Page 52 of Single Mom for the Mountain Men
Just as I finish saying her name, the power goes out, plunging us into darkness.
Chapter twenty-six
CHAPTER 26: Brody
“Get her into one of the bedrooms, and stay with her,” I say to Aiden and Tanner. I hurry to my own bedroom to get my gun, then move carefully toward the front door. It’s still locked. I double-check the door to the garage. Also locked.
What is the man up to?There are plenty of windows to break in order to get into the house, but what is he thinking?There’s not an easy way off of the mountain with this kind of weather. He’s more likely to kill Sophie and Lena due to exposure than anything else if he tries to take them tonight.
A sudden, chilling thought occurs to me. Her ex seems like he’s savvy enough to know that if he can’t get down off the mountain right now, neither can any of us. Maybe he doesn’t want to kidnap anyone or collect a debt. Maybe he just wants to kill all of us.
I absolutely refuse to die at the hands of some crazy loan shark who’s obsessed with the woman that I love.Love. The word rings in my mind, and I turn it over like it’s an unfamiliar object I’ve never seen before. Do I love her?I realize that I do, and I love Sophie as well.
“Damn,” I mutter to myself as I peer out of the window at the front of the house to see if there is anyone hiding by the front door. What a time to realize how I feel about Lena.
“Where are you, you bastard?” I say aloud, trying to figure out what his plan might be. The dark is going to put us at a disadvantage, but it will also put him in a position where he’s working with limited information. It’s not like there are city lights outside to illuminate the yard.
It occurs to me that maybe the power went out on its own, not because of some kind of sabotage. But then, I realize that the emergency generator hasn’t kicked on.No, someone is trying to sneak up on us, for sure.
I strain my ears, trying to figure out where our attacker might be. Suddenly, I see a blinding flash of light, and then, a glass bottle crashes through the living room window, setting the curtains, the couch, and the carpet on fire.
Blinded by the sudden flash of light, I stumble back, crashing into the dining room table. My mind swims with bad memories, disorienting me. I hear women and children screaming, and I close my eyes, pressing my hands to my ears.
The flames lick along my skin, searing it, and I take a few groggy steps back. I don’t know where I am.What am I doing here? I have to help someone, don’t I? I can’t remember who, though.
I press my hands against my eyes, trying to get my bearings as the sounds of women and children screaming continue to ring in my ears.
“Sophie!”
Lena’s scream tears through the flashback that has me in its grip, and I blink, coming back to the present moment. I see the little girl running away from the bedroom where she was hiding with her mother, Tanner, and Aiden. She’s screaming in fear, stumbling into the hallway walls.
“No!” I cry out, trying to rush after her. I watch in horror as she manages to unlock the garage door and rush through it. “Sophie!” I roar as a hulking figure dressed in black sweeps her into his arms and then turns away.
The gust of air from the opening garage door sends sparks and ash sweeping into my face, and I fall to the floor, coughing and trying to protect my eyes.
“Tanner! Aiden!” I shout while crawling away from the worst of the inferno.
“I’ll get the fire extinguisher!” Aiden shouts, running toward the kitchen and fumbling around in the dark.
“Get Lena out of here!” I shout to Tanner as I cough.
“Where’s Sophie?” she shrieks and tugs against Tanner’s hands. “Where did he take her?”
“We have to get out of here, Lena,” Tanner tells her firmly, but she keeps struggling. Tanner finally just swings her into his arms and runs down the hall toward the back door.
Aiden has finally gotten the fire extinguisher, but it can’t keep up with the blaze. I grab it from his hands and throw it to the ground before ushering him out of the house through the back door as well. Belatedly, I realize that the men must still be tied up.
“I have to go back for the men we left in the garage,” I tell Aiden and Tanner.
“No, Brody, you can’t!” Tanner shouts, but I’m already running back into the heat and smoke.
I feel my way through the cabin to the garage. I note that the side door is already open. That must be how James left. I spot the forms of the men I tied up laying against the snowmobile. An idea occurs to me, and I run to the roll-up garage door. I yank it open, cursing when it won’t go up all the way. I finally get it lifted high enough to drag the snowmobile out, thanking myself for putting it on a trailer this year, so that it would be easier to store.
Once the snowmobile is ready, I race back in and drag out the first of our would-be attackers. He drops limply into the snow before I race back to get the second man.
The heat is intense, and I can’t stop coughing. The heat feels like it’s searing my lungs as I grab the second henchman under the arms and start dragging him toward the entrance. I’ve almost cleared the door when I slip in the snow that is melting from the heat of the fire at the edge. My tailbone protests the fall sharply, but I continue dragging the heavy body of the unconscious man with me.
We just barely slip out of the garage before the ceiling collapses with a rush of noise and flames. I lean back on my elbows, panting, watching my cabin burn down. My heart squeezes in my chest. We all worked so hard to get that cabin. Watching it burn breaks my heart.
