Chapter 13
Thirteen
Teague had sworn he wouldn’t let Eden talk him into another climb. Apparently his promises meant nothing when she looked at him like that.
He placed another cam in the crack system and tested it with a sharp tug. Below him, Eden moved smoothly up the route, blonde braid swinging with each placement of hand and foot. Farther below, Kyle and Marcus waited at the base—two men he didn’t trust watching the woman who still held his heart.
Whether she wanted it or not.
This climb was a mistake. Every instinct screamed it. But Eden had made a compelling case—they had the supplies, they were already here, and leaving now just meant coming back later. Better to check another location off the list while keeping everyone where he could see them.
The fact was, the person who’d sabotaged the radios might not even be with them. Not that he planned on turning his back on these two.
He’d changed up the plan the moment they started gearing up. Him and Eden on one rope. Marcus and Kyle on the other. No mixing, no switching.
Kyle had put up a fight. “Doesn’t make sense. You say you’re the better climber—you take Marcus with you, I’ll take Eden with me.”
“No.”
“Very dictator-like. That’s not very team-oriented—”
“My climb. My rules.” Teague had stepped closer, using his broader build. “Eden’s with me. End of discussion.”
“Possessive much?” Kyle’s smile hadn’t reached his eyes.
“Protective. There’s a difference.”
“Is there?”
“Take it or we hike out right now.”
Kyle had backed down. But the look in his eyes had been hard. Calculating.
The guy definitely had a thing for Eden. But was it more than that? That was hard to tell.
Now Teague pulled himself onto a ledge about forty feet up, his ribs protesting the movement. Eden arrived moments later, barely winded.
“This is good rock.” She ran her hand along the surface. “Really solid.”
“Unlike our last adventure.”
She eyed Marcus making his assent. “Think he brought the rock hammer?”
“I told him to leave it in his pack today.”
She stared up at the rockface above them. “One more pitch should do it.”
“You want to lead this section?”
Her eyes met his, and for a moment the walls between them thinned. Not gone. Just less solid. She nodded and stood.
The last section was straightforward—good holds, obvious features, protection placements that inspired confidence. Eden moved methodically, placing gear with careful precision. She climbed smoothly. With strength.
Watching her lead without hesitation reminded him of one of the reasons he’d fallen for her in the first place.
She pulled over the lip into the cave entrance and stopped.
“Teague?” Her voice held something between surprise and caution. “There’s something up here.”
“What kind of something?”
“The kind that shouldn’t be in an empty cave.”
He moved faster, pulling himself over the edge. Their shoulders brushed as he came up beside her—and neither of them moved away.
The space was not as deep as the others—maybe just ten feet back into the rock and the roof lower. But unlike the empty caves they’d found before, this one held a box.
Not a chest like the ones Nimue and Meg had found, but smaller, maybe the size of a shoebox. It sat on a natural stone shelf as if someone had placed it deliberately. The layer of dust suggested it had been here a long time.
Marcus and Kyle came up the south side. The moment Marcus saw the box, his face went white.
And before anyone could stop him, he lunged for it.
“Wait—” Teague started, but Marcus already had it, was already prying open the lid with that cursed pick. So much for being sure he’d left that thing behind.
The box gave way with a crack and the whine of rusty hinges. Marcus reached inside and pulled out a single piece of paper—yellowed with age, folded multiple times.
He unfolded it carefully. Emotions flickered across his face like shadows from a fire—shock, recognition, grief mixed with relief.
“What is it?” Kyle pushed closer. “Where’s the gold?”
Marcus didn’t answer. Just stood there staring at the paper, eyes getting suspiciously bright.
“Marcus.” Teague kept his voice gentle. “Talk to us.”
“This is why I’ve been acting so crazy.” Marcus’s voice was thick. “Why I’ve been so desperate.” He looked up, eyes wet now.
“Before he died, my grandfather said that one of the hidden boxes had the key to his fortune. My father always thought it was literally a key—to a family safety deposit box we could never access.” He wiped at his eyes.
“But my grandfather told me privately that I’d understand when I found it.
By that time, he’d given up hope his sons, my dad and uncles, would find them and was counting on me to do it. ”
“And this is it?” Eden moved closer to see the paper. “The key?”
“A letter.” Marcus held it up—old-fashioned script, careful and deliberate. “The key to the Roosevelt legacy.”
“A letter?” Kyle’s voice held an edge. “We risked everything for a letter?”
“Let him finish.” Eden’s voice was calm but firm.
