Chapter 12
B y the time Lincoln reached the Circle, his parents’ house was fully ablaze, despite the ragged bucket brigade the influencers and programmers had cobbled together. Amanda was with them, as was Cal. Lincoln raced across the green and joined them, knowing it was already too late.
“Charlotte,” Amanda yelled at him.
“What about Charlotte?”
“We think she’s in there!”
Cold fear slid down his spine as Lincoln rushed toward the house.
“Lincoln!” Hudson caught him just as he reached the flames. “You can’t go in there. You’ll burn alive.”
“Charlotte’s in there!” Lincoln pointed at sandals he recognized as hers strewn on the ground outside the house. Had she seen the fire, kicked them off in the yard before entering? It didn’t make sense, but—
“Get back!” Sasha screamed. “Everyone back!”
Lincoln snapped around to look at her. Followed her pointing finger. Part of the roof was sagging, about to collapse. Hudson dragged him backward, even as Lincoln strained against his grip. If Charlotte was in there…
An explosion hit him and slammed him to the ground.
Half a second later, Lincoln spat out dirt as he pushed himself up, his ears ringing. Hudson, flat in the grass beside him, staggered to his feet, as dazed as he was.
“Lincoln. Hudson.” Nate came running to help them up, his voice a distorted blur of sound. Gage and Carter arrived a moment later.
“Hell,” Hudson said. Lincoln turned around to see the wreckage of his parents’ house. Part of it still stood, but the rest lay in burning splinters.
“Oil tank,” Gage said. “The fire must have reached the basement.”
A second later, firefighters rushed past, pulling hoses. Lincoln hadn’t even heard sirens. His hearing was still muted as he fell back with his brothers. He felt a curious dissociation from the scene in front of him, as if he’d been given some drug that left him perfectly numb. There was a smoldering house, a number of people milling around it. Firetrucks.
“Where’s Charlotte?” Carter asked suddenly.
Reality came whooshing in with a snap that left his mind reeling.
Charlotte.
She was under that burning mess.
And she wasn’t coming back .
“Here’s how it’s going to go,” Ivan said. “You’re going to lead the way down this hill, making sure you don’t harm one hair on that horse’s head. He’s still worth a lot of money, even after you botched his care. You’re going to pay for that, too, you know. He would have won the Triple Crown if it wasn’t for your incompetence.”
Rally, as if knowing Ivan was talking about him, danced a little, pulling at his lead. Charlotte considered releasing him, but the thoroughbred could hurt himself racing down this hill, and she had no doubt Ivan would shoot her.
She didn’t bother to refute Ivan’s lies. Instead she kept a tight grip on Rally’s lead and began walking. Ivan wouldn’t do anything to an animal worth so much money. She was safest right beside him.
“Don’t try anything. This thing’s loaded.” Ivan walked behind her, the gun trained on her back.
She’d never doubted that. “Watch it. Rally doesn’t like people right behind him.”
“What Rally likes doesn’t matter, does it?” Ivan stepped closer to her and tapped the barrel of the pistol against the back of her head. “Control him and do what I say, got it?” He kept tapping the pistol against her skull. There’d be a bruise if she got out of this alive.
“Got it.”
She kept walking, but Ivan stayed right behind her, tapping the gun against her skull, brushing up against Rally’s haunch now and then. The horse whinnied and sidestepped once or twice, and Charlotte struggled to keep him calm.
“Ivan, you’re scaring Rally. Back off.”
“Shut up! You don’t get to call the shots.” Ivan grabbed her arm, stepped between her and Rally, tugged her back and jammed the pistol against her forehead. “I’m the boss. I call the shots. It’s time you remembered that.” Rally shied away again.
Charlotte stared up at Ivan. Had she really ever let this man take her to bed? The thought was repugnant. Ivan’s eyes narrowed as if she’d said that out loud, and he pulled back, bumping into Rally’s haunch again. Rally danced away, and Charlotte clutched the lead hard, stumbling forward, which pushed Ivan into Rally a second time. The horse reared and yanked the lead right out of her hand.
“Rally!”
“What the fuck?” Ivan lurched back.
“Watch out!” Charlotte screamed just as Rally’s hooves came down, sending him sprawling to the ground. The horse reared again, whirled and raced away.
Ivan moaned but stayed prone. Charlotte hesitated only a moment, then took off after the horse. She expected the thud of a bullet in her spine any moment as she careened downhill, but it didn’t come, so she kept going, darting among the trees and leaping over fallen branches. She twisted her ankle and cried out, but raced on, moaning with pain.
Rally didn’t head for the highway. Instead he found the trail that led to the settlement. Charlotte was heaving for air by the time she burst out of the trees and found herself behind the old cabins that were among the first homes to be built on the Ridge. She spotted Rally racing toward the Circle, fought to regain her breath and hobbled after him, relieved he hadn’t injured himself further on the way down.
