair and jerked her to her feet. “You’ve already ruined me!” She wrenched Delia back and forth like an under-stuffed rag doll, backhanded her hard across the mouth, then slung her across the clearing. “I fucking hate you!”
Slapping away the hands of the film crew trying to help her regain her footing, Delia stood half bent over, gasping for air. She pressed trembling fingers to her already swelling mouth. Her hands shook even harder as she stared down at her blood-splattered palms. “Call the police,” she said in a low, murderous hiss. “And call my fucking lawyer,” she added.
“Cops are already here. Look.”
Sadie turned and looked in the direction the hairdresser was pointing. Blue lights flickered in a long line through the trunks of the trees lining the narrow dirt road. Sirens wailed and fire engine horns wah-wahed through the once serenely quiet forest. The beating rhythm of a helicopter thumped high overhead, whipping what was left of the leafy treetops back and forth in an angry whirlwind.
“Ye will all rue the day ye broke an oath to a MacDara!” Alec and his brothers pounded around the clearing, using their horses and weapons to herd the scattered crew of Realm Spinners Productions into a cowering cluster in its center. Alec had fully reverted to the unrelenting warrior he’d once been. Enraged man and monstrous black horse moved as one. Vengeance flashed in the deadly glint of Alec’s sword and fiery bloodlust shone in his face.
“Gather’m up and get’m in the cars, boys, before Mr. Alec kills’m all and we have to fill out all that damn paperwork. I ain’t in the mood to have to arrange shipment of a bunch of city folks’ bodies back to Hollywood.” Brady’s sheriff stomped out from behind a thicket of thorny blackberry bushes, motioning toward Delia, the film crew, and Sadie. He pointed several of his men toward what was left of the keep. “And don’t forget the real stupid ones. The ones that think we didn’t see’m run inside the castle and try to hide.” The sheriff gave a disgusted shake of his head. “Damn disrespectful dumb-asses.”
“I’ve already called my lawyer!” Delia’s voice grew more shrill as she snapped around and glared at a young deputy attempting to move in behind her and pull her hands around to her back. She motioned at Sadie with an angry jerk of her head. “And I want to file assault charges against that bitch over there. Look what she did to my lip.” Delia leaned closer to the matter-of-fact officer cuffing her wrists. “And look at my face. I think she fractured my chin. And-and maybe even chipped one of my teeth.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the deputy answered in a politely bored tone that conveyed he really felt that Delia deserved whatever she got. “Watch your step, ma’am.” He took Delia firmly by the elbow and nudged her forward.
“I’ll need to cuff you, ma’am.” One of North Carolina’s finest stood beside Sadie, calmly waiting, a set of handcuffs dangling from one hand.
They’d called the state troopers too? Delia’s crew must’ve panicked when they saw her kicking Delia’s ass. Sadie held out her hands and tucked her chin. Life as she once knew it was now over, but at least she’d beaten the shit out of Delia first. Sadie sniffed. “I’m sorry,” she
whispered to the officer.
“Yes, ma’am. Come with me now.” The state trooper took her arm and firmly walked her along beside him.
“County jail or…uhm…city?” Sadie swallowed hard against the knot of emotions choking her. What the hell difference did it make? From now on, wherever she was, she’d always be alone. Just like old times.
Chapter 23
“I’m honored you thought of me for your one phone call.”
A sharp elbow dug into Sadie’s ribs. “Hey. Wake up. I think that old lady’s talkin’ to you.”
Sadie lifted her head from her bent arm and straightened from the half-curled position in the corner at the end of the bench. Sure enough, her call hadn’t been wasted. She hadn’t figured it would be. Sheer old-lady nosiness alone would’ve brought Miss Martha across state lines just to get a shot at a firsthand telling of what had gone down at Highland Life and Legends. She prided herself on ruling supreme over all things gossipy in Brady. Alec had warned Sadie early on that Miss Martha knew all and wouldn’t hesitate a heartbeat to tell it.
The stern-faced matron stood outside the holding cell, her thin hands clasped tightly across her narrow middle as she eyed Sadie’s cellmates as though they needed to be sprayed down for fleas.
Sadie rose and slowly made her way to the front of the large containment area for offenders waiting to either be picked up, bailed out, or moved to a more permanent arrangement at the New Hanover County Facility. She gripped the cold bars in front of Miss Martha but couldn’t quite make herself look the old woman in the eye. Instead, she stared at the floor, fixing her attention on Miss Martha’s neon-teal running shoes with the lime-green laces that probably glowed in the dark. “Thank you for showing up. I didn’t know anyone else to call.”
“I paid your fine and told them I’d see to it that you made it to court on Monday. I’m not surprised Judge Watson’s getting this settled so fast. I’m thinkin’ he wants Hollywood out of Brady to avoid a rash of homicides.” Miss Martha turned and snapped her fingers at the young officer leaning against the wall, idly tapping the screen of his phone. “Young man! You think you could tear yourself away from that contraption long enough to get this girl out? Time’s a-wastin’ and I forgot to set my DVR to record them Pretty Little Fibbers…or Petty Little Hussies…or whatever the blue blazes they’re called. Anyway—get a move on, boy!” She clapped her hands, herding the slow-moving officer into faster gear.
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