“Maybe it wasn’t you that he wanted,” Dillon said thoughtfully. “Maybe he’s got what he wants right now.”

  Mac rubbed his eyes, working to keep calm in the face of the danger to Rachael and Addie. “Either way. I have no clue what’s going on in his head except that he knows that I know what he did.

  “So, yeah,” he said, after loading the magazine and injecting it into the grip of the Ruger. “I think I’m going to need the gun.”

  “It’s time to call for backup,” Dillon said carefully.

  Dillon had been wanting to call law enforcement ever since they’d left Manhattan. Mac hadn’t let him. He’d wanted to make certain that he got to Rachael and Addie without any interference from the city or state police or the military police, who, no doubt, were combing the city for him by now. He was officially an escaped prisoner, soon to be an escaped felon if Ian got his wish.

  “Not yet,” he’d told Dillon as they’d cleared the city limits. “There’s bound to be a couple of ‘by the bookers’ in the mix who’ll want to arrest me on site the minute they catch up to us. I can’t take the chance that they won’t believe me and arrest us both – you, for aiding and abetting an escaped criminal, and me for getting away from them and royally ticking them off. Then Rachael and Addie will be defenseless.”

  “Mac,” Dillon, said again more forcefully. “It’s time. We need that backup. And we’d better request an ambulance, just in case.”

  He didn’t want to think about that, but he knew Dillon was right.

  “Fine,” he said. “Make your call.” Nothing was going to keep him from Rachael and Addie now.

  He listened with half an ear as Dillon connected with the city police and related the story to them. There was shouting on both ends by the time he hung up.

  “Sounds like that went well.”

  Dillon swore under his breath. “They’re on their way.”

  “Happy about it, too, I gather.”

  “Let’s just say, we’re both going to have a lot of explaining to do when this is over.”

  Yeah, Mac thought. When this was over. When this was over and he was holding his wife and daughter, safe in his arms.

  “I like this,” Ian said, sitting on the rug on the floor in front of the fire, playing blocks with Addie. “No TV noise. No distractions. Just us. Just the family together, connecting over wooden blocks.

  He smiled over at Rachael where she sat next to Addie. She refused to let Addie out of her reach, even when Ian had lifted her out of the highchair after dinner.

  “Not hungry?” he’d asked, settling Addie on his hip. “You hardly touched your soup. Or didn’t you like it?”

  “I liked it,” she assured him. “Just … I just don’t have much of an appetite tonight.”

  “Are you feeling okay? If you want to go lie down and rest, I’ll keep Addie occupied.”

  “No. No, I’m fine. Just a lot has happened today.” She wasn’t letting Addie out of her sight.

  “The first day of many,” Ian said with a smile. Clearly he’d already moved on and thought that she had too. Apparently he’d lived in his fantasy world for so long, he’d decided she would go along with his plans.

  “I was thinking,” he said wistfully. “Maybe tomorrow we could go on a road trip.”

  “Road trip?”

  “Yeah. Take off for parts unknown for a week or so. Maybe more. See the country.”

  “I … I can’t go on a trip, Ian.” Rachael hoped her protest sounded reasonable. “I have to go back to work Monday.”

  “Actually, you don’t. I called in for you. Took you off the schedule. Told them to consider this your resignation.”

  She blinked. Swallowed. “You … did what?”

  “You don’t need that job anymore, Red. I’ll take care of you. I’ll take care of both of you. You don’t have to worry about money ever again.”

  He truly was lost somewhere in his own fabricated world. He didn’t sense her fear. Didn’t sense that she was not agreeing with him. Didn’t care about anything but what he had planned.

  “We’ll just disappear. How does that sound?” he added as he placed a block on the growing tower Addie was building. “Leave all of this fuss about Mac behind.”

  Fuss about Mac. That’s all Mac’s imprisonment was to him? A fuss?

  It wouldn’t do any good to reason with him. He had it all planned out. Mac rotted in prison. She became his wife. Addie became his daughter.

