Page 57 of A Very Daddy Christmas

Shit. Shit. Shit.

The third one comes at me, but I sit up in my seat and kick his front fender with my boot, hard enough to cause him to lose control and crash. He ends up underneath the snowmobile. Judging by the way he’s writhing on the ground and holding his leg, he’s broken something, for sure.

I know the fourth guy is going after Cora, determined to succeed. It’s my turn to go faster and prepare for the worst. Cora doesn’t have time to respond, unaware of what’s happening.

The goon misses her by barely an inch, but he still manages to kick the side of her snowmobile with his boot. Her body tenses as she slows down, glancing over her shoulder at me as she struggles to steer. She’s going too far to the right and will end up in the woods if I don’t stop her.

“Fucking hell,” I snarl and rush after her.

I spot Sebastian ahead. His assailant is trying to flee, but my friend is faster and more experienced on his snowmobile.

No time to worry about him or Waylan.

I can’t see anything except Cora and the asshole trying to harm her.

I need to reach her.

I speed up, getting on the left of her attacker. I pull ahead of him just a smidge then turn my right ski ever so slightly. It causes him to lose control of his steering, and he drives off the trail and into the woods.

I manage to get in front of her, then hit the brakes. She bumps into me, and I grip the handles tightly, squeezing the brakes and slowly bringing us both to a safe halt, just ahead of a slippery curve.

“Riggs!” Cora shouts once we’re both stopped.

I jump off my machine and tear off my helmet as I rush to take her in my arms, holding her tightly. My whole body quivers from the adrenaline, but we’re okay.

“Fucker,” I growl as I look back to see Cora’s attacker circling around.

Thankfully, I also see Waylan quickly approaching on his snowmobile, which fortunately still works after its tumble. He rams into the guy, knocking himself and the attacker off the machines, the goon’s body flying upward before landing hard on the snow-covered trail. Both snowmobiles are done for, plastic parts flying as black smoke swirls up from the engines, the snow putting out any would be sparks.

Waylan is entangled in a fight with the assailant. I yearn to help him, but I don’t want to let go of Cora. I need to keep her safe. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. The attacker squirms out of Waylan’s grasp and runs off into the woods.

“Oh, God,” I hear Cora mumble as security agents rush up on snowmobiles, desperate to get to us. I doubt they know what’shappening, but their camera alerts must’ve triggered their system, not to mention the trackers on the crashed machines.

“Waylan!” I shout.

He gets up with a crooked smile. “Look at the motherfucker go,” Waylan laughs. I’d laugh, too, if we weren’t dealing with another attempt on Cora’s safety.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

She’s panting and red-faced, but she seems alright. She gives me a slight nod. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Does anything hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you sure, Cora?” She nods again, and I hold her tight, putting everything I feel into this simple but meaningful embrace.

“What the hell just happened?” she asks.

It was so fast. Unexpected and deliberate.

I glance ahead and furiously realize that all four of them got away. They must’ve grabbed their injured accomplice and scampered off the trail before Sebastian or the security guys could reach them, leaving what’s left of their snowmobiles behind. They’re off into the woods, so we’ll only have a few tree-mounted cameras to work with. Son of a bitch! Gone.

Whoever those men were, we were definitely their targets. It was intentional terror, and it was pure fucking evil. Cora could’ve gotten hurt. Or worse, killed.

“I think somebody we know put out a hit on us. You, specifically,” I mutter, giving her a frown.

“Riggs, who’d want to kill me? Oh…” Her voice trails off as she puts two and two together.

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