Page 36 of Ms. Fortune
I heard the murmurs from the staff who had been woken up by the shrill fire alarm. A few of the neighbors I shared the mountainside with had driven over to see what was going on. It was a small crowd, all struck motionless and unable to help as the destruction unfolded in front of their eyes.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Dex with his cell phone lifted. I couldn’t tell if he was taking pictures or filming to document the moment. Both felt incredibly cruel. I’d yet to form a coherent thought or sentence, so I didn’t bother to reprimand him. I was frozen in place, wearing one of Risky’s flannel shirts and his heavy Carhartt jacket. I was numb. Not on account of the cold. Because I’d run out of emotions where the burning resort was concerned.
There was no way to save it.
There was no hope.
Everyone watched the fire grow, staring helplessly as the crackle and pop of the flames got louder. Several calls had gone into emergency services, but the weather was nasty, and traveling up the pass on a clear day took quite a while. By the time the fire department showed up, the main house would be incinerated.
The calls from the security company and Risky’s tech friend didn’t help either. I heard Risky snapping frustrated questions into his phone.
He kept saying, “How could this happen?”
I didn’t know what the person on the other end of the call answered, but I could tell him without a doubt that this had happened because of me. From the beginning, I’d been too ambitious. Too arrogant to think my hard work and dedication could battle against my endless misfortune. Everything I loved befell my tortuous luck.
I glanced at Risky, resolutely deciding I needed to stop whatever had started between us. I couldn’t bear the thought of him ending up as a pile of ash, like my beloved lodge. Since I’d realized I cared about him, I had to let him go before he got hurt because he was doing his best to protect me.
If I’d had any tears left, they would’ve fallen. I felt familiar icicles forming around my newly thawed heart. My frozen fingers curled into fists that hung at my sides. I turned my back on the destruction.
What’s done is done.
I’d seen enough to know I wasn’t someone who had the luxury of having a dream to chase. I just ended up running in circles.
“Declan.” The moment felt like it called for a name more serious than Risky.
He turned his head to look at me, the frown on his face deepening as he stared at something behind me. I got annoyedhe wouldn’t meet my gaze when I had something serious to tell him. So I reached out to grab him, but the sleeves of his coat were too long, and my fingers were too cold to cooperate.
Before I could nudge him and pull his attention back to me, he stepped around me and took off at a sprint for the burning building. The entire group of people surrounding us audibly gasped, and several called his name. My body moved involuntarily to follow him, but my arm was caught by Nico, the snowboarder, as Dex’s mother planted herself in front of me. Her eyes were enormous. I could see the orange and red glow from the fire reflected within the dark center.
She shook her head and told me, “You can’t go in there. The fire department is on the way. That man must have a death wish.”
I knew she was just trying to be a good neighbor. That didn’t stop me from wanting to knock her over and chase after Risky. I couldn’t fathom what he had seen that was worth him running into a burning building, but I knew it was important enough for him to risk life and limb.
He definitely didn’t have a death wish. Declan Risk enjoyed living more than anyone I’d ever met. Who else would walk away from a life littered with the rich and famous, as well as those with unlimited power and influence to play Mr. Fix-it at a small mountain resort because of nostalgia?
I gently disengaged from her hold. “I’m not going to follow him. I need to go around to the other side of the house to see if the deck is still safe to use.”
Now that he’d kicked in the front door, the flames were licking through the entranceway like a starving beast. I couldn’t guess why he had gone in, but I needed to make sure he had a way out.
The snowboarder tried to follow me, but I refused to let him. I couldn’t explain why, but I had a feeling deep down inmy bones that Risky’s past had just caught up to us both, and dragging anyone else into the silent war being waged wasn’t a smart idea.
I slipped on the snow and lost my footing as I jogged around the huge structure. I could feel the heat from the fire on my skin. My muddled brain was having a difficult time reasoning through being more worried about Risky than I was the lodge. One had been in my life for only a handful of months; the other was the core of who I always believed I was. It was frightening to think that he had taken up so much real estate within me in such a short amount of time.
I rounded the corner and saw that all the big windows that faced the valley were blown out. There was glass everywhere, and flames licked at the deck, but the new iron reinforcements were holding strong. The snow was piled up to mid-shin, and wind was blowing toward the house, whipping my hair into my face and keeping the fire from crawling down into the river basin. So far, the heavy deck hung out over the massive drop with minimal damage. I moved to run up the long flight of stairs, my steps pausing when I heard two deep voices fighting to be heard over the intermittent gusts.
“What are you going to do, Risk?”
A low laugh with no humor drifted down to where I slid around the side of the house, hoping I wasn’t noticed as I blatantly listened to the conversation Risky had felt was worth running through fire to have.
“Put a bullet in my head and dump me in the river, like you did the first guy the boss had sent after you?”
“Charley Booker was never my boss. I worked for her mother. I thought I’d made that abundantly clear to everyone when I quit.”
The other man laughed. I couldn’t see his face; only his dark pants, leather coat, and black beanie were visible. If my propertyhadn’t been in the middle of burning to the ground, he would’ve melted seamlessly into the night.
“There’s a noncompete clause expected in our industry. It’s not the sort of job you get to walk away from and forget about. All those secrets you dug up from the depths of hell, all the lives you ruined and the ones you took—you remain accountable for all of that.”
It felt like icy fingers grabbed my spine and forced me upright. I blinked away the snow and frost gathering on my lashes and stared at the deck in contemplation. Risky had never spoken in depth about his previous employment, but he’d left enough breadcrumbs for me to follow, so I knew it wasn’t the type of work one did and kept their hands clean. I’d figured he had been into some really shady stuff, but I never imagined murder might be on the list.
