Page 63 of Saint

“Hang tight!” Inda called down. “We’re going to look for some rope!”

“Roger!” Nik responded.

Mia’s heart sped up and she hoped they’d hurry. She didn’t know exactly what was happening, but it seemed like multiple avalanches were triggering collapses all over the place. Time was running out fast and the danger increased every second they spent hanging on to their precarious positions.

“Mia…” It was Chadwick, calling for her, and he sounded like he was in pain.

Unable to stop herself, she looked down and spotted him. She wasn’t sure how she’d missed him before, but she chalked it up to blind terror. Somehow his zip ties had broken and now he was clinging to a perch barely a foot below her.

“Help me,” he pleaded.

Above her, Nik called her name. “Mia, ignore him. Eyes up here. On me.”

She glanced up and tears made Nik blurry. “I think I can reach him,” she said.

“Don’t do it,” Saint gritted out.

Her attention shifted back down below to the man who she’d believed was her father for the past twenty-four years.

“Please, sweetheart. Don’t let me die. I can help you. We can fix things. Still go out and have that dinner together. You might not be my daughter by blood, but you’re the only family I’ve ever known. Don’t let me fall, Mia. Please…”

Emotion closed her throat and words eluded her. She knew better than to believe him now, but that naive little girl still wanted so desperately to trust in him. To gain his approval.

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she let go of the rock with one hand and began to reach down. He was right when he’d said he could help them. If Nik’s team could interrogate Chadwick, they would get all sorts of answers.

“Mia,” Nik ground out, his voice like a steel blade. She froze. “Take. My. Hand.”

She looked up and met his charcoal eyes, flooded with concern. And palpable fear.

“Do not risk it,” Nik told her, mouth set in a flat line. “He isn’t worth it.”

Nik was right. Looking back down, she met Chadwick’s desperate face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then she reached up and Nik’s big, warm hand curved around hers. At the same time, Chadwick launched himself up and grabbed her ankle.

A scream erupted from her mouth as his fingers dug into her skin and his heavy weight tugged her downward.

Chapter Twenty-One

“MIA!” Saint roared, throwing himself forward and grabbing onto her wrists with both hands. That fucker Carlisle was trying to claw his way up her body. She tried to kick him away, but he was clinging to her like a goddamn leach.

He was also screaming at her, sounding more than a little delusional and a lot hysterical. “You can’t leave me! I won’t allow it, Jade! Not again and not for him! I fucking forbid it!”

A slew of unintelligible curses flew from Chadwick’s mouth, spittle flying. Something had snapped inside him and Saint had no idea what he was babbling about.

Their combined weight shifted and Saint slid forward on his belly, tilting precariously over the ledge.Fuck!Digging the toes of his boots into the ground, he knew he had to force Carlisle to let go or all three of them would go tumbling into the abyss. But he was damned sure of one thing—he wasn’t letting Mia go.

“Hang on tight,kotyonok,” he told her. She was holding onto his right wrist for dear life with both hands, so he was forced to let go with his left. Reaching back, he pulled the gun Ryland had given him out of his waistband. He could’ve taken the shot with either hand, but he was relying on the Devil this time. Or, maybe it was something deeper giving him strength…maybe it was love.

“Nik!” She slipped an inch.

He wouldn’t lose her. She was the one good thing he’d found in his shitty life and his steel grip around her delicate wrist wasn’t breaking.

“Head down, baby.” As she ducked her head, he lifted the gun and blew a hole through the center of Carlisle’s forehead. A shocked expression seemed to touch the man’s face before he released his hold on Mia’s ankle and fell.

Tossing the gun behind him, Saint grabbed her with both hands and hauled her up and over the ledge. She fell against his chest, tears streaming down her face, and their arms wrapped around each other tightly.

“Ohmygod,” she cried, shaking hard.

“You’re okay. I’ve got you.” He breathed her vanilla scent in deeply and pressed a kiss against her head, trying to comfort and calm her, but he knew they were still in danger.We’re not out of this yet, he thought grimly.

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