Page 61 of Bolt's Flame

“Don’t bother,” he said calmly. “There’s no way out of here.”

I turned to face him, my heart pounding in my chest as tears blurred my vision. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I love you,” he replied simply, his eyes flicking to the rearview mirror as he pulled onto the road. “You were always meant to be mine. Horse stole you from me.”

I pressed myself against the door, my mind racing to find a way out of this nightmare. But every move I made, every desperate glance I threw at him, he only seemed to tighten his grip on the steering wheel.

“Boots, Caroline is my mother. I’m her daughter Fiona,” I reasoned, trying to get through to him.

He laughed, a cold, empty sound that echoed in the confined space of the car. “Horse never deserved you, and that’s why you went away.”

“That’s not true,” I interrupted, my voice rising in frustration. “Caroline died in a car accident.”

“Liar!” he shouted, slamming his fist against the dashboard. The sudden movement made me jump in shock. “You ran away from Horse that day because he couldn’t protect you.”

Tears streamed down my face as I tried to come up with a plan of escape. The fear was overwhelming, but I knew I had to stay strong and clearheaded. Boots was suffering from a mental delusion, and I had to tread carefully.

As the car sped further away from the clubhouse and everything familiar, a single tear slipped down my cheek.

How was this my life?

It wasn’t long before we were pulling into an abandoned hotel parking lot and Boots jumped out, coming around to open the passenger door. “Come on Caroline,” he said, pulling me out, his hold on my arm iron tight.

“Boot’s please,” I begged, jerking against his hold. “It’s me Fiona.”

But it was like he didn’t hear me and opened the door leading me into the building. “I have a room ready for you, Caroline,” he said, looking down at me with a smile. “In here.”

He led me into one of the old hotel rooms, where he had cleaned and put fresh bedding on the bed. “We’ll stay here until it’s safe to leave,” he said, leading me to the bed, and giving me a gentle push to sit. “I won’t let Horse steal you from me again. No fuckin’ way.”

His hand reached out to caress my face, his eyes roaming over me. “You’re so pretty. I remember the first time I saw you... standin’ under that tree, just starin’ at the water. I couldn’t take my eyes off you,” he whispered, still caressing my face gently. “I was ready to make my move, but that fucking Horse beat me to it. God, how I hated him for that and then always seein’ you two together. But now it’s our turn, Caroline.”

“Boots, I’m not Caroline,” I tried again. Surely there was a way to make him see. Suddenly, I saw a shadow in the doorway. Before I could even let out a whimper, much less scream, a gunshot sounded, and Boots fell to the floor.

“Should have listened to her Boots,” James chuckled, pointing the gun at me. “She’s not Caroline.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

THE FIRST THINGI noticed when I walked into the clubhouseafter hours of us staking out our borders was the silence. A feeling of unease settled in my gut, and I scanned the room, looking for her.

“Where’s Fiona?” I asked, my voice cutting through the silence.

Devil looked up from where he was sitting at the bar, his face grim. “Josie and Barbie said she went outside to get some tomatoes from the garden. He was watching her from the window, only looked away for a few minutes when he heard a crash in the kitchen.”

My heart stopped, a cold chill running down my spine. “She wasn’t supposed to be left alone.”

Josie’s jaw clenched, regret flashing in his eyes. “I had my eyes on her. I only looked away for a few minutes and then when I looked back out, she was gone. I went looking for her right away, but it’s like she vanished.”

“He’s got her,” I snarled, already moving toward the door.

“Horse and some of the others are scouring the woods out back and hitting the highways,” Devil informed me. “I’m working on notifying all our contacts to be on the lookout for them.”

I pushed through the door, my eyes scanning the lot, the shadows, the trees lining the property, and ran toward the wooded area, joining the others searching. I called out her name. My voice seemed even louder in the silence. Nothing. No answer. No sign of her.

Panic clawed at my chest, my mind racing with a thousand horrible scenarios. I couldn’t let myself think the worst, couldn’t let myself believe that she was gone. But every second that ticked by without a sign of her felt like a nail in the coffin.

I searched every inch of the surrounding forest, every dark corner, every shadowed space, but there was no trace of her. It was like she’d vanished into thin air, and the realization of just how real this was and James... fuck, he had her.

I sprinted back into the clubhouse, shoving past anyone in my way until I found Devil. “He had to have someone on the inside,” I said, my voice raw, barely controlled. “We had the clubhouse and grounds secured.”

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