Chapter 13 #4
And somehow, the words from Sunday swept into her, through her. Whom have I in heaven but you?...My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
I am not alone.
Tears burned down her face. Sierra reached for the pen with shaking fingers. Around her, the house seemed to echo with the ghosts of Rowan’s childhood—all the times he’d been powerless, all the times he’d been forced to choose between bad and worse.
Now she understood why he’d run.
And he should keep running.
Her signature flowed across the bottom of the document, each letter a small betrayal of everything her grandfather had built. The ranch. The legacy. The future she’d planned for Huck.
Gone in a few strokes of ink.
“Excellent.” Alden gathered the papers with obvious satisfaction. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”
“Please, Alden. Let him go.” She hated how small her voice felt, how broken.
“I told you, that’s not possible. But don’t worry—you’ll be together.”
The slosh of liquid was audible in the sudden silence. The sharp smell of gasoline filled the air, overlaying the dust and decay with something far more sinister.
“Gasoline?” Sierra’s heart rate spiked as understanding dawned. “You’re going to burn us alive?”
“Accidents happen.” Alden’s voice held no emotion. “Old houses. Faulty wiring. Very tragic.”
Billy began dousing the room, the gasoline darkening the hardwood floors in spreading pools. The fumes made Sierra’s eyes water.
“Please, Alden. Don’t—”
Tank tied her ankles to the chair legs, then secured Huck the same way. The boy had gone silent, probably shock setting in as his young mind tried to process their situation.
She looked at him. “Huck. I’m here. I’m right here.”
Alden pulled a silver lighter from his pocket, the metal gleaming in the late-afternoon light. “Don’t worry. The smoke will kill you before the flames do.”
Her mouth opened. “You really are the devil.”
Alden flicked the lighter open. “Only to some.”
The flame caught on the first try, a tiny orange tongue.
“Don’t—Alden!”
He dropped the lighter.
Fire raced across the gasoline-soaked floor like liquid lightning, reaching the walls in seconds.
“Mom!” Huck screamed.
Alden fled through the kitchen door.
“Tip your chair over, Huck! We need to get low!”
Huck was crying but obeying, rocking his chair to turn it over.
Then she heard it—footsteps. Voices shouting over the roar of flames.
“Sierra! Huck!” Rowan’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Here!” Sierra screamed back. “We’re here!”
The front door exploded inward. Rowan burst through, his expression fierce, fury in his eyes. He charged into the room, spotted Sierra, but Tank and Billy spun toward the door, weapons raised.
Two shots. Billy dropped, shouting, clutching his shoulder as blood seeped between his fingers. He scrambled into the kitchen.
Tank had found cover behind a sofa.
Shots from the kitchen pinned Saxon down behind an entry wall.
Rowan advanced on Tank, no armor, just fury on his face. “Drop it.”
Tank fired at him.
A shot tore at his shoulder, and Rowan barely flinched. He barraged the sofa with shots and then rolled behind a chair.
“Sax! Get Huck!”
Billy got up, fired at Saxon, then took off.
Saxon turned to Huck.
Another shot—maybe from Billy, but just like that, Saxon was down.
“Mom!” Huck screamed.
Sierra fought against the zip ties, ignoring the pain as they cut deeper into her wrists.
Smoke filled the room, thick and acrid. Sierra’s eyes streamed tears, but she kept working at her restraints. The chair rocked with her efforts, but the ties held.
The fire reached the ceiling now, hungry flames racing across old wood with terrifying speed.
She struggled in her chair even as Rowan charged for them.
Nope. Tank leaped at him with surprising speed for such a large man.
They collided with bone-jarring force. Tank’s momentum drove them both into the doorframe, which cracked under the impact. Rowan twisted, breaking free, then landed a devastating uppercut that snapped Tank’s head back.
Tank swung wild, his fist whistling past Rowan’s ear. Rowan countered with a precise strike to the throat, followed by a knee to the solar plexus. Tank doubled over, gasping.
Saxon rolled to his knees, apparently down but not out. Blood dripped onto the floor.
“Get Huck!” Rowan roared just as Tank made one last desperate lunge at him, pulling a knife from his boot. The blade flashed in the firelight, slashing toward Rowan’s ribs. Rowan caught Tank’s wrist, twisted hard. The knife clattered away across the burning floor.
A final elbow to Tank’s temple dropped him. The big man hit the floorboards and didn’t move.
“This place is coming down!” Saxon shouted as he moved toward Huck.
But his knee crumpled, and he landed on all fours.
“I got him!” Rowan’s knife sliced through Huck’s restraints in seconds. The boy fell into his father’s arms with a sob, and for just a moment, the fierce warrior crumpled.
“I’ve got you.” His voice broke on the words. “I’ve got you, buddy.”
“Go!” Sierra fought against her own restraints, desperation giving her strength. “Get him out of here!”
Saxon fought his way over, and his knife sliced through her bonds. She grabbed the knife out of his hands, went to work on her ankle restraints. “Go! Go! I’m right behind you!”
Rowan looked between her and Huck. Then he grabbed Saxon by the back of his shirt, Huck on his hip. “Move!”
Saxon half stumbled, half crawled toward the door.
Then they were gone, swallowed by smoke and darkness.
Sierra sawed at her restraints. C’mon, c’mon!
The zip ties finally gave way as a burning beam crashed down over Tank.
She rolled away, her injured ankle screaming in protest.
The ceiling groaned ominously overhead.
She got to her knees, crawling hard for the kitchen door.
The ceiling fell, a beam flaming right in front of her. She jerked back, scrambling down the hallway.
Trapped.
Through the smoke and flames, she heard Rowan’s voice screaming her name. But the fire was too hot now, the smoke too thick. Even he couldn’t reach her through the inferno.
She pressed her hands over her mouth. And yet, even as the house burned around her, an odd sense of peace washed over her.
Who do I have in heaven but You?
Huck was safe.
That had to be enough.