She was out in the open here, but she did her best to duck among the houses rather than take a straight line. She had no idea if Ivan was following her, but she knew she couldn’t take any chances. The hatred she’d seen in his eyes had cut through any doubts that remained about his capability to kill her. When the Circle came in sight, she nearly sobbed with relief.
She was going to make it.
The sight in front of her slowed her steps, however. House number1 was a smoldering wreck, flames and smoke billowing out of its fallen walls. Firefighters battled the blaze while Lincoln stood with his brothers watching, their sagging figures telling her everything she needed to know.
There was Anne and the programmers. Veronica and the influencers, too, all standing dazed and silent, not a single one filming the scene.
Charlotte swallowed hard, pushed forward and finally reached the edge of the Circle.
“Lincoln,” she croaked, cleared her throat and tried again. “Lincoln,” she cried. She was almost there.
He turned. “Charlotte?” He seemed frozen in place, his voice unbelieving.
She took another few stumbling steps toward him.
A sound cracked out behind her. Something simultaneously ice cold and burning hot tore through her shoulder, shocked the breath out of her and sent her forward into the grass.
Ivan.
He’d caught up to her.
She was going to die.
“Lincoln.” When she breathed out the word, her lungs couldn’t find a way to breathe back in. All too soon, the world went dark.
“Charlotte!” Lincoln yelled as she crashed to the ground only a dozen yards ahead of him. How had she gotten there? Where had that shot come from? And was that a thoroughbred racing away?
“Get down! Everybody—down!” Gage shouted.
No one listened. The firefighters scattered, leaving their hoses on the ground. Anne and the programmers ran for the town hall. Veronica and the influencers raced around the wreckage of house number1 toward the lake. The only real cover was a couple of vehicles parked along the Circle. Lincoln ran to them, along with his brothers.
He wasn’t armed, and by the looks of things, neither was Hudson or Nate. Carter drew a Glock from the concealed shoulder holster he’d worn most days since Amanda’s father had tracked her down and attacked her on the Ridge. Gage was armed, too.
“I’m calling for help,” Nate said, his phone to his ear.
“Give me that,” Lincoln said to Carter. “I have to get to Charlotte.”
“You go out there and you’ll be a sitting duck,” Gage growled at him.
“There’s one of them.” Hudson pointed. Lincoln caught a glimpse of a man before he ducked behind a tree beside one of the houses on the far side of the Circle.
“Shit, there’s another,” Nate said, pointing. That one was farther away, a few houses down.
“They’re trying to get to Charlotte,” Gage said. He took a shot but missed the second man, who ducked behind the house he was closest to.
“I have to get her first,” Lincoln said. “Carter!”
“Take this.”
Lincoln looked up to find Dennis beside him, dressed in his usual dingy work clothes, white hair mussed and sticking out in all directions. The caretaker placed a pistol in his hand, the weight of it a relief.
“Get those bastards,” Dennis said. “Mucking up my forest.” To Lincoln’s surprise, he handed another weapon to Hudson. He didn’t have time to wonder if Dennis had an arsenal stashed somewhere on the Ridge. He had to save Charlotte. It had been such a relief to see her after he thought she’d been trapped in the wreckage of his childhood home. He couldn’t lose her now.
“I’m going out there,” Lincoln told them.
“We’ve got you covered,” Nate said.
With his brothers arrayed behind the vehicles, weapons ready, Lincoln knew it was now or never. He’d still be an easy target, but he didn’t care.
“There’s a third one,” Hudson said. “Look!”
That was Charlotte’s ex-boyfriend. Lincoln was sure he was right, although he couldn’t have said why. The man was middle-aged. Even from here Lincoln could tell he was well dressed. He didn’t skulk behind trees like the others. He strode toward Charlotte like he owned her.
“Get that bastard,” Hudson said. “I’ve got your back.”
Gratitude rushed through Lincoln. There was no one he trusted more than his brothers in a situation like this. He took a deep breath—
And ran.
Zigzagging across the grassy circle, Lincoln picked up speed as one bullet and then another—and another—zinged past him and kicked up clods of dirt and grass. He heard shouts behind him, his brothers pointing out targets to each other. Ahead, the three strangers shouted orders. The older man’s voice rang out over the rest.
“If you don’t kill him, I’ll kill you. Charlotte is mine!”
Ivan. It had to be him.
He couldn’t let the bastard win. He lowered his head and ran for all he was worth, dropping down to his knees beside Charlotte when he reached her.
Someone yelled and collapsed a hundred feet ahead of him. One of Ivan’s men. The shots coming from behind him—from his brothers—came thick and fast, giving him the time he needed to pick her up in his arms and get back to his feet.
