In the middle of the biggest crisis of her life, Cora had given in to her basic, physical needs. She didn’t understand what was wrong with her. She couldn’t deny the electricity between them, but hormones meant nothing. Sexual attraction didn’t mean they could trust each other. The way he looked into her eyes didn’t mean he actually wanted to help her find her dad.
“I will not fall for him!” The man, after all, could be using her emotions to trick her into staying here with him. She felt overwhelmed . . . she couldn’t trust herself when she felt emotionally involved.
She rushed through the front door of the cabin and shut it firmly behind her.
How could she help her father while stuck out in the middle of nowhere? Did Jerry risk his life just so the Holloways could hold her right where they could find her? She couldn’t stay here.
Nick gave a heartfelt and earnest argument, but she couldn’t forget where he came from and who trained him. As a reporter, she needed to use her head, not just her heart. She had to listen to more than the ache growing inside.
“Cora?” Nick called from on the other side of the door.
“I don’t know if I can talk to you right now.”
Imagine if he could look at her and read everything in her mind.
“Please, Cora, don’t turn your back on me. I want to help you. You’re stealing my heart.”
Stealing? “I don’t steal, and neither does my father.”
Her voice sounded icy cold, even to her. She needed that; she needed to push him away. He didn’t answer right away.
“You’re right, bad word choice. Okay, starting over. I’m falling for you and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it.”
What if he really did feel something for her? So far he hadn’t done anything to back up his feelings besides kiss her. If, however, he did feel something, she should be able to convince him to help her.
She stepped away from the door, opened it, and faced him. “Prove you’re on my side. I want information and I want it now.”
He exhaled slowly, searching her face. “Keith gave Jerry one week from last night to come up with the full missing amount.”
A week? Cora backed away from the door and let him come in. Nick was just too damn tall, and she didn’t like to look up at him while trying to argue. He followed suit when she sat down on one of the wooden chairs. They both left the door open for light.
“Is there any chance this is just an error, a mistake in the books? My dad can fix something like that.” Cora knew she was grabbing at straws, but that seemed to be all she had.
“They tore those books apart . . . your father wouldn’t mess up on his worse day. He’s meticulous.”
Then how did he miss a million dollars? She wondered if there was any way her dad was guilty; her doubt passed as quickly as it came. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I didn’t want to worry you. I’m trying to figure this out.”
“Worry me?” His judgment worried her. “Is there any possible way that Jerry can get that kind of money?”
Nick’s doubtful expression revealed his answer. She asked, “Can you really keep me here?”
Despair crossed his fine features. Quietly he said, “Let’s not go that far.”
“We are that far. I’m leaving to find my father and help him. Are you coming with me or not?”
The light went out. Nick and Cora both jumped as if a door had slammed. Alexander was standing in the doorway.
Completely ignoring Nick, Alexander looked at Cora and asked, “Conspiring with the enemy?”
Standing with the sunlight behind him, Alexander looked even more evil. Nick jumped to his feet. Cora felt sick, like she’d drank sour milk. She had almost convinced Nick!
Alexander walked in and threw his bag on the table. “I had a feeling I couldn’t leave you two alone. So I’m going to join your little party.”
She rose, slowly and quietly, and took off for the door. Alexander grabbed her arm.
She screamed as he pulled her back. Suddenly Nick was right on top of them. “Get your hands off her!”
“Sit down,” Alexander ordered while pushing Cora over to the couch and tossing her down. Dust flew up in the air. “Both of you.”
He pulled out a hidden gun and waved it at Nick, and then at her.
Nick took three steps to the couch and sat on the edge, shielding Cora from Alexander.
“Keith doesn’t hold much trust for you, Nick, and rightly so. I can’t believe I almost left.”
He noticed the lamp, lit it with the matches on the table, and sat in one of the wooden chairs. She had expected to feel better with the light shining, but now she could see his face. His eyes looked black in the harsh light.
“Didn’t think to bring any magazines?” He laughed and lit a cigar, sending sickening sweet smoke into the small shack.
“What are you doing out here?” Nick asked.
Alexander didn’t give a reason, but asked, “What about you? I don’t believe that sorry story for one minute.”
Nothing could have hidden the cold hatred the two men felt for each other. Worse than that, she didn’t think she could hide her fear from Alexander. He seemed to be staring at her. Only a few minutes passed before sweat broke out on her forehead. She couldn’t breathe.
“I need to lie down,” she said.
Nick turned to her and said her name as she rose. Alexander didn’t tell her to sit down so she walked between them towards the beds. At least they were behind the partition.
She knew both Alexander and Nick watched her retreat; somehow her wobbly legs didn’t collapse under her. Behind the wall, she slumped to the floor beside the worn out twin bed and waited.
Though they tried to keep their voices low, their efforts didn’t do much in the tiny shack. Nick didn’t hide his anger at Alexander’s arrival or at his treatment of Cora. Alexander only responded with smug remarks and hints that Keith gave Alexander more information.
If Keith didn’t trust Nick, maybe that meant that she could. His family truly had ousted him and replaced him with Alexander. However, she still didn’t know if Nick only pretended to want back into his family, or if he wanted to regain his father’s confidence for real. The possibility of the latter put her in a very dangerous situation, one with no one helping her and everyone using her.
Alexander probably knew her father’s whereabouts, but she’d have to employ a game of her own to get it out of him.
The hostility outside her room became so thick she worried it would turn to violence soon. Thankfully, Nick left the cabin.
She pulled herself up and looked around the wall. Alexander was leaning back, looking her direction and puffing on another cigar.
“Cora.”
