I pull my hand away, reluctantly. “Drive, sex fiend.”
He shoots me a look of raw desire. “Oh, I plan on showing you just how much of a sex fiend I am when we get back.”
I shoot him a look of equal heat and desire. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He shakes his head and chuckles, and starts the engine.
It takes us twenty minutes through the misty mountain roads to get into town. Just like I had been two days ago, I’m taken aback by the charm of the quaint mountain village. Snow gathers on the rooftops, and people make their way through the misty morning in their warm coats and boots.
I lean over and kiss him before I climb out of the Jeep and walk over to the phone booth. My nerves twitch. I’m excited to talk to my father, to ease his worry, but at the same time I’m nervous about what he’ll say when I tell him I’m not coming home. That I need time and space.
And that the wedding is off.
The wedding is definitely off.
I dial his number and he picks up almost immediately.
“Daddy?”
“Lauren? Is that you?” I can hear the panic in his voice. “Where are you? Tell me. I can get help to you.”
“I’m safe, Daddy. Listen, Vince tried to have me kidnapped. He arranged for some men to take me. He was going to hold me for ransom. Once he got the money—”
“Listen to me, Lauren.” My father cuts me off. “The man you are with, his name is Calder Christofferson. He is a very, very dangerous man. It wasn’t Vince who was trying to kidnap you. It was Calder. When Vince’s men saw him enter the lodge, they tried to stop it from happening. Listen to me, you must get away from him. Trust me, Lauren. That man is a fugitive.”
“No, Daddy, you don’t understand—”
“Lauren!” My father’s voice has an edge to it. It’s the voice that commands me to listen to him. “We’ve already received the ransom demand. It’s for twenty-five million dollars.”
Alarm begins to unfurl in my stomach.
“But I wasn’t kidnapped—”
“Yes, you were, by Calder Christofferson.”
“No, I’m with Axel—”
“His name isn’t Axel, Lauren. It’s Calder Christofferson and he’s wanted for murder.”
What?
My throat tightens. “Murder?”
“Half an hour ago, my security team received CCTV footage from outside the post office in Mirror Lake.” My father’s voice drops so it’s low and controlled. “Listen, Lauren, the man you are with is a very dangerous man, do you understand me?”
Alarm changes to panic and it spreads to my chest until it completely overwhelms me.
“He initiated the kidnapping. And it’s not the first time he’s done this.” Daddy sounds panicked. “He murdered the last woman he kidnapped.”
Confusion spins around me.
“That’s not true,” I breathe.
My hands shake as I hold the phone to my ear and look across the parking lot to Axel sitting in the Jeep.
There is no way Axel is a murderer.
He’s never done this before.
What we have … it is real. Not some bullshit ransom demand.
My daddy is wrong. Axel isn’t responsible for any murder or ransom demand.
I’m a fugitive.
“Her name was Anastasia Crawford. Calder was hired to protect her, but ended up kidnapping her and holding her for ransom. The ransom drop went bad.”
“No.” It is barely a word. More of a sharp rush of air from my lips as my world starts to spin on its axis.
“She died, Lauren. He killed her. He was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes, but managed to escape.”
My throat goes bone dry.
Life in prison?
“He’s not the man you think he is. Where are you?”
My father’s words settle into my brain like fog.
I feel sick.
“I’m in a … phone … booth.”
“Where?”
Feeling dazed, I glance around me. “Outside the… bakery…”
“Is he near you?”
My eyes lock onto Axel’s.
She died. He killed her.
“He’s in the car.”
My father’s voice is stern. “Stay where you are. I’m sending security to come get you.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
AXEL
Something’s not right.
As I watch from the Jeep, the thought ticks over and over in my brain.
At first her body language is relaxed, but suddenly her shoulders tighten and her spine straightens.
Something’s not right.
Alarm spirals through me when she steps out of the phone booth and stops. She looks at me, her face pained. Our eyes meet and my alarm ramps up.
When the Mirror Lake Lodge security car pulls up beside her only a few seconds later, I realize what has happened.
She rang them or had her father call them.
She is about to run away from me.
The realization is like a kick to my gut.
My initial reaction is to go to her. To ask her why.
Why did she want them to show up?
Why has she given up on us?
Was any of it real?
Confusion spins in my mind, and I watch with an ache in my chest as she climbs into the patrol car.
I should go over there and demand to know why.
Why is she running?
What happened to change her mind?
But when Hardy sees me and reaches for the gun in his holster, my razor-sharp instincts take over and I jam the Jeep into reverse and take off in a plume of dirty snow and gravel.
Roaring toward the secret trail leading out of town, I take the long way through the mountain until I am absolutely sure I haven’t been followed. The mountain is particularly misty today, and I am able to disappear into the low cloud cover easily. I skid to a stop outside the front of my cabin but don’t climb out. My mind is scrambling. My heart pounding. I try to make sense of it. Try to understand why she did it.
But I can’t.
My palms pound against the steering wheel and a roar rips out of me, pained and raw.
She left me.
I have no intention of running.
Her words spin in my head.
Again, I pound the steering wheel because I’m so blinded by pain, and have no idea what to do. My face is hot and wet, because as I scream, tears spill down my cheeks. I struggle to catch my breath and calm my heart, and it takes me a moment because my heart has just been ripped from my chest, and I never saw it coming. She blindsided me.
I’m not ready to say goodbye.
I thought she trusted me and it fucking hurts. We’ve done things. Things that involve trust.
Things that involved a future together.
There is so much I want, Axel. And all of it involves you.
I leave the Jeep and disappear into the cabin. As anger meets heartache, I grab one of the chairs and hurl it across the room.
She left.
The woman I am falling in love with…
… just fucking left me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
LAUREN
A security officer called Hardy takes me to what looks like an old bank building. Once inside, he wraps a towel around my shoulders like I’ve just been plucked from the Atlantic and puts a cup of coffee in front of me.