Marcus traced the handwriting with his finger. “He writes about family. About heritage. About my great-great-great-grandfather Theodore Roosevelt’s love of this land.” His voice cracked. “How the real treasure isn’t gold but the people we love and the choices we make to honor them.”
The cave went quiet.
Something squeezed in Teague’s chest. Family. Legacy. The need to honor someone who’d mattered.
He understood that more than he wanted to admit.
“I’m sorry.” Marcus looked up. “For acting crazy. For putting everyone at risk. I needed to find this before my father or my uncles did. They would have just looked for monetary value. He wouldn’t have understood what my grandfather was really trying to say.
I didn’t want to tell you, because if you knew that the third chest might only be a letter, then you’d give up the search. ”
“You’re right about that,” Kyle mumbled under his breath.
“But I needed these final words from my grandfather.” He waved the letter again.
Teague wanted to be mad, but the reality was, if he had a chance to find a final letter from Chip, he would have been desperate to get to it as well.
“I get it.” Teague’s voice came out tight. “More than you know.”
Eden glanced at him—something softening in her expression before she looked away.
“Wait.” Marcus’s brow pinched. “There’s more.”
“More guilt-inducing family wisdom?” Kyle’s patience was clearly thinning.
“No. At the end of the letter—” Marcus looked up, eyes wide. “My grandfather explains where the final cache is. The gold.”
Kyle straightened. “Another riddle?”
“A map. With coordinates.” Marcus scanned the page. “It’s faded but readable. Specific landmarks, distance measurements, notes about rock formations.”
“How far?” Teague asked.
“Maybe an hour. We could reach it and still make the rim by nightfall.”
“We should report this.” Teague was already thinking through logistics. “Contact Virgil, organize a proper recovery team—”
“Or we could go get it now.” Kyle’s voice was eager. “We’re already here. We have the supplies.”
Teague wanted to say no. Wanted to get everyone out and back to safety.
But this was what they’d come for. The whole point.
“Eden?” He looked at her. “What do you think?”
She studied the map over Marcus’s shoulder. “The route looks reasonable. No technical climbing according to these notes.” She met his eyes. “We came here to find the cache. This is our chance.”
“We’d need to move fast. Get there, verify the location, mark it, head straight back.”
“I can do that.” Marcus tucked the letter into his chest pocket. “This is what my grandfather wanted. For someone to find it properly—not have the park destroyed by treasure hunters.”
“Okay.” Teague made the decision. “Let’s go.”
“Finally.” Kyle’s smile was wide. “This is what we’ve been working toward.”
They descended quickly. The tension that had been simmering seemed to ease as they focused on a concrete goal. Even Kyle made jokes about finally seeing legendary lost treasure.
As they reached the base and started coiling ropes, Marcus moved closer to Teague, his voice low. “So you lost your brother.”
Teague’s hands stilled on the rope.
“You guys aren’t that quiet when you argue,” Marcus added. “I didn’t mean to overhear.”
“Yeah.” Teague kept coiling. “He fell. I couldn’t save him.”
“I’m sorry.” Marcus was quiet for a moment. “Grief makes you do crazy things.”
“Like nearly bringing down a cave on us?”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Marcus glanced toward where Eden was checking her pack. “But grief can also make us push away people we actually need.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“Usually is.” Marcus finished with his own rope. “But my grandfather’s letter—the part about real treasure being the people we love? He was talking about not letting fear or grief or pride keep us from what matters.”
Teague watched Eden laugh at something Kyle said. The sound made his chest ache.
“She ended it,” he said before he could stop himself. “Said she can’t be with someone who keeps pushing until they push too far.”
“Was she wrong?”
Teague thought about the jump. The gap. The choice he’d made without hesitation. “No.”
“So maybe the question isn’t whether she was right to end it.” Marcus started walking. “Maybe it’s whether you’re willing to change.”
He paused, glancing back. “My grandfather spent years trying to teach my father that. He never learned.” Something sad crossed his face. “I’m hoping I’m smarter than he was.”
As they shouldered packs and started hiking toward the coordinates, Teague found himself walking beside Eden. Not by design. Just the natural rhythm of their steps matching.
“That was something,” she said quietly. “What Marcus found.”
“Yeah.”
“Makes you think.”
He could see her weighing whether to say more. Whether to bridge the gap between them.
“Teague—”
“Later.” He cut her off—not ready. Not with Kyle and Marcus twenty yards ahead. Not when he didn’t have answers. “We’ll talk later.”
Her face shuttered. “Right. Professional.”
He winced. That wasn’t what he’d meant.