“Lincoln, duck!” Veronica yelled from near the smoldering remains of his family’s home. Lincoln lurched to the right and a bullet zipped past, no doubt aimed at where he’d been a second earlier. He shifted Charlotte over his shoulder, turned and got off a clumsy shot that took out the man who’d tried to end his life. That was two of them. Were there more, or was Ivan the only one left?
“I got you covered, get back!” Suddenly Hudson was by his side, taking shot after shot at a shadow lurking near one of the closest houses. Lincoln broke into a run toward the vehicles. Each step felt like an eternity before he gained safety behind them. He lowered Charlotte carefully to the ground and felt for a pulse at her neck. It was there but unsteady. He searched for the bullet that had caused the blossom of blood to spread over her chest and shoulder. Found it much too close to her heart for comfort.
“We have to get her to a hospital,” he said. “Now.”
“Get in.” Nate tossed him a set of keys as Gage took another shot across the Circle.
“I’ll drive.” Hudson had made it back and grabbed the keys from his hand as Lincoln bent to pick up Charlotte. He carried her with him into the passenger seat of Nate’s truck as Hudson took the driver’s side.
“Drive fast. He’ll try to shoot out the wheels.”
“I won’t let him.” Hudson started the engine, spun the steering wheel and, instead of traversing the Circle, made a U-turn. He punched the accelerator to the floor, and the truck’s tires squealed before lurching forward. A spate of gunshot shattered the side windows. Lincoln swore, trying to cover as much of Charlotte as he could with his own body. Reflexively, he pulled his pistol from his waistband, took aim at Ivan, who was racing toward them, and pulled the trigger. The man’s body buckled and crashed to the ground.
“Go!” He didn’t need to stick around to find out Ivan’s fate. If he hadn’t finished the job, his brothers would guard him until the sheriff came back.
He was pretty sure he’d finished the job, though.
He flicked on the Glock’s safety. Set it down and gathered the woman he loved to his chest. She was breathing, but she’d lost a lot of blood.
“Hurry.”
Hudson nodded tightly but kept his eyes on the road. He swung them onto the highway.
Three sheriff’s cruisers shot past them and turned toward the Ridge. Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief. If there were any more men hiding in the woods, his brothers would have help finding them.
“How’s she doing?” Hudson asked.
“Still alive—for now.”
“Get… off,” Charlotte groaned, trying to get free of the crushing weight on her shoulder. Was Rally… sitting on her?
Rally.
Dim memories fluttered in her mind even as pain washed over her and that crushing feeling persisted. The mine. Rally. Trying to get down the hill to the trailer.
Men talking.
Ivan.
Fear shot through her. Charlotte opened her eyes, then shut them again with a groan, defeated by the bright light that flooded them.
“Charlotte?” A deep male voice sounded at her side. “Are you awake?”
She groaned again, incapable of forming words. Where was she, and why did her shoulder ache like she’d been split open and sewn back together?
She opened one eye a sliver. “Who…?” was all she managed to get out.
A shape came into view and coalesced into Lincoln’s familiar face. “You are awake.” A hand took hers and squeezed it, sending warmth and love through her despite the pain. If Lincoln was here, she was safe. Charlotte closed her eyes—
And slept.
She didn’t know how long it was before she woke again, but she had a feeling it was morning when she opened her eyes and was able to keep them that way. As before, Lincoln was close by her side. This time she could read the worry in the lines of his face.
“Honey?”
“Lincoln,” she said. “Where am I?” At least that was what she was trying to say. It came out a slur of vowels.
“You’re in the hospital, but you’re doing great.”
“The hospital?” Again, the words were much clearer in her head than when she spoke.
Lincoln looked away for a long moment. She waited, her confusion growing. “Lincoln?”
That came out correctly, although her voice was thin and ragged.
He let out a rough sound. When he turned back, his gaze was bleak, his eyes red-rimmed. “Thought I’d lost you.”
Lost her?
The events of the day came back with a rush.
“Ivan,” she breathed. Where was he? He’d been armed…
“Dead.” Lincoln bit out the word. “It’s all over. He can’t come after you anymore.”
Charlotte lay back, her heart pounding. Ivan was dead? She could barely take it in, but she remembered the way he’d spoken to her on the Ridge and the shot that had sliced through her flesh.
She looked down and saw bandages wrapping her left shoulder.
“You’re going to be fine,” Lincoln assured her. “It will take some time, but you should be as good as new when you’ve recovered.”
Ivan had shot her. He’d tried to kill her. Rally had given her a head start, but it nearly hadn’t been enough.
“Rally?” She surged up and cried out as pain flooded her shoulder.
“Rally’s fine, too.” Lincoln squeezed her hand. “Don’t try to move. You’ve got to heal. ”
“Where is he?” It was her fault he’d had to traipse up and down the Ridge. Ivan had brought him there to try to frame her.
