15. Boyd
FIFTEEN
BOYD
A knock sounds at the door. Low. Familiar. I open it to find Silas standing on the porch.
“Mason’s here,” he says. “He drove up early. We’re setting up in the lodge. You ready?”
I nod once. “Give us five minutes.”
I close the door and turn back to the bed. Piper’s awake now, watching me with wide eyes. She sits up slowly, the blanket pooling around her waist.
“It’s time?” she asks, voice still rough with sleep.
“Yeah.” I cross to her and sit on the edge of the mattress. “You don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.”
She takes a deep breath and nods. “I’m ready. I have to be.”
I help her dress in a soft sweater and comfortable leggings.
She moves carefully, still favoring her left leg, but she’s getting stronger every day.
I stay close as we walk the gravel path to the main lodge, one hand resting on her lower back.
The mountain air is crisp and clean. Sunlight filters through the trees, but I can feel the tension in her shoulders.
She’s scared. I hate that she has to do this, but I know she needs to.
The lodge is quieter than usual when we step inside. Silas, Gavin, Harlan, and a tall, serious-looking man I recognize as Mason are already seated around the big wooden table. They all stand when they see us.
Mason steps forward first. He’s built like Harlan but carries the quiet authority of a man who has spent years in federal service.
He offers Piper a kind but professional smile and extends his hand.
“Piper. I’m Mason Cole. Harlan’s brother.
Thank you for agreeing to talk to me. I know this cannot be easy. ”
Piper shakes his hand. Her voice is steady. “Thank you for coming.”
I pull out a chair for her and sit right beside her, my thigh pressed against hers under the table. I want her to feel me there. Solid. Present. Not going anywhere.
She takes a deep breath and begins.
She tells them everything.
She starts with how she worked as a bookkeeper for one of her father’s legitimate import-export companies.
How she was good at her job. How she accidentally discovered the second set of books hidden behind the legitimate ones.
The offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.
The shell companies in Panama and Delaware.
The large cash movements tied to names that made her skin crawl—known criminals, corrupt officials, men who should never have had that kind of money flowing through their hands.
She describes the night she confronted her father in his home office.
The way he leaned back in his leather chair with that cold, polite smile and told her that accidents happen to curious girls every day.
The black SUV that tried to run her off the road two days later on a rainy night.
The pure terror that made her pack a single bag, withdraw as much cash as she could, and run with nothing but a fake name and the clothes on her back.
The men listen without interrupting. I keep my hand on hers under the table, thumb stroking slow circles over her knuckles. When she finishes, the room is silent for a long moment. I can hear the fire crackling and her own heartbeat thundering in my ears.
Mason leans forward, his expression focused but encouraging.
“What you have is more than enough to build a real case. Financial trails, witness testimony from you, the attempt on your life. We can get a field agent from the FBI involved for the financial crimes. This goes way beyond local jurisdiction. With your statement and the evidence we can pull together, we have a strong shot at taking Viktor Lane down for good.”
Relief washes over me in a warm wave. This could end it. Really end it. But when I glance at Piper, I can tell the relief is not complete for her. There is still a hard knot of fear in her eyes. Her father is powerful. He has escaped consequences before. She knows how deep his reach goes.
After the meeting ends and the others start to leave, giving us privacy, I pull her into my arms in a quiet corner of the lodge. I hold her close, one big hand stroking soothing circles on her back.
“You’ll be okay,” I murmur against her hair. “We’ll get through this. I promise you that.”
She nods against my chest, but I can feel the fear still clinging to her.
Before we can say anything more, the peace shatters.
A loud crack echoes from outside. Gunfire. Then another. Shouts rise up. The gate alarm starts blaring, sharp and urgent.
Not again.
My entire body goes rigid. I grab Piper’s hand and pull her toward the back hallway where the women are already gathering, moving with practiced efficiency.
“Basement,” I order, voice hard and commanding. “Now. Everyone.”
Harper, Sadie, Fiona, and the others move fast. They have drilled for this exact scenario. Kayley scoops up little Aidan, who is crying into her neck. Harper holds Poppi tight against her chest. Piper grabs her crutches and moves as quickly as her healing leg will allow, heart hammering.
I catch her before she reaches the stairs. I kiss her hard, fast, desperate—like I’m pouring every ounce of love and fear into it. “Stay down there. Don’t come out until one of us comes for you. I love you, Piper.”
“I love you too,” she whispers, tears stinging her eyes.
I push her gently toward the stairs with one last look that says everything. “Go.”
She descends into the bunker with the other women. The heavy steel door clangs shut behind them with a final, echoing sound. Locks engage. The emergency lights flicker on. They’re safe down there. But I am up here. Fighting again. Because someone wants to take her from me.
I grab my rifle from the rack by the door and move toward the front of the lodge.
Silas is already shouting orders. Rafe appears at the corner with controlled bursts of fire toward the gate.
Gavin, Rhett and Wyatt take positions behind the thick log barriers.
Chase and Harlan move fast toward the generator shed to cut the exterior lights.
Mason’s on the phone, most likely calling his team of US Marshals in.
The main gate is buckling again. Two trucks with reinforced bumpers are slamming into it. Men on foot are spreading out along the fence line, firing suppressing shots. I take aim through a broken window and drop the first man trying to climb the fence. The others scatter for cover.
Adrenaline surges through me, sharpening every sense. This is familiar. I breathe. Aim. Fire. Move. Protect.
The next twenty minutes blur into controlled violence. We return fire in disciplined bursts. Boyd takes out the driver of one of the ramming trucks. Wyatt and Rhett flank a group trying to breach from the west. Eli moves between positions, patching up minor wounds.
But these men are determined. A grenade sails over the gate and explodes near the woodpile. Another truck accelerates toward the weakened gate. The metal screams as it starts to give way.
Silas curses. “They’re coming through! Fall back to defensive positions around the lodge! We hold the line here!”
We retreat in coordinated pairs, covering each other.
Bullets punch through the log walls, but the construction holds.
I take cover behind an overturned table near the front window and keep firing.
My only clear thought is that Piper is downstairs.
Safe behind thick concrete and steel. As long as I keep these bastards from reaching the lodge, she stays that way.
The fight grows fiercer. One of the attackers makes it over the broken gate and charges toward the porch before Rafe drops him. Another tries to flank us and Rhett takes him down. The air smells of gunpowder and burning rubber. Shouts and screams mix with the constant crack of gunfire.
I reload again, hands steady. Worry gnaws at the edges of my focus.
I don’t want to leave Piper down there, even though I know the bunker is the safest place on the mountain.
But leaving her to fight is the only way to keep her alive.
I trust the men beside me. I trust the defenses we built.
Every shot I fire is one less threat that can reach her.
Rafe moves up beside me during a brief lull. “We can’t hold them off forever. If they bring heavier weapons, we need a plan.”
I nod grimly. “Then we make them pay for every inch. They do not get inside. Not while any of us are breathing.”
Another volley erupts. I lean out and drop two more attackers. My shoulder aches, but I barely feel it. All that matters is the gate, the lodge, and the steel door downstairs that separates Piper from the violence.
The battle rages on. Men shout. Bullets fly. The mountain that felt like sanctuary has turned into a war zone again. But through it all, one thought burns brighter than anything else.
Keep Piper safe.
No matter the cost.
I will fight until my last breath to make sure she gets the future we both want. The quiet mornings. The Sunday dinners. The life on this mountain where she never has to run again.
For her, I hold the line.
For her, I will win.