  “Maybe we’ll even head out of the country. Would you like that Addie?” he asked, smiling at her. “Would you like to fly in a great big plane and visit a foreign country?”

  Addie giggled when he spread his arms wide and pretended to move like a plane.

  “Brd,” Addie said which had Ian dissolving into laughter. “Close enough,” he told her and turned to Rachael. “I think we have our answer. She wants to go. What about you, Red? Do you want to do some traveling?”

  She forced herself to regroup. She had to stay calm. He was beyond rational. And while he’d been on his best behavior since he’d made Addie cry, she sensed that the wrong look, the wrong word, could set him off again like dynamite. And she couldn’t risk him getting angry.

  “We can’t leave the country without our passports.”

  His smile was smug. “That’s why I brought them along.”

  She sucked in a breath. “You … brought them?”

  “Lucky for me, you kept both yours and Addie’s in your lingerie drawer. Not a good choice,” he admonished her, “but it worked out for me. We’re set. I think we’ll leave in the morning.”

  “What about the army?” she asked, wondering how he’d explain that he was no longer enlisted.

  “I have a surprise I’ve been saving for you. I retired. I’m my own man now.”

  The look on her face must have given her away.

  “But you knew that, didn’t you?” His expression hovered somewhere between surprise and anger. “How did you know that?”

  “I … I didn’t.”

  He searched her eyes. His smile faded. “I’m going to find all sorts of interesting things when I check the history on your laptop, aren’t I? You know what? It doesn’t matter. I can be a very patient man, Rachael. I think I’ve proven that over the past several years. I’ve waited for you. I’ve planned for this. Do I wish the transition would have come about more naturally? Of course. But it was coming, wasn’t it? I know you were starting to feel closer to me. Last night. When you slept with me on the sofa? You knew what was happening between us. You knew the sexual chemistry was there. God, if you only knew how difficult it’s been for me to keep my hands off you. But I understand. Those kinds of feelings for me are new to you. You’ll have to get used to them.”

  She looked away.

  “Come on, Rachael. You can’t deny it. Just like you can’t deny that I made myself indispensable. I cooked for you. I cleaned up for you. I even went to see Mac for you. Do you know how difficult that was? Pretending I was his friend when all I wanted – all I ever wanted – was to get him out of the way and have you for myself?”

  She didn’t know where the tears came from. They just boiled up, spilled over and she couldn’t stop them.

  “Tears for Mac?” he said, sarcastically. “Come on, Red. He gave up. Gave up on himself and on you. He rolled over and as good as died. How can you love a man like that?

  She shook her head. Wiped at the tears, pulled herself back together.

  “I have the answer if you want to hear it. Actually I think you need to hear it. A man who gives up on someone like you, isn’t a man in my book.”

  “You set him up. You framed him,” she lashed out, then wished she hadn’t.

  “A stronger man never would have let that happen,” he snapped, his rage boiling near the surface. “It was a test. To see if he was deserving. And he failed. Miserably. Isn’t that right, Addie?” He turned to Addie with a smile when he realized she’d stopped playing and was looking from him to Rachael with big round eyes. “Mac was a failure. Can you say F--?”

  “Stop!” Rachael picked up Addie and set her on her lap. “I don’t want to hear any more. And leave Addie alone.”

  It was exactly the wrong thing to do.

  “Fine,” he roared, shooting to his feet. “Let’s just shut you in the bedroom for a while, let you think about everything I’ve done for you. Let you figure out a way to appreciate what a strong man will do to get the woman he loves.”

  “You don’t love me,” she shot back, rising to her feet and holding Addie close. “You just want something you couldn’t have.”

  “Couldn’t have?” He laughed. “You may have noticed. I have you right now. Just like I have Mac. Exactly where I want him.”

  He reached out to grab her arm but a loud crash made Rachael jump and stumble backwards as the cabin door flew open and slammed against the wall.

  She blinked, blinked again, not believing what she saw.

  Mac.

  He stood in the threshold, breathing hard, his hair and shoulders covered in frozen snow as his gaze assessed her and Addie to make sure they were all right.

