Page 1 of Snowed in with Scrooge

CHAPTER 1

NYAH

Glancing in the rearview mirror, I see Mina sleeping soundly in the backseat of the car. She was starting to get restless but finally passed out an hour ago. Somehow the lights on her Christmas sweater are still blinking.

Snow is coming down all around us, but I’m burning up. My cold is starting to get the best of me, and I can feel the raw ache in the back of my throat. Reaching over, I turn off the heat, and it’s like every muscle in my body hurts.

I need sleep, but more than that I need distance between us and the life I’m trying to leave behind. Although I’m not sure there’s anywhere I can go to truly get away from Cole. He has friends in high places, and his reach feels endless.

He was sure to make me believe from the very start that I couldn’t leave. It’s been nearly three years since he married my mother, and she swore Cole was saving us. He took us out of our shitty apartment and made sure we never had to worry about making ends meet each week. After everything that’s happened, I would take that life back in a second.

I look back at Mina again and remind myself that if Cole didn’t come along, I wouldn’t have my beautiful sister. How she is half of that monster I’ll never know. Mina is full of sweetness because I did my best to keep her away from Cole and my mother. It was easy at first because my mother was busy hopping from one party to another. Her nights were spent out on the town while her days were filled with shopping.

There was something about Cole that I never trusted, and I knew eventually he would show himself. From the beginning, his eyes held no warmth, even when he smiled. All I ever saw was darkness. As the years slipped by, I started to see something else entirely when he stared at me.

A chill runs down my spine thinking about what he said to me two nights ago. It had been a week since my mother had disappeared. She walked right out the front door, and Cole didn’t try to stop her. That should have been all the warning I needed, and looking back, part of me thinks he might have paid her to leave.

Cole had the perfect thing to hold over my head with my sister Mina. He knew I would do anything for her. She’s the reason I didn’t move out on my own or try to leave his home sooner. I could never leave her, and Cole wanted to make sure I never left him either.

My jaw still aches from where he’d grabbed it and I tried to pull away from him. Along with a few bruises from his fingers too.

He told me to get used to the idea of the two of us being together before he stormed out of the house. I knew at that moment I had no choice but to run. Cole always spent nights away, so it was my only chance. When Mina was still a baby and I was getting up through the night, I recall him returning home between three and five in the morning.

It was a mad dash to get everything that I could. I didn’t have much in the way of money, but I stole some of his watches. My mother took all her jewelry with her when she left, and I didn’t have any of my own.

Cole bought me an SUV right after Mina was born so I could take care of anything she might need. Once I loaded it up with all of our stuff, I searched what the watches were worth. Then I found a pawn shop a few cities over before ditching my phone and taking off.

They had enough cash on hand to buy one of the watches, but I still have two more left. Who pays that much for a freaking watch? It was worth over twenty-five grand, but I only got three thousand for it because I wasn’t in a place to argue. I took the money and ran because it was enough to put some miles between us and Cole. Maybe for the other two, I can lay low in a city for a few days and sell them online. I’d get more out of them that way, but it would mean staying put.

“Where the hell are we?” I say to myself as I reach over to the passenger seat to find the cheap phone I bought at the store. The service hasn’t been great, but with how hard the snow is coming down and how sick I feel, we need to call it a night. I was planning to get farther and had a hotel mapped out, but the snowstorm came out of nowhere.

It doesn’t help that I’ve never driven in snow before and I’ve been trying to stay off major highways. It’s taken longer, but it feels safer. Now that I’m in the middle of nowhere with only darkness, I’m not sure this was the best idea. I can’t recall the last car that passed us and how long ago it was.

Slowing down, I decide to pull over to the side of the road so I can search better on my phone.

As I pull off, the SUV suddenly starts to slide, and I press the brake as hard as I can. The ground must be frozen because the SUV doesn’t stop, and we begin to slip down into the ditch. It only takes a second before my vehicle is completely off the road, and when it finally comes to a full stop, I turn around to check on Mina.

She’s still sleeping soundly, and I breathe a sigh of relief that she’s always been so good about sleeping through anything.

“Damn it,” I curse when I press the gas and my tires only spin. “Oh my god.” I bury my face in my hands, wondering what the hell I’ve gotten myself into. I can feel how hot my face is inside my hands, and I know I’m going to have to call for help. I’ve only been sitting here for a minute and already there’s a layer of snow covering the white SUV.

Taking my seatbelt off, I grab my phone that fell onto the floor. When I see I have no service, a wave of defeat threatens to take over.

“What am I going to do?” I say to myself and to Mina as I close my eyes and pray for a Christmas miracle.

CHAPTER 2

FRASER

“I don’t like you out in this weather,” my mom says, and I can almost imagine the look she’s giving my dad right now. “And you haven’t told us if you’re coming for Christmas.”

“I’m fine. You know I do this for a living, right?” I completely skip over the Christmas comment because I don’t feel like having an argument.

“You know while we’re on the subject of your career choice—”

“All right, that’s enough for one night.” I cut her off before she has a chance to start. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“We love you, Fraser. We all do.” There’s a sadness to her voice, and I hear something that sounds like a toy firetruck in the background.

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