He didn’t wait for her response. Turning on his heels, he headed for the cabin’s front door and didn’t stop until he’d disarmed the alarm and stepped into the biting cold. Silent flakes fell around him as he stared out into the trees from the front porch. He could still taste her on his mouth, the slight hint of chocolate mixed with sugar and butter from the cookie dough on the back of his tongue. What the hell had he been thinking, kissing her while his son was out there in the hands of his abductor? That was the problem when it came to Ana. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t remember to breathe. Logic and self-preservation didn’t exist when he got close to her, but knowing now that she hadn’t felt the same way toward him as he had for her, that cleared up a lot of confusion. Back then he’d wanted, he’d taken, and he hadn’t given a damn about the consequences. Only now he had Owen and Olivia to think about, and his son would be the only one to pay the price if he let himself slip again.
He forced one foot in front of the other down the steps. Benning kicked through the six inches or so of snow toward the remains of a tree stump and pile of firewood along the side of the cabin. Wrapping his stiffening fingers around the handle of an ax embedded in the stump, he pulled the blade free. Muscle memory kicked in as he used the weight of the ax head to slide his hand lower on the handle and centered a log upright on the stump. Calluses from the thousands of times he’d chopped wood on his own property frictioned against the wooden handle. He’d lived his entire life in Sevierville, taken over his father’s inspection business and worked the twenty acres of land he’d inherited from his parents with his own two hands. No matter what’d come his way, he’d found a way to keep his family’s heads above water and food on the table, but he couldn’t fix this. Couldn’t make Ana feel something she didn’t want to feel.
“Seven years.” He rotated his shoulder as he swung the ax blade back and around. The crack of wood filled his ears as the log split down the middle and fell to either side of the stump. The breath he’d been holding rushed out of him, instantly freezing just beyond his mouth. The sun had gone down, the cabin’s motion-detecting lights washing over him and the snow around him, but the weight of being watched never surfaced. Ana had most likely gone to do exactly what she’d said she would. Run background checks on Britland Construction employees and shut out everything that didn’t matter to the investigation. Including him. Sweat built at the base of his spine as he swung again. And again. Exhaustion, exertion, guilt. Fatigue worked through his muscles after a dozen swings, but he wouldn’t stop. Not until he got his head back on straight. Although one thing was certain now: as soon as he and Ana brought his son home—ended this nightmare—he’d be the one to walk away.
Yet, for a brief moment she’d kissed him back.
A twig snapped somewhere beyond the tree line to his right, and Benning slowed the ax’s next arc. The blade swept across his pant leg as he scanned the darkness ahead for the source. Out here, this far up against the mountains, outlined black bear territory. He tightened his hold on the ax between both hands as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Taking a step back, he listened for any other sign of movement.
Then pain exploded across his head from behind, and the world went black.
Chapter Six
Her middle finger hung poised above her laptop keyboard as she forced herself to read, for the third or fourth time, each and every Britland Construction employee name TCD had forwarded on, but none of the names registered. She couldn’t focus. Couldn’t ignore the bright warning of motion-sensor detection from the south side of the cabin on the right side of her screen. Benning had stormed out so fast, she hadn’t gotten the chance to disarm the sensors, but from the soft rhythmic thumping coming from outside, she imagined he’d found the firewood and ax.
She’d confirmed his retelling of events with a digital copy of the Sevierville police report filed last night. Site security had called police after shots had been fired by an unknown shooter in a black ski mask, who’d escaped before officers arrived, but they hadn’t gotten a clear look at the man who’d been on the other end of the barrel before he’d run. Benning.
I need the woman I fell in love with... Not the empty shell she’s trying to become.
He’d fallen in love with her. Ana gripped the edges of the countertop until her knuckles whitened against the translucent skin there. Hints of dropping temperatures bled through the windows, but it was the cold sliding through her insides that kept her cemented in place. Benning had fallen in love with her seven years ago, but he didn’t think she was capable of feeling anything for him. Didn’t think she cared about the little boy he’d asked her to find. Isn’t that what he’d said? That she’d made disappearing in the middle of the night look easy. Because she was just an empty shell.
The kitchen lights flickered above, then died. Ana raised her gaze to the ceiling, her attention sliding down the walls toward the front door. The familiar LED light on the
