Chapter 24
Maggie was having a nightmare. In it, Sean had shown up in Hawthorn Hills, in her room at the Hawthorn Haven Bed and Breakfast. He’d destroyed everything she’d bought since she left him, including all the pretty things she’d worn for Luke, and the laptop she’d bought to run her new business. Then he’d kidnapped her at gunpoint.
“Why’d you make me hit you, Margaret?”
Maggie groaned. Her neck ached from her head hanging down her chest, and her temple throbbed.
“Why do you always make me hit you?”
Her dream was awful loud, and she had a headache. “Shh.” She squinted against a bright light. Was it morning already?
“Don’t shush me, bitch!” Cold water rained down on her head, and she sputtered awake.
Fuck. The nightmare was real.
Her arms and shoulders ached, but when she tried to relieve the pressure, she discovered she’d been bound to a chair. Blinking against the harsh LED of a camping lantern, Maggie took in her surroundings.
They were in a tiny one-room cabin. Log walls with holes in the chinking let the chilly night air in, and she shivered.
Great. Just what she needed. Hypothermia on top of her concussion.
“Where’s your little boyfriend?”
Boyfriend? He knew about Luke? “What are you talking about?”
Her head snapped to the side with the slap.
“Don’t play games with me. I know all about you cheating on me.”
Fine. Obviously, nothing would get her out of this beating. And she fully expected him to kill her. She might as well hit him where it hurt. “It’s not cheating when I filed for divorce.”
“You can’t divorce me! You said until death do us part.”
He punched her in the stomach, and she dry heaved. Ugh, she’d missed dinner, so all that came up was a bit of bile. Sean dodged her spit attack easily, and she wished she’d eaten before leaving work so she could have the satisfaction of throwing up on him.
“And you said you would love and cherish me.” She laughed. “What part of a broken wrist looks like love to you?”
“You…” He shook his fist at her. “You have embarrassed me for the last time, Margaret.”
Resignation settled in her gut. This was it. But Maggie didn’t regret leaving Sean. Or coming to Hawthorn Hills. She could never regret falling for Luke. Her only regret was that she hadn’t had the chance to tell him how much he meant to her.
She’d never get to tell him she loved him.
The cabin glowed in the silver moonlight as Luke approached it.
His headlights off, his tires crawled along the dirt path that passed for a road.
Pulling over behind a cluster of trees, he killed the engine and took a moment to listen to the woods.
The ticking of his cooling engine was the only sound.
Slowly, Luke opened the car door, disengaging the interior light. He paused again. Nothing. No hoots of an owl, or flaps of a bat’s wings.
There was a predator in their midst and the woodland creatures had scattered.
Slowly, he lifted the trunk and pulled out his gun case. He checked the magazine by the moonlight, then slid his holster and his Kevlar vest over his Busy Bee shirt. He gently pressed the trunk lid closed, and crept close to the cabin.
Holes in the walls and around the crooked door showed an eerie blue artificial light. Someone was inside, or intending to come back. Tire tracks led away from the derelict building, and Luke had to calm his heart rate. He’d done hostage rescues before, but they’d never meant this much to him.
Maggie was everything.
Gun in hand, Gabe’s warning echoed in his mind as the door swung open, but he forgot it as Luke fought not to react at what he saw.
His sweetheart was drenched to the bone, shivering against ties that bound her to a chair in the middle of the cabin.
Night in the mountains in early spring was often cold enough for winter coats.
He wasn’t sure if hypothermia had already set in, or if the camping lantern was just making her lips appear that blue.
Bruises bloomed across her face, neck, and arms. A quick visual search of the bare-bones cabin confirmed they were alone, and he holstered his gun and ran to her.
Rope was the only thing keeping her semi-upright. When he loosened the binding, she came to.
“Luke…?” She groaned.
“It’s me, sweetheart.” He whispered. Fuck, he could see handprints turning red against her throat. “Don’t talk if it hurts too much.”
She thrashed in his hold. “You have to go!”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“He’s coming back.” She lifted her head, one eye already swollen shut. “It’s a…”
“So… you’re the asshole fucking my wife.”
Maggie whimpered at the slimy voice that echoed from the front door.
“Get your hands where I can see them, or this bullet’s going into her head.”
Luke didn’t take his eyes off Maggie as he raised his hands to the back of his head. Fuck, he should have waited for Gabe.
“Step away from my wife.”
Tears were flowing down Maggie’s face. As Luke rose, slow and careful, he mouthed what he prayed wouldn’t be his last words to her. I love you.
When she started to cry harder, he knew she’d seen them.
Rising to his feet, Luke turned around to face the enemy. “Sean.”
Maggie’s husband looked like someone rubbed a rat with last week’s grease from the deep fryer.
Nothing like his photo in the department files.
He’d looked him up once he had a name. Being a federal agent had its perks.
But he wouldn’t have recognized this man in passing on the street.
He was a shell of the man he’d once been, which wasn’t saying much based on what Luke had figured out.
“Step over here, lover boy.” Sean had his gun trained on Maggie, which was the only reason Luke was pretending to comply.
“You don’t want to do this, Sean. You’re throwing away your career.” Luke’s voice was strong and clear.
Sean snorted. “My career’s already toast thanks to my bitch of a wife. She filed a protective order against me! The whole precinct knows about it.” He turned back to Maggie. “You’ve ruined my life!”
Luke watched as Maggie sucked in a deep breath. “Seems only fair since you ruined mine.”
“Shut up bitch, or the boyfriend is getting it!” Sean’s gun swung towards Luke, and that’s when Luke struck.
He punched Sean’s wrist, and the gun went flying.
Sean roared and grabbed for him. They wrestled, and while Sean couldn’t do much damage through Luke’s vest, it restricted some of his movements.
Plus, he kept having to wrest Sean’s grasping hands away from his sidearm. Which meant he couldn’t use it himself.
Luke hooked his foot around Sean’s ankle and pulled his leg out from under him. But Sean threw his boot up and nailed Luke in the balls and brought him down to the floor as well.
They grappled, and Luke fought to maintain control. Sean was stronger than he looked. Plus, with everything going on at home, Luke hadn’t had time to find anyone to spar with. He was rusty.
Sean punched him in the head and rang his bell, then Luke found himself on the bottom. He couldn’t land any hits on Luke’s torso, so he was going for his head. Luke tried for the headbutt, but Sean dodged.
Then Maggie’s ragged voice shouted over the scuffle. “Sean Callahan, if you won’t make me a divorcée, I’ll make myself a widow!”