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God.

He’s going to come looking for me.

The certainty settles into my chest immediately.

Not hope.

Fact.

Because that man would tear this entire mountain apart before he stopped searching.

My captor shoves open another door leading toward the rear of the station where old logging trails disappear deeper into the wilderness.

Snow explodes inward instantly.

“You really should’ve stayed with him,” he says almost thoughtfully. “That was your smartest option. Such a stupid little girl.”

Chapter Thirteen

Rhett

The second I realize Nora’s gone, something cold and violent tears loose inside me.

Not panic.

Panic gets people killed.

This is worse.

This is focus sharpened into something brutal.

The cabin door slams behind me hard enough to shake the walls as I hit the porch, snow driving sideways through the trees in thick sheets that would blind most men in under five minutes. Not me. I scan the ground once and find her tracks immediately cutting away from the cabin toward the lower ridge trail.

“Goddamn it, Nora.”

My jaw locks hard enough to ache.

She lied to me.

Snuck out while I was splitting wood behind the shed because she thought she could protect me by handling this alone.

The thought should piss me off more than it does.

Mostly it terrifies me.

I crouch lower, fingers brushing fresh snow where her boot slipped near the trail edge. She’d been moving fast. Nervous. The imprint is deeper than it should be.

Then I see the second set of tracks.

Male.

Heavy.

Following hers.

Every muscle in my body goes still.

Not fear.