Page 51 of Stuck with My Bossy Protector

Anger bubbles up inside me, but it’s not directed at him. It’s the situation, the helplessness. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “Do you believe them when they said they didn’t kill Eric?”

He looks thoughtful. “Honestly, I do. I know that sounds weird, but they seemed genuinely surprised to find his body.”

“How did they know about him?”

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t take much to do a property record search. If we can get you out of here, you’ll have to run. Don’t go home. They’ll have your name from the flight records, but you should be able to disappear.”

“What do you mean get me out of here?” I ask.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” he declares.

“There’s something you’re forgetting about,” I remind him.

“What?”

“Carter. If they didn’t kill Eric, Carter did. That means he’s still out there.”

He looks thoughtful. “Is it strange that I’m actually hoping he is?” Noah chuckles. “Maybe they can kill each other.”

Noah’s dark humor doesn’t comfort me, but it does bring a brief smile to my face. It’s a moment of lightness in the midst of our grim predicament.

And then I laugh. “It would make Carter’s whole week if he could rescue me. He’d want you dead, but I’m sure he would drag me to some cave and keep me prisoner.”

“What’s the phrase? Frying pan or the fire?”

I groan. “What are we doing to do?”

He gets serious again. “We can’t be here when the boss arrives. It won’t end well. We need to escape.”

“Escape? We have no usable hands. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

He nods his head at the window. “Through there.”

I look at the window, measuring it with my eyes. It’s small, but we can fit. “And go where?” I ask, my skepticism clear.

“Civilization is twenty miles away.”

“And it’s cold. There’s snow. How are we going to survive.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do, but we can’t sit here. I’m not trying to scare you, but this is real. They will kill us. I don’t imagine they are going to leave any evidence. We’ll just be gone.”

Noah’s words hang heavy in the air. The certainty in his voice sends a shiver racing down my spine. The gravity of the situation finally washes over me. There is no more time for denial or disbelief. We are trapped in a real-life nightmare.

“Then we go,” I nod. “Wolves or man, I’ll take the wolves.”

“The wilderness out there isn’t so forgiving,” he says.

He is right—we have to get out, but how can we expect to survive hostile terrain with no tools?

Noah takes a deep breath, eyes fixed on some distant point in the room. “I know it’s not an ideal scenario,” he sighs, “But I’d rather take our chances with nature than wait here for a certain death.”

“Before we had your backpack,” I remind him.

He smiles. “Actually, my backpack is over there.”

While that’s a relief, it’s not exactly a huge win. But at least I know he’s got some survival gear. “We can’t outrun them on snowmobiles.”

“We can make it,” he says fiercely. “There isn’t an option. We have to. Period.”

---