Chapter Sixteen
Cal lay there in the dark, Alena warm and soft in his arms, her breath slow and steady against his chest.
They were both naked under the sheets, and his body was still humming from the way she’d taken him, clung to him. He could still taste her lips, still feel every inch of her wrapped around him.
But sleep wasn’t coming. Not with his mind running wild. Not with his wife lying right here.
He repeated the word silently. Wife. Let it sink in, let it burn through him.
For a long time, he hadn’t thought he’d ever be able to call her that again.
After the warehouse, after the injury that had nearly taken her life, she’d walked away from him.
He’d told himself to respect it, told himself to move on. And now? Now she was in his bed again.
He wanted to believe this was more than what it was. Wanted to believe she’d come back to him for good. But he couldn’t afford to let hope drag him under again.
Because maybe this was just her way of coping, just a way to escape all the fear and the danger chasing them. Maybe it was only for tonight. And if that was the case, he’d have to guard his heart.
No way was he letting it get crushed all over again.
Alena stirred against him, her lashes fluttering before her eyes opened. She gave him a sleepy smile and brushed a kiss over his mouth. “Why’re you awake?” she whispered.
He let out a low chuckle. “Too much to think. Guess I overdid it on that.”
She kissed him again, slower this time, lingering. “Then let’s not think. Let’s just take this slow and easy… see where it leads.”
If she kept kissing him like that, he already knew exactly where it would lead. Straight into another round, and his body was all in.
The kiss deepened, heat sparking fast and strong, until his phone lit up on the nightstand.
It started ringing.
Cal cursed under his breath, torn between letting it go and knowing he couldn’t. He snatched up the phone, already bracing for trouble. Melissa’s name glowed on the screen, and given the late hour, he figured it couldn’t be anything good. He answered and hit speaker. “Melissa?”
“I’ve got a plan,” she blurted. Her voice was thin, high with adrenaline. “I need your help.”
Cal cursed and pushed up on one elbow. “What the hell have you done?”
“I made myself bait,” she said quickly. “To draw out Dexter.”
Alena sat straight up beside him, eyes wide, her face a mix of shock and fury. Cal raked his hand through his hair, heat already building in his chest.
“You what?” Alena snapped, her voice sharp with disbelief.
Melissa rushed on. “I stopped by my office earlier to pick up some files. When I came out, I thought I saw Dexter. He was in a car just up the street.”
Cal clenched his jaw so hard it ached. “Why were you out there on your own when you know he’s out?”
“Because I wanted to lure him,” Melissa shot back. “I thought this was the best way to do it.”
He cursed again, anger and dread tangling inside him. This was exactly the kind of reckless move that could get her killed. And worse, it might drag Alena and him right into Dexter’s hands.
“Why the hell didn’t you call the cops the second you saw him?” Cal demanded.
“Because he would’ve just gotten away,” Melissa shot back, her voice sharp with frustration. “I want to trap him. I’ve been driving around for the past couple hours, trying to figure out what to do.”
Cal rubbed his forehead, fury burning hotter with every word. “Melissa—”
“I’m going to Crossfire Creek,” she cut in, her voice firm now, like she’d rehearsed this. “That cabin where you saw him earlier. I’m certain he’ll follow me there. He’ll try to kill me.”
Alena made a sound of pure disbelief, but before Cal could stop her, Melissa added the kicker.
“I called Arneson, too. I told him to meet me there.”
Cal cursed again, the air around him thick with frustration. This was spiraling faster than he could reel it in, and now Melissa was dragging Arneson into the middle of it.
Cal and Alena were already moving, throwing on their clothes while Melissa’s voice crackled through the speaker.
“Where are you right now?” Cal demanded, shoving his arm through his shirt.
“I’m on the back roads, headed toward the cabin,” Melissa said quickly. “Someone’s still following me, but they’re hanging back. Not close enough for me to see if it’s Dexter, but I know it’s him.”
Cal swore under his breath. He hated every bit of this, hated how reckless she’d been. She’d already lit the match and there was no stopping the fire now.
“Listen to me,” he said, forcing steel into his voice. “Don’t stop at the cabin. Keep driving. Once Alena and I are in place, then you can lure him there. Not before.”
There was a pause, then Melissa’s breathless, “All right. I’ll keep driving.”
“Good. We’ll handle the rest.” Cal ended the call and looked at Alena.
Her face mirrored his own frustration, but the determination in her eyes told him what he already knew. They had no choice but to see this through.
Cal and Alena geared up fast, strapping on vests, checking their weapons, and loading extra mags into their pockets.
He shoved another gun into the holster at his ankle and handed Alena a spare before they bolted for the SUV that Noah had sent over to replace the one from the shooting and fire earlier.
The night air was thick, the hum of cicadas filling the silence between them as they climbed in. Cal started the engine, gravel spitting under the tires as he tore out onto the road.
