Page 48 of Snowed In with Three Mountain Men

I grit my teeth. I don’t know how much longer I can take this. I feel like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest if I don’t get her out of there sooner rather than later. Hearing the abuse he’s piling onto her, it feels like a twisted game. How much can I take before I kill that motherfucker and make him pay for this?

But I know that’s not what we agreed on. The plan we made doesn’t end in murder. It ends with us taking him down and smearing his name—that’s what Charli wants.

And I know it’s the right call. His father would come after us with the fury of a thousand suns if we took out his son, and it would turn him and his family into martyrs. That’s the last thing we want. No, we need to make them pay, need to expose them for the fuckers they are—but that hinges on letting him think that he has Charli right where he wants her, and that there’s going to be no blowback for the way he’s treating her right now.

“I can’t listen,” I snap, heading outside. “Just tell me when we’re ready to go…”

I close the door behind me. Inside, I can hear the vague outline of the words coming through the radio attached to her microphone. I might not be able to make out exactly what’sbeing said, but I can hear the tone—the way he talks to her, like she’s so far below him. Even that sets my teeth on edge. I can’t wait to bring this guy down to the level he thinks she’s at. He’s already been humiliated by her leaving him at the altar, and now we’re going to smear the rest of his reputation for good.

I stare into the trees around me, trying to get lost in the motion of the branches in the wind. Absently, I rest my hand on my knife again, feeling the leather of the handle beneath my fingertips. Soon, I’ll be able to make use of this damn thing. No killing, sure, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find other ways to make that bastard pay for what he’s done to her…

I don’t know how Chuck and Callum can sit there and not want to kick his fucking head in. I don’t know how they can hold themselves back from taking him out, knowing what he’s done to her, knowing that he hasn’t changed a bit. Knowing that, even now, he’s willing to tear chunks out of Charli just to make himself feel better.

But then, I remind myself—it’s because they care about her. And they’re giving her what she wants in all of this. That man, that bastard who’s on the other end of that microphone, he took everything from her, took her control, took her power, took her ability to advocate for herself, all of it. And she wants it back. That’s why she’s agreed to work with us on all of this, because she trusts that we’re not going to do the same to her.

And I need to prove to her that I can let her take the reins, even if it kills me. Even if I wish, more than anything in the world, that I could change it.

Finally, the door behind me flies open. I spin around, and Chuck and Callum are standing there, grim expressions on their faces.

“He gave us what we need,” Chuck tells me. “He admitted to the physical abuse. That’s everything.”

“We can move in?” I demand, pulling out my knife, the blade flashing its serrated teeth in the cold air.

Callum nods. “We’re going to get her out,” he tells me. “Let’s go. I’m not going to leave her with that bastard for a second longer than she needs to be.”

And with that, the three of us take off into the woods—ready to rain down hell on James and anyone who’s got the bad judgment to be on his side.

24

CHUCK

“Is that it?”Callum mutters as we pull back behind the cover of some trees to avoid detection by the guards on the door.

I check the tracker monitor on my phone, and nod.

“That’s it,” I reply, narrowing my eyes. “She’s in there. We just need to find a way to get her out.”

Callum lets out a long, slow breath. Dax, beside me, has not moved his gaze from the cabin for an instant. It’s a miracle he hasn’t bolted down there to bust in the doors and get her out himself the first chance he got, but at least some part of him seems to recognize that he needs to restrain himself a little longer.

We have the recording, of James admitting to the physical abuse—and the rest of it too. Truthfully, anyone who hears the way he speaks to her won’t be able to defend him, even before he came clean about physically harming her. The hate in his voice, the utter lack of respect he treats her with, it’s sickening to me. I don’t know how anyone could treat another person like that, let alone another person who they claimed to love at some point.

But I don’t have to understand. I just have to get her out of there.

“How many guards?” I mutter to Callum.

“Three,” Dax shoots back. “Two on the front door, one on the side. He was taking a smoke break when we came down, but he just went back inside.”

“And James,” Callum reminds us. The blood rushes through my veins at the mention of his name.

“He’s not going to pose a problem,” I reply. “He’s a coward. Only good at talking a big game when he’s got someone where he wants them. He’ll freak as soon as he sees us, trust me.”

Callum nods, but I can see a hint of doubt in his face. He wants to believe me, of course, but it’s not that easy for him. I know as well as he does that we don’t know exactly what we’re up against, and we could be hit with something beyond what we’re ready for when we step out of these woods.

“You ready?” Dax asks. He’s been barely holding himself back since we got to the cabin.

“I’ll take the one on the side,” I reply. “Callum, Dax, take out the two at the door. No fatalities. Keep them alive, just take them out. You understand?”

I can tell that both of them want to argue with me on that, but they seem to know better—this is what we promised her, after all, and they know I want to kill these bastards as much as they do. But we have to play it safe. Anything the authorities might be able to use against us is going to cause trouble, because of who James’s father is. It needs to be airtight, or else we’re all going down.

---