He Can Fall (She Can... #4.5)(13)

“Really.”

The redhead swiped the tears from her cheeks, leaving bloody smears where she would have applied blush. With a resolute breath, she plucked another towel from the pile and applied it to her husband’s shoulder.

Win and Carl came back into the room. Win stomped snow off his skateboard shoes. His eyes locked on Amanda with a predatory gleam. He started toward her. On the way past the prep table, he reached toward the cutting board and picked up a chef’s knife.

Amanda cringed, but there was nowhere to hide.





CHAPTER SEVEN

Sean’s momentary optimism faded as the men retreated into the kitchen. He’d hoped they would come looking for their buddy.

“They went back inside.”

“They did.” Sean rubbed Mia’s shoulder. Her body shook. Fear or cold? Probably both.

What were the men planning? They obviously missed their fourth man but were too smart to wander through the woods to find him.

Damn.

In the forest, Sean would be able to pick them off one by one. Now he was back to plan A, getting inside the inn. But first, he had to find a place to stash Mia. Somewhere warm and relatively safe. None of the outbuildings was heated. He couldn’t risk a fire. His gaze returned to the inn. It was a big building. There had to be somewhere inside to hide a very small child.

He squatted down to her level. “Do you ever play hide-and-seek, Mia?”

“Sure.” She nodded.

“Where are the best hiding places around here?”

She considered, her tiny brow puckering. “In the guest rooms, but I’m not allowed to play in them anymore ’cause we’re going to be open soon, and they’re all finished. The room over the garage is good too. It’s full of stuff we don’t use.”

If he were taking an inn hostage, the first thing he’d do was search the entire place. So, if the rooms were already searched, would Mia be safe hiding in one of them? Would the gunmen think to double-check? But how to get inside? Sean assumed the gunmen were all armed and would be watching the doors.

He glanced around the tree trunk and back at the inn. Another quick movement in the window. The men were still watching. How to get them both inside without using a door?

“If I can get us inside, do you think you can hide and not come out until I come for you?” Sean asked.

Her lips trembled, and the soft quiver in her voice broke his heart. “I’m good at hiding. It takes Grandpa forever to find me.”

He tucked her behind him, hoping his decision to save his wife wouldn’t cost Mia her life.





Amanda’s lungs locked as Win leaned over her with the knife. He slid the back side of the blade across her breasts. The metal chilled her skin. Her heart banged against her breastbone as if her ribs would crack like ice. When Win reached behind her to slice her binds, relief coursed through her bloodstream, and her body sagged as the tension ebbed.

Win’s sour breath wafted across her cheek, and his right eye twitched.

When had he had his last fix of whatever stimulant he was using? She’d been a model before she met and married Sean. She’d had a few friends who used cocaine to stay skinny. She knew the shooting-star trajectory of an amphetamine addict on a high. When this psycho crashed, the situation was going to get even uglier.

Win dragged her to the door. He yanked her back to his body and wrapped his forearm around her windpipe. His erection ground into her lower back, and the knife brushed the skin at the side of her neck. Using her as a shield, he stepped out onto the back porch.

Choking against the pressure on her throat, Amanda grabbed his forearm with both hands and pinned it to her collarbone, as Sean had taught her the many times they’d practiced basic self-defense. She let her body weight sag to keep his wrist bone off her windpipe and turned her chin toward the crook of his elbow. The scant inch of space she created allowed her to breathe.

“I know you’re out there,” Win yelled to the forest. “I saw your footprints. Give yourself up. I want you, the kid, and my uncle in the next ten minutes, or I’m going to rape your wife. And that isn’t the worst I’ll do. When I’m done with her, she’ll be worse than dead.” He ran the sharp edge of the blade across Amanda’s neck. Blood welled hot from the shallow cut and dripped down onto her chest. “Ten minutes.”

He dragged her back inside.

Amanda barely felt the warmth of the kitchen. Her brain and body floated in a chilly fog of surreal disconnect. Sean was out there. She could feel him. His fury radiated from the trees, filling the air.

Just as Win’s excitement filled the kitchen, his eagerness to hurt her was palpable and profane in the homey kitchen. Under the metallic, raw scent of blood, the smell of fresh scones lingered.

Win still held her by the neck. As he pulled her sideways, her body tilted at an awkward angle. She lost her grip on his forearm, and her feet kept tripping over each other.

He dropped her suddenly. She fell to her knees. Though her kneecaps hit the tile hard, she felt nothing. On the porch, numbness had spread through her body like a morphine drip. Was her fear separating her from her body in self-defense, preparing her for the horror to come?

No, she refused to consider that Win would get his chance. Sean would come. But what could he do? No matter how much she protested, he’d trade his life for hers in an instant. She knew that with complete certainty. It was the way he was wired. But there was no way he would give up a child for any reason. Nor would he sacrifice any of the other hostages.