“Text Raines,” Alena said.
Cal used the voice command, rattling off the details of Melissa’s insane plan. The response came almost at once, Raines’ voice tight in his earpiece. “I’ll head to the cabin. Be careful.”
“You, too,” Cal muttered, ending the call.
The road stretched out in front of them, a silver ribbon under the full moon.
Its glow bled through the treetops, giving the landscape a ghostly light, but Cal knew once they reached the cabin, it’d be a whole different story.
Shadows would swallow everything out there.
Woods thick enough to hide a hundred men, much less one determined killer.
His grip tightened on the wheel. Dexter could be anywhere, crouched in the brush or tucked behind a tree, watching, waiting. Plenty of places to set up an ambush. Plenty of cover for the bastard to make his move.
Beside him, Alena stayed silent, but her jaw was clenched, her eyes on the dark road ahead. She knew it, too. This was the perfect ground for Dexter to hunt them.
The tires hummed over the narrow road, the shadows closing in tighter the farther they drove into the woods. Cal’s eyes kept flicking between the road and the trees, every shift of darkness pulling at his nerves.
Beside him, Alena finally broke the silence. “Do you trust her? Melissa, I mean. Do you really believe she’s telling the truth?” Her voice was low, weighted. “We still don’t know if she hired those men to grab her.”
Cal let out a rough breath, his jaw tightening. “I don’t know what I believe about her.” He gave her a quick glance before turning back to the road. “At this point, the only people I’m trusting are Raines and you.”
Alena’s hand tightened on her gun resting in her lap. She gave a small nod, but he caught the flicker in her eyes, the same mix of doubt and determination riding him hard.
They were heading into a trap, no matter how this played out.
The road narrowed the closer they got, branches arching overhead like a tunnel. The full moon leaked through the trees in jagged streaks, throwing shadows across the ground that looked too much like figures crouching to strike. Cal kept his hands tight on the wheel, every nerve on edge.
The last turn came, the one that dipped toward the creek.
He slowed, headlights sweeping over a stretch of brush and gravel before he killed them.
The cabin sat in darkness just beyond the tree line, its roofline barely visible against the sky.
No vehicles out front. No movement. Just the hum of crickets and the steady rush of the creek nearby.
He pulled off onto a faint trail, tires crunching softly until they came to a stop. Cal grabbed his phone and typed a quick message to Melissa. We’re here. Don’t move until we tell you.
Sliding the phone away, he glanced at Alena. “Be careful,” he said, his voice low, the weight of it more than just habit. He meant every word.
They stepped out, the night wrapping around them like a cloak. Cal pulled the heat-sensing binoculars from his bag, pressing them to his eyes. Nothing in the immediate scan but trees and cold stone. No glow of a body near the cabin. That didn’t ease him.
Dexter knew how to stay invisible.
They moved in silence, their boots finding the softest patches of ground. The creek glimmered under the moonlight, silver streaks racing past the bank. Cal’s gaze caught the far side, scanning for a boat. Nothing. No easy escape route this time.
That only meant Dexter had something else planned.
Cal kept his gun steady as he and Alena pushed through the brush, branches snapping softly underfoot.
The smell of damp earth and pine clung to the air, every sound amplified in the stillness.
He couldn’t shake the thought of another ambush, another masked gunman waiting for them to step into the open.
Or worse, a rattlesnake coiled in the weeds, ready to strike.
They slowed when the cabin came into view, its outline dark against the lighter strip of sky. Cal raised the heat-sensing binoculars, scanning the edges. A faint shape glowed near the back corner, low and moving carefully. His pulse spiked.
“There,” he whispered.
Alena leaned closer, her breath warm against his cheek, and he nodded toward the glow.
They moved as one, using the trees for cover as they closed in.
The dirt and gravel driveway stretched ahead, pale under the moon, leading straight to the cabin.
Cal crouched low, heart thudding, eyes locked on the movement.
Then she shifted just enough into the moonlight. A sweep of hair. A slight frame. Melissa.
His gut tightened. She was out here, exposed, exactly where Dexter would want her to be.
Cal cursed under his breath, stepping out from behind the tree just enough to catch her eye. “I told you not to come here.”
Melissa didn’t flinch. She wasn’t pale or trembling like before. No, she was steady, her chin lifted, her eyes burning with a defiance that didn’t match the woman they’d pulled out of that trailer. The glint of metal caught the moonlight—she was armed.
“I did what I had to do,” she shot back, her voice sharp and certain. “I’m not letting Dexter take me again.”
Cal’s jaw tightened. “This isn’t your fight. You need to leave. Now.”
But before he could push harder, the distant crunch of tires broke through the night. Headlights cut across the trees as a car turned onto the gravel road. Melissa’s mouth curved, not in fear but in a sick smile.
“The trap’s sprung,” she said, her grip tightening on the gun. “Dexter’s going to die tonight.”