Chapter Twenty-One
Sarah stared out of the window as the last view of the lodge disappeared out of sight. Bailey had just pulled off the property and onto the winding mountain road that would lead them down to Blue Ridge. Sarah’s stomach tightened with worry, praying they would make the hour drive to town unscathed.
Normally, going for a drive made Sarah feel so free and alive—the wind in her hair, feeling the sunlight on her face, and the smell of clean forest air wafting through the windows. But tonight, under cover of darkness and fear, she felt as though the car’s exterior was shrinking around her.
She didn’t want to leave Lawson, and she could tell the other women with her felt the same.
How could they just up and drive away from the men they loved?
Even if it was for the best, it felt wrong.
Logically, Sarah knew Lawson was right. She and the other women, except Bailey, would be a hinderance to the men.
They’d be a distraction, splitting their focus and possibly getting someone killed.
That was the last thing she wanted on her conscious.
She’d never forgive herself if she was the cause of one of her friends being hurt, or worse.
But her heart? Her heart was demanding she return and stand by his side.
Help protect him as he would protect her.
As senseless as it sounded, that’s all she wanted to do.
“I can’t believe we have to leave,” River muttered, breaking the silence as she stared out of the window.
“It won’t be for long,” Sarah assured her, slipping at once into therapist mode. “And we all know it’s for the best. We want the guys to be able to focus on what they need to do instead of worrying about us, right?”
“Exactly,” Bailey agreed. She had that confident tone to her voice that made Sarah start to unwind slightly.
If there was anyone she could trust with all of this, it was Bailey.
She had a good head on her shoulders, and she knew exactly how to handle herself in situations like this.
After all, Bailey was a cop down in Blue Ridge. Sarah was thankful for that knowledge.
“We have to concentrate on what’s in our control right now, not what’s out of it,” Sarah continued.
There was something comforting about sliding into this familiar role, telling them what she knew they needed to hear.
It might not be easy, keeping calm when she felt so terrified, but she knew they needed to stick together to make it through this.
“Yeah, agreed,” Bailey replied. “The guys are relying on us to keep ourselves safe. That’s what we need to do right now.”
Hannah was sitting in the passenger seat, staring silently out the window like she couldn’t even hear them.
River had her arms wrapped around herself and was shivering slightly.
They were all dealing with their fears in their own ways, but Sarah hated seeing her friends so lost and upset.
She gritted her teeth. She needed to stay strong, and pass that strength on to the other women.
They would all survive this. Their men would be fine. And they’d all be together again soon.
“We’re going to be back at the lodge tomorrow,” Bailey announced as though she could sense the tension in the car. “And Granger and his goons are going to be where they belong. Behind bars.”
Sarah noticed how tightly Bailey’s hands gripped the wheel as she spoke and how her eyes constantly checked the review mirror, looking for danger.
Of all the women in the car, this had to be worse for her.
With Bailey being a cop and having the knowledge and skills she did, it had to be hard for her to be there escorting the women instead of helping their men defend their home.
Sarah tried to think of something positive she could add to Bailey’s words.
Something that might help ease the tension but nothing came to mind.
Normally, she had many reassurances she offered her clients in times of stress, but right now her mind was blank.
Her thoughts buried behind her own unease and terror.
All at once, Sarah stiffened as headlights appeared behind them. Bailey’s eyes suddenly darted to the rearview mirror.
“Was there anyone else coming down from the lodge?” she asked, concerned.
Sarah shook her head. “Not that I know of. We should have been the last ones to leave.”
“Well, there’s another car—”
“Bailey, look out!”
River screamed just in time to alert Bailey to the car heading directly for them up the mountain road.
Bailey slammed her foot on the brake and twisted the wheel to avoid a head-on collision, sending them grinding into the dirt and grass at the side of the road.
Sarah jerked forward, grabbing the back of Hannah’s seat in front of her to hold herself steady.
Bailey cursed to herself as she glanced around, trying to figure out what they should do. The bright lights behind them suddenly revealed another vehicle slowing to a stop a short distance away.
There was no way out. One car blocked the road heading down the mountain, and another blocked their way back to the lodge.
They were trapped.
River whimpered and hugged herself tighter, Hannah sat frozen in her seat and Bailey and Sarah were each watching a set of headlights, waiting to see what would happen next.
Sarah’s stomach twisted in fear. It had to be Granger or some of his men. They must have already been watching the lodge while everyone was planning to leave, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
They were too far away from the lodge now, for Lawson or the others to know they needed help. Besides, if these cars were here, Sarah was sure they were at the lodge too. Help wouldn’t be coming for them. They would get out of this on their own. One way or another.
The vehicle behind them was a black SUV with dark-tinted windows, making it nearly impossible to see anyone inside.
The women sat in terrified silence and waited as the front passenger door opened, and a well-dressed man stepped out.
The moment Sarah laid eyes on him, she knew he had to be Victor Granger.
There was nobody else who would have carried themselves like that, she was sure of it. He exuded a cold, calculated confidence. His head was shaven, and his face radiated a fury Sarah had never seen before. She felt like a helpless animal trapped by a ferocious predator, ready to swallow her whole.
Granger made his way toward the car, and his eyes seemed pinned to Sarah’s.
He gave her a dark, cruel grin that sent a shiver down her spine.
But it told her exactly what she needed to know.
He was there for her, not any of the other women.
He had singled out Sarah with that one look.
Now, she could use that knowledge to her advantage and get the others out of there.
She quickly turned to the other women, lowering her voice and speaking urgently.
“Listen to me,” she ordered them. “He’s here for me. He’s trying to get leverage over Lawson, I’m sure of it. If I make a break for it, then he’s going to send his men after me. And you can get out of here.”