  “Right where you want me?” he asked, turning his attention to Ian. “And where, exactly, is that?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Mac reached for her as Rachael lunged toward him.

  Ian was too fast. He stopped her in one long stride, grabbed her by the hair and jerked her roughly back against him.

  She choked back a scream as he wrapped a forearm around her neck, the other arm around her waist, encompassing both her and Addie, and positioning them between him and Mac.

  “Don’t come any closer,” Ian warned Mac.

  Mac stopped in his tracks with the sofa between them. He caught Rachael’s gaze, questioned. Are you okay?

  She had no idea how he’d found them. How he’d gotten out of prison. All that mattered right now, this very moment, was that he was here. He looked strong and steady and oh, God, she’d never been so glad to see anyone in her entire life.

  She gave him a clipped nod, letting him know she was okay while Addie cried as though her heart were broken.

  “It’s over, Ian. Let them go.”

  Ian’s grip tightened. “Over? Buddy, it’s far from over. Now stay where you are because you don’t want to know what happens to them if you come any closer.”

  Tightening his forearm around her neck until she gasped, Ian reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. With an adeptness honed from years of practice, one click opened the blade and he pressed it against her throat.

  Fighting for calm, she swallowed hard when she felt the tip of the blade against her skin.

  “You don’t want to hurt us, Ian,” she managed shakily. “Addie. You know you don’t want to hurt Addie. You love her. You love me.”

  “But it’s the same old story, right?” Ian’s voice hovered on the edge of madness. “You don’t care about what I feel.”

  “I do. We do,” she insisted. If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it. “You know how much Addie adores you. And… I’ve come to realize that you’re right. I…I heard what you said. I see now that … that I’ve made bad choices. That you can be everything we need.”

  If her words registered, he still didn’t show it.

  “Drop the gun, Mac. Do it!” Ian screamed when Mac held his ground. “You think I won’t hurt her? You think I haven’t died a thousand deaths watching you with her all these years? Knowing she slept in your bed? Knowing I’d never have her the way you have her?”

  He tightened his hold. Rachael closed her eyes, tried to control her breathing as the tip of the knife pressed painfully into her neck. She gasped when the knife pricked, drew blood and the warm wetness of it trickled down her throat.

  “Now drop it or I cut her throat. It’s that simple.”

  “Okay. Okay.” Mac raised his hands, keeping his voice calm as Addie wailed and struggled in her mother’s arms. “I’ll put it down. Just don’t hurt them”

  “Wait.” Rachael swallowed, her voice shaking.

  Mac’s face registered his shock. What are you doing?

  “Ian, let Addie go first. Please,” Rachael pleaded, near tears. “She’s an innocent child. Just a baby. You don’t want to hurt her. And when we leave together … she’ll slow us down. We can move much faster without her. Let her go, then Mac will put down the gun. Otherwise she might get shot accidentally. You don’t want that to happen. I know you don’t want her hurt.”

  Rachael still couldn’t tell if he was listening. She could barely hear above the blood pounding in her ears and Addie’s terrified screams. But she had to keep trying to get Addie out of harm’s way.

  “Please, Ian,” she begged. “Let her go. Mac will put the gun down. Then we can leave. Together.”

  “But she’s mine,” he growled next to her ear.

  “Yes. Yes, she is. And when this is all over, the courts will give us custody,” Rachael reasoned, feeding his crazed fantasy. “Mac will be back in prison. No one will believe his word over yours. And … and if you let Addie go now, it will show how much you care about her. How you wouldn’t let her get caught in the crossfire...like Mac is willing to do.”

  The pressure from the knife let up marginally and she knew she’d finally gotten his attention.

  She gulped in a much-needed breath as Addie’s sobs filled the cabin.And she waited, while Ian considered her words.

  “I’ll be your wife, remember?” She kept pressing, convincing, feeding his delusions. “I won’t be able to testify against you. We just have to get past this moment and keep Addie safe.”

