Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Sable
If being grabbed and thrown into the back of an SUV wasn’t terrifying enough, finding out your captor was your brother who had stolen that SUV from Milo Accetti was far worse.
How am I going to get out of this?
The remote cabin in the woods made for a picturesque scene with the heavy snow falling and covering the trees and grass. I managed to build a roaring fire in the stone hearth to keep me warm. Not bad for a city girl.
My anxiety had kicked into high gear when Chance drove me out of Manhattan and away from Milo. My unease heightened with each minute that had passed. Would Milo look for me? Had he already figured out that Chance had taken not only the SUV but me too?
Of course, this wasn’t a traditional kidnapping. Once I realized Chance was the one who lugged me out of the dealership and tossed me into the waiting car, I had no choice but to go with him. He had dug himself further into the void he could never escape from without my assistance.
I didn’t even believe I could rescue him this time.
When I checked the bars on my phone, I still didn’t have service. I couldn’t make contact with the outside world, which not only meant that I couldn’t call Milo, but I had no way of knowing if Chance was okay in the middle of this storm.
Shortly after we arrived at the cabin, he was adamant about dumping the SUV far from here. He said he had a plan. I hoped this plan didn’t leave him stranded in the woods in the middle of a snowstorm.
How did we get here?
I glared into my brother’s uncertain eyes as he slid into the driver’s side seat of an SUV that belonged to a family of killers.
“I can explain everything.” He put the car into drive and quickly pulled onto the street that was coated in snow.
“You better do it fast.” I held my hands in front of the heat vent of the car that smelled of new leather. “I’m sure Milo is already looking for you.”
Chance focused on the road.
“What did you do?” The panic resonated from someplace deep in me. “Where are we going?”
“There’s a cabin we can use for now until we figure out how to get away.”
“Get away from where?”
“New York.” He raised his voice. “We have to get away from the Accettis before they…”
“Chance! What’s going on?”
“I’m working with Bello.” He gripped the steering wheel .
“How could you have done something so stupid?” Why was I even asking that question? My brother had never made the right decision in his whole life. Why should he start now?
“I found out some information that I thought could be useful, and I gave it to him in exchange for his protection.”
“Protection from what?”
“Milo.”
“We didn’t need protection from Milo.” I rubbed my arms, trying to create some body heat. “Milo was protecting you from Bello. Why did you have to screw this up for me?”
He blasted the heat, but I wasn’t shivering because I was cold. I was on the verge of a full-blown anxiety attack. A familiar attack that had become routine as a child when my father had become furious with my mother, and then later my brother.
Somewhere along the way, I learned how to channel those bouts into what I thought was something useful. I focused on protecting Chance and being his savior. A lot of good that did me.
“How could you betray Milo?” No wonder Milo couldn’t let this go. Bello was an enemy.
“I was trying to help you.” Chance headed toward the tunnel, glancing in the rearview mirror as he switched lanes. “Milo is a dangerous man. You’re in too deep. I needed to get you out.”
“I told you I didn’t want you to do that.” Milo wanted my loyalty. That was the least I could do for him after everything he had done for me. “We have to fix this. Take me back, and we’ll go to Milo and make him understand that you thought you were helping me.”
“He’s not going to forgive that.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t you see? He is ten times worse than the men you told me to steer clear of. After all your lectures about staying on the right side of the law and being honest, you fell for the kingpin.”
Actually, that was Nico, but…
“I never saw my life going this way either, but being with Milo is the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“That’s great.”
“You’re my brother and I’m always going to love you, no matter how stupid you are, but my life hasn’t been spectacular. We had a rough start and nothing I did put us on the right path. Not until I went to Milo and asked for his help. That was our turning point.”
“At what cost?” Chance gripped the steering wheel. “You’ve already lied to the police for him.”
“I wouldn’t have had to do that if you had minded your business.”
“My plan is already set in motion, and now we have to stick to it.”
“What plan? Where are we going?”
“Bello has a cabin in the woods. We can stay there, but he doesn’t want Milo to find it, so we have to leave once the storm passes.”
“Where do you think you’re going to go?” I asked. “Milo already knows you interfered. He’s going to look for you.”
“That’s why we have to run.”
“Run where? We don’t have any money.”
“You do.” He pointed at my bracelet. “We could sell that. I’m sure it’s worth thousands of dollars.”
“No!” I covered the bracelet with my hand. “This was a gift.”
