Trapped with the Blizzard (35 page)

“He told me you were trouble,” he spat back. I tried not to notice his grip tighten on the gun.

“No, I mean,” I paused and made a dramatic look towards Bryan. I summoned every little bit of my acting skills.
You’re making me talk about this in front of my husband.
“Noah and I were
together
,” I said with meaning.

I crept along, holding his gaze while I inched my way up to standing. “We were so close. I mean, he was so charismatic, I didn’t stand a chance.” I forced myself to chuckle and it sounded as inauthentic as you might imagine.

“He hated you.”

“At first, yes.” I gestured casually, turning and slowly stepping to my left. “But hate is so close to affection.” I knew I had to keep talking, keep his mind off the situation at hand. If I could take him mentally back a few years ago to when I’d first met his son, it might buy me enough time to think of something clever. “But our affair started shortly after I moved to Tellure Hollow. It was an instant connection.”

“He would’ve told me.” He shook his head and shifted on his feet. “He was with that Asian bitch.”

“Well, sir… with all due respect, we knew you had something going on with Kayla at the same time.” I chanced a look at Bryan, still motionless on the floor. I nearly cried out as I noticed the growing puddle of blood around his leg and had to force myself to look back to Richards. “She was my best friend, you’re his father. You can understand why we had to keep our relationship a secret.”

I’d taken a gamble pulling out his affair with Kayla. I’d always had my suspicions, but the flicker I saw cross his face when I mentioned it was proof enough. It gave the rest of my story the shred of validity it needed. I was in the opposite corner now, my hand resting on the shared wall beside us.

“I’m not going to lie and say I loved Noah,” I said slowly with a bat of my eyes. Demure, shy.
Mr. Richards, you’re making me reveal so much!
“We didn’t know each other long enough for that. But he was very special to me. I would’ve never hurt him, sir.”

He squinted at me, trying to decipher the truth. “You’re lying. You’re…” He shifted the muzzle of the gun so it rested right on Jack’s chest. He was squirming now, face wet with tears but otherwise silent. He’d spotted Mommy and didn’t like the strange man. When he reached out for me…

I pulled up every single sad memory I’d experienced in my lifetime to summon a tear for Noah, all the while praying it would work. “Mr. Richards, I don’t know if you know this but… I was the one who found Noah.” I forced my voice to crack a little and pretended to feel weak at the thought. My gaze was distant as I tried to recall the details.

“I didn’t notice him at first. I’ve had to live with that for years now. Almost every night I have the same dream. I walk into the kitchen, turn to the left, and immediately spot him. I’m able to lift him up and untangle the rope from his neck and he’s alive.” I peered into Richards’ cold eyes as I repeated myself, the stomach bile just barely staying down. “In my dreams, I save him, sir.”
In my dreams, it’s my hands that close off his air.

In a twisted turn of events, the smoke helped sell my mourning. With stinging eyes, it was surprisingly easy to blink out a few tears. I kept my focus on him, sliding along the wall as I drew closer. I still didn’t know how I was going to get Jack away, but I seemed to break through the guy’s insanity. That was a start.

“He was a good boy,” Richards sniffed. “Caring, smart…”

“So smart,” I nodded as I wiped my tears with the heel of my hand.
Are we even talking about the same person?
“Sir, I’m sorry I never reached out to you before this. I couldn’t go to the funeral because I was still in the hospital,” I lied.

He blinked slowly, his gaze going soft as he remembered back to that day. I took a brave step forward, finally closing the distance between us. I put a comforting hand on his shoulder, the arm holding the gun, but made no other move. “It rained that day. It rained so hard…” I saw Bryan twitch from the corner of my eye, giving him the tiniest of nods while rubbing Richards’ arm.

“I’m sure it was beautiful,” I whispered. My hand slipped down his arm with every stroke until I was sure I could at least grab at his elbow. The gun was still so close to Jack, I couldn’t risk a sudden move.

“The water… it poured down the sides of the grave. I remember being afraid that he’d drown down there. He nearly drowned when he was a boy, you know.”

“Hmmm, I remember,” I muttered.

“Or that the coffin would come floating up to the surface.”

“He loved the water,” I repeated as I lifted my hand to Jack’s head.
If I can just touch him…

Richards’ voice hardened, his eyes focusing on me intently. “He hated water.”

I blinked a few times. “Of course he did. I meant he…”
Shit, I’m losing him.
I tilted my head and pressed my lips together in a sympathetic smile. The room was so smoky now, I could only peripherally make out Bryan’s legs. “He always loved the snow.”

Richards took a step back from me, his black eyes growing wide and crazed. It was that moment he looked most like the Noah I remembered. “He hated the cold. He begged me not to buy this shit hole, pleaded for us to stay in LA. If I’d listened to him, he’d still be here.”

“Sir, please…”

“You little cunt. You
were
the one who killed him. You killed my boy!”

Without another moment to spare, Bryan’s hands shot out and grabbed Richards by each ankle. With as much strength as he could muster, he yanked them forward, the soles of his boots finding no traction on the bloody concrete. As if in slow motion, I watched as Jack rolled from his crooked arm. I dove to catch him, landing hard on my knee as I thrust my arms out. A searing pain ripped through my arm, but I gritted my teeth and focused on securing my baby.

With him clutched to my chest, I scrambled towards the corner, trying my best to keep low to the ground. He was screaming now, his wails matching the shouts echoing from above.