  She felt the breath he’d been holding ease out of his body. “And you’ll come with me?”

  “Yes. Yes, I’ll come. We’ll…we’ll go away together. Like you said. Until Mac is back behind bars and convicted of murder. Then it will be safe to come back for Addie.”

  His big body seemed to shiver, then relax. He pressed his cheek against the side of her face. “Tell me you love me. Tell me you want this.”

  She swallowed hard but didn’t hesitate. “I love you. I do want this. Sometimes it takes something frightening to make a person realize how wrong they’ve been. When I think about it… it was always you. I just … I just made a poor choice, a bad decision when I chose Mac over you.”

  She’d selected her words carefully. Making Ian think he’d convinced her that she had made bad choices, choices he would be happy to correct in the future.

  “You hear that, Mac? She loves me. Not you.”

  Her gaze was locked on Mac’s, telling him without words to back off. To let this play out and get Addie away from Ian.

  Mac stood motionless.

  Ian lifted his head. “All right,” he said finally. “He can have Addie. But only for now.”

  Rachael didn’t wait to get clarification. With the knife still at her throat, she loosened her hold on Addie, set her terrified daughter on the sofa, and backed away.

  “MummMumm,” Addie cried, holding out her arms for Rachael as Mac set the gun on the side table and quickly scooped Addie into his arms.

  Mac’s heart raced with relief as he hugged his daughter tightly against him, attempting to comfort her by shushing softly against her ear. “It’s okay, baby. Daddy’s got you.”

  “MummMumm,” Addie whimpered, exhausted from crying but not about to give up on expressing her fear. She hadn’t seen her daddy in a very long time and she struggled against him wanting only her mother, not understanding the danger but sensing it with every little cry she made.

  “It’s okay, sweetie,” Rachael said, trying to keep her voice calm and soothing. “Daddy’s got you. Daddy loves you.”

  Rachael’s words and the controlled cadence of her voice seemed to penetrate, at least a little. Addie quit struggling and because she was worn out and done in, and for lack of anything else to hold on to, she wrapped her little arms around Mac’s neck and clung.

  Feeling more love for Addie than he thought his heart could hold and more pride in Rachael than she’d ever know, Mac backed away from the sofa and the danger that Ian still represented to both of them.

  She’s so smart, he thought, holding her gaze. I’ll get you out of this, he promised with his eyes.

  “Pick up the gun,” Ian ordered Rachael.

  His voice cut into the suddenly still moment as Addie heaved a huge sigh and her tension dissolved. She’d fallen asleep, Mac realized as she melted against him, her sweet breath fanning his neck.

  My child. My child, he thought over and over as he locked his eyes with Rachael’s and promised again. I’ll get you out of this.

  “The gun,” Ian ordered again and with the knife still at Rachael’s throat, walked her slowly to the end table.

  Mac couldn’t get to her. Not without risking Addie. Not without risking Rachael herself. To keep Ian calm, he stepped slowly backwards toward the open door, knowing that Dillon was outside on the porch, keeping out of sight until Mac signaled him for help.

  The plan had been to flank the cabin, front and back and assess the threat – were they hurt? Unconscious? Bound?

  But then he’d heard Ian’s voice. Angry. Aggressive. He’d looked through the window and had seen him spring to his feet, clearly angry at Rachael and the plan went to hell.

  He’d burst inside. His only thought was to get Rachael and Addie away from Ian hoping the element of surprise would catch him off guard and he could take him down.

  But Ian had been a good soldier. His reflexes were too fast. He had Rachael and Addie trapped against him and a knife to Rachael’s throat before Mac could reach them.

  Now, Ian would have his gun. His fully loaded gun.

  And while Mac had his child, Ian still had his wife.

  “Let Rachael go,” Mac said softly, so as not to wake Addie. “Let’s settle this like men.”

  Ian dropped the knife to the floor and grabbed the gun from Rachael’s hand. He pointed it directly at Mac’s heart. “You heard the lady. She doesn’t consider you a man. She wants to be with me. Tell him Rachael.”