“From a criminal. It was bought with blood money. Do you know what kinds of acts Milo and his family have to commit to get that money?” He turned onto a desolate road, sliding down it before regaining control of the car. “You have to stop being innocent.”
“I’m not innocent when it comes to Milo,” I said. “I know who he is and what he does.”
I might not have understood everything Milo did in the name of his family, but I knew he was morally corrupt. That didn’t bother me, because when we were together, I saw a man who would burn the world down for me.
Didn’t I owe him that same intensity?
“You are naive when it comes to Milo.”
“No!” I stared at my brother’s profile as he concentrated on the slick road in front of us. “I’m naive when it comes to you. I’ve allowed you to make one dumb mistake after another while I keep cleaning up after you. I can’t fix this one for you.”
“Chance.” I looked out the window as the snow showed no sign of slowing down. “Where are you?”
He hadn’t been gone that long, but I told him not to leave until the snow let up. He insisted he had to get the SUV out of here. Something about it being tracked. I had no idea how he planned on getting back, and without cell service there wasn’t a way for me to contact him.
The cabin was well-stocked. He even thought of bringing clothes from our apartment for me. I hated that he had plotted this escape behind my back.
I hated even more that he thought he had to betray Milo to save me. Milo gave Chance plenty of opportunities to redeem himself, but working with Bello was the last straw. How could Milo let that go?
He wouldn’t.
I ran my fingers along my bracelet, knowing it was my only hope to save my brother. Chance would have to run and he would need money to do it.
“Promise me you’ll never take it off,” Milo said when he gave me the bracelet. “It’ll be like I’m with you wherever you are.”
This would be the last time I would bail my brother out. I would give him the means to get away, and then I would go back home and make it right with Milo. I would tell him I chose him.
A thud on the porch caused my heart rate to accelerate. The sun had set, leaving the outside of the cabin cloaked in darkness. I peeked out the window, but the rapid snowfall made it difficult to see.
What if it was Chance? What if it was an injured animal?
I grabbed the poker from the fireplace, just in case it was a serial killer outside, and I reached for the door handle. I swung open the door, losing my breath when a gust of wind slammed into me. A rush of snow smacked onto my face, coating my hair and eyes.
A dark figure staggered in front of me.
“Oh!” I brandished the poker, trying to keep them at bay. No way was I going down in a cabin in the woods during a snowstorm. Not this city girl.
The unsteady stranger climbed the steps as I backed away.
“Stay back!” I yelled. “Don’t make me bash in your head.”
“Sable.”
The snow fell sideways as the wind kicked up, but I recognized his voice before he came closer and into view.
“Milo?” An overwhelming sense of relief flooded me, but only for a second, because if he was here, what would that mean for Chance?
“You’re safe.” He held his hand out for me, but he lurched forward and slumped against me.
“Milo!” I tried to hold him up, but he was too heavy for me.
“I found you.” He pressed his hand against the doorframe. “I didn’t think I would.”
His frigid flesh glimmered with fresh snow and the bluish tint in his lips matched his eyes, but the most alarming feature on his face was the blood trickling from his head.
“What happened to you?” I helped him into the cabin, leaning the poker against the wall. “Were you in an accident?”
“My car went off the road and I hit my head.” He closed his eyes. “I was out for a few minutes, but I knew I had to get to you.”
“You need to get warm.” I guided him to stand in front of the fire. “Let’s get these wet clothes off you.” I slipped his jacket from his shoulders. “I’m going to clean up your cut too.”
When I pressed my fingers to his head, he winced.
“I don’t think it’s bleeding anymore,” I said. “It’s probably frozen shut.”
“The whole time I was wandering in the woods, all I could think about was you.”
“How did you find me?” I asked. I undid his tie and tugged it from his neck.
“I don’t know? Lucky, I guess.” He gazed around. “Where is Ax?”
“What?” I unbuttoned his damp shirt and removed it from his cold body. “Ax isn’t here. ”
“I wouldn’t have sent you here alone,” he said. “There wasn’t a car out there. How did you…”
I stared into his uneven pupils. “You might have a concussion.”
The distance in his eyes worried me. How had he found me? What would he do if Chance showed up?
“I’m fine.” He held the side of my face as he dropped his gaze to my lips. “I’m so sorry I left you out here.”
“You don’t remember?” Oh no! How would I explain any of this?
“Remember what?”