Page 14 of Frozen Secrets

The mask shifted, as though layering a wide smile. Lean curves came into focus as their attacker blocked a clear path back to the SUV. Toward them. “I was aiming for your spine.”

“What—what do you want?” Winnie’s breathing had sped up. Holding one hand out toward the approaching suspect, she backed into his chest. “Why are you trying to kill us?”

Adrial circled his good hand around her waist, holding her to him as though he could calm her racing pulse.

“Did you really think looking into the Lila Mercer case wasn’t going to cost you? It already cost your father, Winnie. I would think you’d want to avoid his fate. Lila is dead, and she’s going to stay that way.” Their attacker took another step. Then another. Crowding them onto the ice. “If that means I have to kill you both—” thin shoulders rose on a shrug, and the knife dropped to the suspect’s waistline in a loose grip “—it won’t cost me my beauty sleep.”

Adrial straightened. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

The mask shifted again, the attacker’s head cocking to one side. “It means Arthur Hutton didn’t listen when I warned him to back off, and I’ve lost my patience.”

Disbelief cracked Winnie’s expression, and Adrial could only tighten his hold on her to keep her from lunging directly toward that knife. “You—you killed him? You killed my dad?”

“Not much for me to kill, was there?” Another step closer. Now just mere feet between them. The ice wouldn’t hold both his and Winnie’s weight. They would either have to fight their way out, or risk the lake. Neither option guaranteed their escape, and he wouldn’t do anything to put Winnie in a position of choosing him over her own life. Ever. “Your dad had already lost everyone he cared about. No friends to speak of. Neighbors who couldn’t stand him. An entire town tired of listening to the ramblings of an old paranoid has-been, but yes. I’ll take credit for his final breaths. It was the least he deserved for what he’s done to my family.”

What Arthur had done? Adrial squeezed Winnie against him, his mind made up. His heel caught the edge of the ice. The once solid surface cracked, and it was only the start. One wrong move, and he’d lose Winnie all over again. He hadn’t been able to protect Katie and their baby. He wouldn’t fail Winnie. All he had to do was get her out of here. And he had the perfect weapon to do it. Lowering his mouth to Winnie’s ear, he ignored the sensation of rightness slithering through him. Of familiarity of having her scent in his nose and her body pressed against his. “You’re going to have three seconds to get clear. Go for the SUV. Don’t stop. No matter what you hear. Three.”

She jerked in his grasp. Her hair tickled the underside of his chin, every muscle in her back strung too tight. “What are you—”

“Two.” He angled his mouth over the shell of her ear, closing his eyes as she shivered in his hold. He’d missed this feeling. Of her in his arms. How she fit against him so perfectly. Like she was the missing half he’d been searching for since leaving Black Hollow all those years ago. Or maybe that he’d finally found the pieces he’d left behind. That feeling didn’t cheapen the love he’d felt for Katie or their future, but it was never more apparent than right now. With her. What he’d been missing on a cellular level.

The perpetrator shifted forward, like a leopard waiting in the grass to pounce on its prey. Adrial kept his eyes on that blade as he shifted his weight to his back foot.

Winnie’s fingernails dug into his gloves, making an impression past the leather. But she’d always left an impression on him. From the moment he’d followed her sobs to that locker in middle school, to the second he’d put eyes on her again in his office a few days ago, she’d taken up residence in his soul.

“One.” Adrial didn’t give her a chance to fight him, and threw Winnie behind him. A hard thud registered as she hit the ice, but he was already moving, putting himself between her and a killer. Sucking in a sharp breath, he grabbed for the blade in his shoulder and pulled it free. A gush of blood flowed freely, soaking his shirt as he charged.

He didn’t make it more than two steps.

As the second blade lodged in his thigh.

Adrial dropped, his grip on the weapon too loose. The blade hit the snow as he sank onto his hands and knees.

“I feel like I should be thanking you.” The killer crouched in front of him, retrieving the knife he’d lost. Swiping the metal against his jeans, she cleaned his blood from the surface before standing. “You’ve just made this a lot more fun.”

Craning his gaze over his shoulder, he followed Winnie’s escape across the ice. She wouldn’t be fast enough, and he… He wouldn’t be there to protect her. Adrial held on to consciousness as long as he could. But was consumed by the darkness.

Chapter Thirteen

Her lungs burned.

Her body ached from the impact against the ice.

And Adrial had done the one thing she’d asked him not to.

He’d thrown her out of the way. Taken on the threat alone to give her a fighting chance. He’d sacrificed himself, and she made the promise to herself—and him—right then that it wouldn’t be in vain. Sobs collected at the back of her throat.

She’d known. All these years she’d known the Lila Mercer case would kill her dad, but she’d never thought it would be like this. That someone would kill him for getting too close. Had he discovered a new lead? Had he identified the killer or recovered the missing evidence? Nothing in his notes had said as much, but there could be more boxes. More leads she hadn’t come across. He was gone. He’d left her here, and now, she was fighting a battle he’d started.

Her boot slid out from under her, and Winnie threw her hands out to balance herself. She wouldn’t give her tears life. She couldn’t deal with emotion right now, and once again, she became an empty shell, capable of shutting down in the blink of an eye. Just as she’d done when Henry and Darby took things too far all those years in school. When she couldn’t get her father to just look at her after her mother had died. When she’d gotten to Adrial’s empty apartment and realized he hadn’t ever planned on coming back for her.

She had to get to the SUV. Every retired cop she knew stored weapons in the least likely places, including their vehicles. Adrial would have something she could use. Because she wasn’t leaving him here. No matter how many times he begged her to save herself, she couldn’t inflict the hurt she’d survived on anyone else.

Her boots failed to grip the ice, and it took far more effort to keep her balance as fatigue set in. She was almost there. Just another hundred feet or so. It was a miracle the ice had held this long, but she’d avoided the patches where water had worn through as much as possible. The pops and echoes chased every step. One wrong shift of her weight, and it could all come crashing in around her, and she’d be sucked below the depths. But she wouldn’t stop. Adrial wouldn’t survive if she stopped.

He’d torn that blade from his shoulder, putting himself at risk for bleeding out. To protect her. To save her. Why? Every second resonated in her strained pulse and ticked off in her head. Too loud. Too much. Her fingers felt as though they’d caught fire, the burn tunneling straight into the bone. Residents of Black Hollow learned early on how to deal with below-freezing temperatures this far north, but she felt as though the wind charging down the mountains and across the ice was flaying the exposed skin from her body. Pinpricks chased across her face and stole feeling from her mouth and nose. She and Adrial had been out here too long. They wouldn’t last much longer.

The toe of her boot caught on a chunk of ice.