Chapter 30
ISLA
No!
I dig my nails into my palms until skin breaks, until pain burns loud enough to drown out the whisper that says give up. I had almost accepted this fate, but I can’t let resignation take root.
Nathaniel has already taken so much—my mother, my sense of home, the pieces of Luke I can never have back. He doesn’t get my faith, either.
Luke will save me. Luke will save me.
My eyes squeeze shut, chest tight as a bowstring pulled to breaking. In the silence, I retreat into memory. Last night—Luke’s arms around me, his warmth, his steady heartbeat. The scent of him, citrus and musk, wraps me in safety.
Then everything fractures.
Boots pounding. Dogs barking. Rifles clicking into place. Men shouting directions through the trees.
The forest explodes with motion.
My eyes fly open.
Luke bursts into the clearing first. Behind him: Gabe, Dalton, Chase, a few deputies, and handlers with German Shepherds pulling at their leashes. Their breaths puff white clouds into the cold air.
Relief buckles my knees.
A strangled sob escapes as my head drops forward, tears streaking down my face and dripping into the frozen dirt beneath me.
He found me.
When I lift my gaze, Luke’s eyes lock onto mine—green fire wrapped in fury, fear, and a vow that shakes me to my core.
“Luke,” I whisper, barely a breath.
His jaw tightens. “Did he hurt you?”
Before I can answer, rough hands seize me—an arm clamps around my throat, jerking me back against a chest that radiates heat and rage. If I turn my head slightly, I can see the fire in Nathaniel’s eyes.
I choke, fingers clawing at his forearm as the gun jams into my temple, its icy barrel pressed so hard the shape of it feels carved into my skull.
“One more step,” Nathaniel snarls, “and she’s dead.”
Luke freezes mid-stride, but only for a split second. His rifle steadies in both hands—his injured shoulder visibly trembling, but he holds the weapon with iron control.
“Let her go,” he commands, voice low and lethal. “You’re surrounded.”
Gabe’s men fan out in a precise half-circle. Dalton and Chase flank Luke, both pale and shaking, their rifles trained on the man they call father.
Nathaniel drags me toward the cliff, boots sliding on loose shale. The chasm yawns behind us.
“You’re not leaving this mountain,” Luke growls.
Nathaniel laughs—a jagged, breathless sound. “Don’t fool yourself. I’m the only one here with leverage.”
“Dad,” Dalton tries, voice breaking. “Stop. This isn’t you.”
Nathaniel’s breath fogs in explosive bursts.
“You still don’t understand,” he hisses. “I’ve done everything for this family. For all of you.”
His arm tightens around my throat. I gasp.
Luke steps forward. “Her life was never yours to gamble with.”
“She ruined you,” Nathaniel spits, jerking me slightly. “You could’ve been great. I had plans for you.”
Luke’s face goes still. Deadly. “This has nothing to do with her.”
“It has everything to do with her,” Nathaniel snaps.
“You were moldable. Obedient. Focused. Then she showed up and filled your head with ideas about doing the right thing, helping people, and making moral black and white choices.” He scoffs heavily. “Weakness.”
Luke takes a slow, deliberate step, lowering his rifle slightly. “Nathaniel, let her go. And we can talk.”
“Talk? You want to talk? About what? How you think you’re better than me? About how you dug into things you had no business touching?”
Luke’s voice cuts in sharply. “Why Isla? Why drag her into this?”
Nathaniel’s grip spasms around my neck. “Because you didn’t listen. I warned you to stay out of things. I warned you to leave the past alone. I warned you—”
“You sent someone after her.” Luke’s voice trembles with fury. “You tried to have her killed.”
Nathaniel doesn’t deny it.
“Who helped you kidnap her from the hospital?”
“No one of importance. A security guard who wanted an early retirement.”
Luke’s face hardens into something I’ve never seen—rage so contained it’s nearly quiet. “You would rather see me miserable or dead, wouldn’t you?”
Nathaniel shakes his head back and forth. “No. No. I never wanted you dead. Don’t you see? I was willing to give you everything. Even my business. I did not give that order.”
Dalton swears under his breath. Chase’s rifle lowers an inch.
I stop breathing.
“Dad,” Chase whispers.
“All of it,” Nathaniel thunders, shaking. “Everything I’ve done has been to protect this family. This town. Our legacy.”
Luke steps forward another inch. “Your legacy ends today.”
“You don’t understand who’s involved. The people behind this—if I fail, they’ll come for all of us.”
“Who?” Luke shouts. “Who are you working with?”
Nathaniel shakes his head sharply. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Dad,” Dalton says gently, hands raised, voice trembling. “Let her go. Please.”
I chance glancing back to see Nathaniel staring at his sons—the real ones, the ones he raised. His chest heaves, breath stuttering. Something cracks in his eyes—grief, maybe, or clarity. For a fleeting second, I feel the grip around my throat loosen, just barely.
But then his gaze lands on Luke.
And something shifts.
The hatred falters.
And in its place—something deeper. Something human.
“You were never mine,” Nathaniel says hoarsely. “Not by blood. But God help me, Luke…I still loved you.”
Luke’s breath catches. His rifle dips lower.
Nathaniel looks at him—really looks—and his eyes fill with something raw, battered, and unguarded. The wind picks up, howling across the cliff, sending snowdust swirling between us.
Then he whispers—
“I’m sorry.”
His arm drops from my throat.
He shoves me forward—toward Luke, not away—and I stumble into Luke’s chest, his good arm instantly wrapping around me, anchoring me against him.
In the same heartbeat, Nathaniel steps backward.
One step. Two.
His heels hit the edge of the cliff.
“No!” Luke screams.
Dalton lunges. Chase cries out. Gabe swears violently.
Nathaniel just watches Luke, a strange, calm smile softening the lines of his face.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly, his eyes scanning over his sons. “I’m so sorry. I can’t stop this now. But I believe you can.”
And then—
He steps backward into the open air.
His body disappears over the edge. No scream. No hesitation.
Just the final, devastating choice of a broken man who ran out of roads.
Silence slams into the clearing.
Luke’s arms lock around me so tight I can barely breathe. His body trembles against mine, chest rising and falling in quick, harsh bursts. I clutch his jacket, fingers twisted in the fabric, as if the world might slip from beneath us, too.
Chase collapses to his knees. Dalton staggers back, tears streaking down his face. One of the deputies whispers a prayer under his breath.
Gabe exhales slowly, grimly. “We’ll send a team down at first light. See if we can recover the body.”
Luke presses his forehead to mine, breath shaking against my lips.
“You came,” I whisper.
He swallows hard. “Always.”
His voice breaks on the word.
Around us, men lower rifles that suddenly feel obscene. Dogs quiet. Snow begins to fall—slow flakes drifting through the air like fragile feathers, settling on Luke’s hair, on my trembling hands, on the empty spot where Nathaniel once stood.
The mountain exhales, as if relieved to take back the silence.
But beneath the quiet, something darker thrums. A truth Nathaniel choked on at the end.
This was never just about him.
The forces he feared—the ones he tried and failed to shield them from—are still out there, shadows stretching long against the snow.
Tonight, a man fell. A father died. A secret fractured.
And though Luke’s arms are around me, holding me together—
I can feel it.
This was just the beginning.