She sucked in a breath. Had he succeeded?
“Rally’s safe. Bella’s got him for now.”
“The sheriff. He’ll think I stole him.” Panic filled her voice. Ivan could win from beyond the grave if she was arrested and tried for the theft.
“The sheriff knows you didn’t steal that horse,” Lincoln assured her. “Cab Johnson has been around the block a few times, honey. He knows a shady character when he sees one. Ivan tripped all his alarm bells the minute he met the man. He put out some calls after he left yesterday afternoon. You were right; Ivan was involved in some unlawful stuff.”
Just as she’d thought. Shame washed over Charlotte as she stared at the hospital room ceiling and a tear leaked from one eye. She’d led a killer straight to the Ridge. The enormity of it shook her to her core.
“I should never have come to Elliott Ridge,” she said as more tears followed.
Lincoln stilled. “What do you mean?”
“I brought trouble, just like Dennis said, and it wasn’t fair to any of you.”
Lincoln’s shoulders lowered. “I’m glad you came to Elliott Ridge,” he said. “I’m glad my brothers and I were there to help when it got bad.”
She could have been killed. More tears welled up, but they were ones of gratitude. “He burned down your house. What if he’d killed you?” she asked. “What would I have done then? Or if he’d shot one of your brothers? I couldn’t have stood myself.”
“The day I met you was the best day of my life.” Lincoln’s words cut through her rising hysteria. Charlotte swallowed.
“How can you say that?” Her coming had nearly destroyed them all. If Ivan had gotten away, he would have spent the rest of his life trying to wipe Elliott Ridge off the map.
“Because it was. Because since then, I’ve known the reason I was put on this earth—to be with you. Charlotte, you are my life.”
She couldn’t take in what she was hearing. After everything that had happened—after Ivan had shot at his family, had burned down his parents’ house—could he really feel that way?
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?” Lincoln’s brow furrowed. He smoothed a strand of hair back from her face.
“Why don’t you hate me?”
Lincoln stared at her. “For what?”
“For being stupid. For being with a man like that. For bringing my problems here—to your home.”
“You’re not stupid. You’re human. Humans make mistakes, Charlotte. That’s pretty much the definition of us—creatures that screw up and learn and screw up and learn some more. That’s how life works.”
“But my mistakes were so bad.”
He shook his head. “Not nearly as bad as mine,” he said with a rueful laugh. “God, Charlotte, first I pushed too hard to get my way at the mill and then I didn’t push hard enough. That nearly got someone killed last night.” His voice roughened, and Charlotte was shocked to see emotion nearly get the better of him.
“What do you mean?”
She listened as he explained about the jammed edger and Sid’s accident.
“Is he okay?” Charlotte asked.
“Thankfully, yes,” Lincoln said. “But he could have died.” When he stared across the room for a moment, she could see he was in his own private hell.
“That wasn’t your fault,” she said. “You told everyone again and again you needed to replace that piece of equipment. I heard you. You would have done it weeks ago, but you felt you needed your family’s approval. You and your brothers—and your father, too—need to work out what part of the company each of you is responsible for and what decisions you’re allowed to make unilaterally.”
“You’re right. We’ve been sloppy,” Lincoln said. “It’s time to run our business like a business. Charlotte.” He hesitated, then bent closer to brush a kiss over her mouth. “I love you. You know that, right?”
The sudden change of topic startled her, as did his words, but as they sank in, she realized she did know that. He’d been saying it with his actions from the day he’d met her, in a way Ivan had never done.
From the first, he’d anticipated her needs and rushed to supply them. He’d listened to what she had to say. He’d made sure she was never alone when she didn’t want to be—but let her be alone when she did.
He’d been there—for her.
“I love you, too,” she breathed, tears sliding down her cheeks.
He kissed her again, then held her hand. She could read the desire in his eyes and knew he wanted to do so much more but was afraid to hurt her.
She couldn’t seem to stop crying.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “Let it out.”
She did. She cried for the fear she’d been holding inside these past few weeks. For all her regrets and lost dreams. She mourned her grandmother’s passing and the knowledge that she was alone on this earth—alone except for Lincoln. And his four brothers. And Amanda. And Anne and her programmers and Veronica and her influencers. And a whole potential town of friends.
Her tears came thick and fast as her sorrow began to shift to gratitude. She’d lost so much, but she’d gained so much more.
Through it all, Lincoln held her hand and now and then gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It’s okay,” he said again and again. “I’m right here.”
She cried even more because of that. Lincoln was here—after everything.
He loved her.
“I’m always going to be here for you,” Lincoln promised her, stroking her hair.
As she slipped into unconsciousness again, Charlotte vowed she’d always be there for him, too.