Bryan didn’t hesitate this time. Leaning on one hand, he lifted the gun and fired off three rounds point-blank at Richards’ face. His body slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, joining his hitman in death.

I wasted no time in scanning Jack for any injuries. He seemed untouched, but with the way my ears were ringing, I worried what this incident might’ve done to his hearing. I held him close, thankful to be able to kiss his wet little cheeks.
Worry about his hearing later. You still have to get out of here first.

Bryan met my gaze, his hazel eyes dark with rage and concern.

“Are you two okay? Liz, your arm,” he shouted, nodding to my elbow.

I looked down to see blood seeping from under my shirt. “We’re okay.”

He spoke to me in a calm, direct voice. “You and Jack need to get out of here.”

“Not without you, Marsh,” I replied. “Think you can walk?”

He winced as he felt down his calf to the bullet wound. “I think it went through the muscle.” He pushed himself up and tested a bit of weight on his leg. “The bone isn’t broken.” He held up a hand, and I pulled him with all my strength. I shouldered his weight and carefully helped him to the door.

The thick smoke choked my lungs. The screams upstairs sounded distant through the ringing in my ears, but there was an urgency and fear that made me panicky. We needed to get out and fast…

Bryan held the flashlight as we ambled down the hall as quickly as we could. Propping him against the wall, I tested the outside exit and was surprised to find it unlocked. I lunged at it, thinking I’d have to force my way through a few feet of snow like when I’d come out to check on the generators. The door swung open freely, and I nearly toppled over onto a cleared path, catching myself at the last second.

It was too easy.

Taking a few deep breaths of sweet, fresh air, I dove back into the thick smoke to retrieve Bryan.

“Where’s Chris?” I panted. I was waiting for him to jump out somewhere, launch an attack when he saw us leaving the basement and not Richards. “He was the one who attacked Miah, you know.”

“I don’t know what the hell I know right now,” Bryan replied through gritted teeth.

I decided to keep my mouth shut and concentrate on getting to safety. We rounded the corner and headed towards the front of the lodge. The shouts grew louder the closer we stumbled. The height of the snow above our heads didn’t help my nerves. Every time we had to stop and wait for Bryan to catch his breath, I expected an ambush. I felt exposed and trapped all at once, like Chris was waiting for us around every corner and crevice. It was with an inhuman strength, both physically and mentally, I carried my two men into the open.

People rushed from the building, pouring out of the open front doors, black smoke rolling above their heads. Eyes wide and terrified, the evacuation was a controlled sort of chaos. Following the exodus to the parking lot, we spotted Walt slouched on the ground with Dusty wrapping his head. When the old man saw us approach, his normally stoic expression shattered.

“Oh, thank God! Oh my God, you’re okay.” He openly wept, climbing to his feet and rushing to embrace us. “She found you. I’m so sorry, Liz, I would never deliberately…” He squeezed us again, threatening to topple us all over. He pulled back and stroked Jack’s head. “She found you.”

Bryan fell to the ground and waved Dusty over, telling him in a low whisper about the bullet wound. He was in good hands. It was Walt’s behavior that concerned me.

“What do you mean she found us? Who?”

Walt blinked a few times, looking to the lodge and then to me. “Dani. When they took Jack from me and the doors were locked…” He winced and touched his head, aware he wasn’t making much sense. “Where is she? Have you seen Dani since before the fire?”

We both looked back to the lodge, the building now fully engulfed. The flood of people escaping was now more of a trickle. When I spotted Miah walking down the steps alone, my heart sank. It only took a few seconds for him to confirm the worst fear. I took two steps towards him, and his eyes lifted. Relief visibly eased his posture when he saw me with the baby. But when he didn’t spot Dani with us, he froze.

In one swift movement, he turned on his heel and sprinted back into the burning building.

Death doesn’t scare me now. It’s no different than drifting off to sleep. When I was little, I used to lay in bed waiting for the exact moment I went from awake to asleep, as if I’d be able to pinpoint the precise second. Every morning I would wake up upset at yet another failure. Like sleep, death doesn’t need your conscious participation. It comes, whether you’re ready for it or not.

I don’t remember Miah lifting me. There’s no memory of him screaming my name, scrambling to find me in the inky darkness of the smoke. I only know it happened because he described it after the fact. However, I have a faint wisp of an image from when he carried me outside. The shock or heat had my nerve endings all misfiring. When the snowflakes melted on my face, they felt hot. I tried to bat them away, thinking they were burning embers falling from the rafters above. I opened my eyes just enough to see Miah’s steely expression. In his arms, I floated through the valley of snow.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” he whispered as he gasped at the air. His frozen breath drifted away, and I gave over to the encroaching darkness.

When I awoke next, I wasn’t gifted that blissful state of detachment. My head pounded, my lungs burned. My body ached as if I’d been pulled through a mosh pit by my toes. My eyes fluttered open to see Miah above me, looking sadly and intently into the distance. Unnatural light flitted across his face. I struggled to remember, struggling to push away the fog. It was a whiff of smoke that brought it crashing down.

There was a fire… a BIG fire. I was trying to help, looking for…

“Jack,” I tried to cry out. My throat screamed in pain, the name coming out less than a whisper. I bucked in his arms, fighting to get free.
I have to find Jack.

“Hey! Hey,” he hushed. “You’re okay.”

I looked up at him with wide, panicked eyes. “The baby. Is he…”

Miah brushed my hair back and glanced behind. “Guys? She’s waking up.”

Liz fell to the ground beside me, grabbing my hand between her icy fingers. “Thank God,” she whispered.