“We’re not leaving you here,” Bailey said sharply, sounding angry at the very suggestion.
River and Hannah shook their heads emphatically to agree with Bailey.
“You’re leaving for me, because I’m asking you to,” Sarah assured them. “You all need to get to safety, then you can get me help. But you have to get out of here in order to do that.”
“Sarah, no.” Hannah reached back and grabbed her hand.
“There is no way this car is leaving without you in it. I will not leave you here for these men. Lawson is depending on me keeping you safe, Sarah. I won’t do it,” Bailey said, all but growling at her.
“It’s the only way, and you three know it. He won’t hurt me, he’ll take me back to the lodge to flaunt me at Lawson. To show him he couldn’t keep me safe. When I make a run for it, you need to hurry. He won’t be expecting it, you can get away. I can’t…”
Her voice hitched at the back of her throat as the reality of this situation began to sink in.
She was going to have to get out of this car and put herself in grave danger, to ensure her friends could get away.
The thought was terrifying. But she knew it was the only way to help her friends. To give them a chance.
It seemed Granger had been making his own plans on how best to get to Lawson, throw him off his game.
Apparently, she was his trump card. The man knew Lawson would do anything to keep her out of harm’s way, and that would most likely get him and the other guys at the lodge killed.
Sarah couldn’t let herself be used like that. Against the man she loved.
Granger stopped a short distance from her side of the car, holding his hands up, trying to seem nonthreatening.
“Sarah Peterson, my dear,” he said with a smile curling his lips. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
She reached for the door handle, her heart pounding in her chest. River shot her a panicked look and squeezed her leg tightly, as though telling her to stay right where she was, but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t risk her friends getting caught, too.
Hannah turned in her seat and pinned Sarah with her watery eyes. “Sarah, please—please don’t do this. We need to stay together.”
Sarah shook head and turned to Bailey, giving her a hard look.
“You need to get out of here, get to Sheriff Willis,” she firmly told her.
“Sarah—” Bailey replied, but Sarah just cut her off.
“Bailey. You know this is the right move. Get to town as fast as you can.”
Bailey gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, then nodded and pinned Sarah with a determined gaze. “Fine. We’ll go,” she replied. She seemed to know as well as Sarah did that there was no other way out of this. She would do her part, and she had to trust that her friends would do theirs.
“You stay alive out there. Lawson will kill me if anything happens to you. You hear me?”
For Lawson. For her friends. She had to run. She had to put as much distance between herself and these men as she could. She doubted she would be able to outrun them, but she was going to give it everything she had.
Sarah sucked in a deep breath, trying to slow the terror gripping her insides, then nodded once to acknowledge Bailey’s demand. “I will.”
Then she threw open the door and bolted into the trees, heading back up toward the lodge.
“After her!” Granger roared, and Sarah heard doors being thrown open, heavy footfalls behind her. Her heart slammed against her ribs and her breath tore from her lungs, the humid summer air already starting to make her sweat.
She didn’t exactly know where she was going, she just knew she was pointed in the general direction of the lodge and she had to get as far from these men as she could. She ran with everything she had, even though her legs were like rubber beneath her. She forced herself to keep moving.
She heard men’s voices calling after her, and the squeal of tires on the pavement.
She prayed her friends would get away. Get to town and get help and rescue her before anything horrible happened.
She was sure a man like Victor Granger wouldn’t think twice about using the other women as leverage, too, and the thought of something happening to them… It made her sick to think about it.
Twigs snapped beneath her feet as she ran, as she darted away from the trees and back toward the road, knowing she would only get lost in these dark woods.
She felt the same fear she had on that fateful day back in her office with Jed, when everything had fallen apart as she watched his vicious destruction.
All the safety she’d felt up to that point was suddenly ripped away.
She was now faced with the brutal reality of how much danger she was in.
She just needed to make it to the lodge, to Lawson.
She curled her hands into fists, arms pumping through the air, pushing her legs as fast as they would go as she heard cars on the road behind her.
She glanced around to see Bailey’s car closing the distance between them.
Damn it, she’d hoped Bailey would take her advice and get help, but at the same time, there was a part of her that was beyond relieved that her friends hadn’t left her after all.
“Sarah! Get in!” Bailey yelled to her as she drove alongside Sarah.
Sarah reached out for the car door, but missed.
Sarah cried out in frustration. She was too slow and they were too fast; they couldn’t make another pass or slow down for fear of being caught.
There was another car closing the distance behind them.
And then, she felt a pressure at her back. Someone grabbed her shirt and pulled her back toward them. She screamed out in surprise and tried to break free, but the grip was too strong. There was no way she could escape.
Sarah was yanked to a halt and fell back to the ground.
All of the adrenaline she had coursing through her veins suddenly fled, and her body felt like a sinking weight in quicksand.
This was the end for her. She was well and truly caught, and she had no clue what would happen next.
Tears suddenly blurred her vision and she let out a terror-filled scream that cut through the night air.
Dark, shiny shoes suddenly stopped in front of her, and she shrank back, bumping into the legs of the man behind her.
“Stand her up.” A low, menacing voice practically growled the words. Two sets of rough hands grabbed her and pulled her to her feet.
She stood there, surrounded by several men, her panicked gaze darting around until it landed on their leader.
Victor Granger.
She waited for what he would say. Would he order her killed? Or keep her to use against Lawson?
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bailey’s car race by with Hannah’s and River’s faces plastered against the windows, eyes wide in fear for her.
At least her friends got away. Sarah had no clue what would happen next, but she knew she had to be strong.
For the same reasons she had to run—for Lawson, for her friends—she had to survive.