Her bravery slipped away as he stared at her. It was a glittering, assessing look, made more snake like by the lamp. She had to put her fear aside.
“Can you tell me where my father is?”
Exasperation flickered across his face. He studied her another minute before answering. “I don’t know exactly where he is now, but he’s investigating friends of the Holloways.”
That was more than Nick could tell her. It gave her hope.
“What do you think about them?” she asked.
He leaned forward with a new expression spread across his face. “I doubt anyone will confess and give him the money.”
“Then why?” she asked. “Why did Keith send Jerry on such an impossible task? Why am I out here?”
It took willpower to stay there, looking at him, talking to him. Right now he looked smug.
“Keith gave him time to bring back the money he stole. No one believes someone else stole it.”
“I believe him.” Cora hid behind the wall, feeling faint, but she couldn’t give up when he was talking. Me and you, dad. She clutched the edge of the wall and managed to pull in a couple breaths. That steadied her a bit. She looked back at Alexander and found him waiting for her to go on. “C
ould you find him if you had to?”
“Of course, that’s my job.” He smiled and studied her face before adding, “If you want to find your father, I’m the only one who can help you. Nick left eight years ago and doesn’t have a clue who stole that much money from the Holloways. I’ve got the knowledge and the skills.” He hopelessly attempted a look of compassion. “You’ll need me if you try to get out of here.”
She crept back behind the wall. Suddenly he was standing right in front of her.
“Don’t trust Nick, whatever you do. He’s got his eye on you, and I don’t know what he’s thinking. I’m not sure he’s involved in this to help his father.”
The wall blocked the light, which left his face dark. She stepped back and bumped into the bed. “That’s what he…” she stopped short, before she revealed too much. Why did Nick and Alexander both think the same thing about the other? “What do you mean?”
He stepped closer, so close she felt his breath on her face. She stared at his throat to avoid looking into his face. With her legs against the bed, she couldn’t step away. He leaned in, tilting his head. “I know he worked too hard in law school to walk away from it, and that’s what he’s telling Keith.”
It felt like he was almost talking against her face. Cora shook her head and reached out for something, anything, to steady herself. Her knees weren’t listening to her. “I really have to lie down.”
He stepped closer until he was right against her, and pulled her into him. “No, get away from me!”
“I mean it, Cora. Ask for my help if you try to go after your father.”
It had to be seventy or eighty degrees in the cabin but her teeth chattered like it was thirty.
“Where’s Nick?”
“Hard to say.” His voice was flat, emotionless. That scared her more than his smug tone before. “He left his family before. Maybe he left you out here with me.”
With that, Alexander released her and left. She fell on the bed, rolled on her side and curled up, wondering how she could ever get out of the cabin with Alexander around. Worse than that, he could come back any minute.
Nick wouldn’t leave. He couldn’t, not after everything he said.
She realized she was rocking and stopped. She lay perfectly still and listened. Had Alexander left without her hearing? She didn’t look for fear that he might be right there waiting for her. He made her skin crawl and she worried about what he was thinking. He didn’t hurt her or take advantage of her, yet. He could have but he backed off. Suddenly she wondered if he was toying with her just for fun.
It might have been one hour, or several, when she finally heard a noise in the cabin.
There were footsteps. She could hear Nick and Alexander talking, followed by noise in the kitchen. Finally, Nick brought food to her and knelt by her bed.
“Sorry I had to leave. I tried to get a signal to see if I could find anything out.”
She sat up, trying to see him. “Well?”
“Keith said to sit tight.” He dropped his voice down to a barely audible whisper. “I asked him why Alexander was up here watching us instead of keeping tabs on Jerry, and that surprised him. At least, he acted surprised.”
Maybe Keith had told Alexander to tail Jerry, and instead he came out here. She didn’t say anything to Nick.
He rose to his feet. “I’ll let you eat.”
She had to force food down her throat; she wasn’t hungry but wanted to keep her strength up. One way or another, she would find a way to escape.
Her thoughts swirled around her in the dark that night. She guessed it was night anyway. Nick didn’t come to sleep in the other bed. She didn’t hear them at all.
Everyone was lying to everyone else. She couldn’t trust Nick. Alexander had told her some useful information, but he clearly had some ulterior motives. Maybe he wanted to make Nick look bad, or get rid of Jerry, or both. She guessed he had included her in his plan.
She slowly made her way to a light sleeping state. Only minutes later, or what seemed like minutes, a touch pulled her harshly back into the dark, small room.
She smelled Nick and was starting to say his name when his hand gently covered her mouth.
“Cora, we have to get out of here.”
He wasn’t whispering. Where was Alexander? She pushed him away. “What will happen to Jerry if I disappear?”
“Do you want to know what will happen to you if Jerry doesn’t repay that money?” He leaned close. “That’s why Alexander’s here.”
“Does Keith think you couldn’t do away with me?” she asked. He shook his head and started to say something. She interrupted. “Nick, I can’t leave. They’ll kill Jerry.”
“Alexander will kill you.”
If only she could see his face. Did he really believe that? As much as Alexander scared her, she wasn’t sure he was capable of murder (maybe eighty percent sure). Nick said her name and waited. Alexander had made it sound like he could help her find Jerry. What if she couldn’t find her dad without Alexander?
“I don’t know…” It was ironic that she was wavering now when he finally agreed to take her back to Eugene, if that was what he was offering.
“I’m sorry, Cora.”
“You say that a lot.” She started to roll over, away from him, but his hand stopped her.
He clamped something over her mouth and nose. . . there wasn’t a breath to scream with.
Chapter Seven