Page 3 of Phoenix

His loud voice cut through the fog, and I shook my head. “Just dandy, Captain. Let’s get this shit controlled.” I barreled forward, grabbing the bag of explosives and several fusees, handing the rest to two other jumpers. Hopefully, the railroad flares would be enough.

As I barreled into the woods, I could hear the captain screaming that I was supposed to wait for backup. That wasn’t my style. I was a loner, damn good at what I did, and no one was going to tell me what to do at this point in my career.

I turned in a full circle, determining the direction of the wind then shifted to the right. As I jumped over a fallen long, I tripped on debris on the other side. After tumbling forward, the fusee popped free of my hand and I immediately scrambled to grab it. As I jerked to my feet and turned around, all the breath was sucked out of me.

Two men lay face down on the ground. As I walked closer, the stench of blood and brain matter mixed with the smoke, bile immediately forming in my throat.

The two victims had been bludgeoned to death but only after they’d been shot several times.

* * *

“Ask any woman in an arranged marriage. Love is the least stressful way out.”

—Fay Weldon

Wren

“You have a date for the wedding. Mother won’t take no for an answer.”

That was the way my sister started our conversation. A date? Over my dead body.

“Then I’m not coming,” I told my baby sister, even if that wasn’t an option. I would never disappoint her. She’d been through far too much in her life and deserved all the happiness karma could provide.

“You’re my maid of honor.”

“You can find another.” I knew this was going to happen. Goddamn it, I hated my parents. They’d been trying to rule both our lives since birth. And they’d been far too effective.

It was Cammie’s wedding, but I was the one being fixed up, likely with the intention of pushing me into marrying the selected choice. I had no doubt the candidate of choice was a man of wealth, capable of providing me with a huge house and all the amenities while I provided a passel of kids.

I wasn’t mother material. I wasn’t interested in marriage either. To hell with my parents.

Marriage.

How could anyone stand to get hitched? Being stuck to one person the rest of my life wasn’t on my bucket list. Now, if the union was more like a lease on a car, allowing someone the capability of getting out in seven years, then maybe. However, my little sister was a romantic. She’d been the little girl to believe in fairytales, her pink room and pretty little white canopy bed suiting her personality. Meanwhile, I was the girl who shoved her long hair under a ball cap, insisting on playing outside with the boys. My skills playing baseball along with being a late bloomer had allowed me to fit right in.

Much to the chagrin of my parents.

Then I’d developed curves and suddenly, not one of the boys wanted to play those kinds of games.

“Very funny, big sis. You can handle it,” Cammie told me. “You’re superwoman.”

Uh-huh. I’d lived on my own since college, but my parents still treated me as if I was their possession. My sister had called a superhero for as long as I could remember. I hated it because most of the time I felt as if I was a complete failure. Even though I’d found the courage to move away from my home to another state, I’d still followed the Tillman family rules as if they were gospel.

Sighing, I stared out the windshield into the darkness as the snow began to pick up in intensity. Then I quickly glanced at the GPS on my phone, cursing the fact I’d taken advice from someone I didn’t know who’d ensured me that this road was a shortcut. It seemed I was driving into the middle of nowhere. And where had the storm come from?

“Are you still there?” Cammie asked. Even the lilt of her voice screamed she was in love. Wait until after the honeymoon when all the romance was tossed out the window and reality set in.

“I’m here. Just watching the snow coming down.”

“That’s why you should have flown.”

“I wanted to see the countryside.”

“That’s a lie. You just don’t want to spend any extra time with Marcus and me,” Cammie retorted.

No, I didn’t. To see them fawning over each other, making out at the table when I’d been stupid enough to come back for their huge engagement soiree had been enough to turn my stomach. “I had some time that I needed to take off and thought, why not. It’s been a wonderful few days.”

Like hell it had been. I’d driven through thunderstorms, hail, now ice and snow.

---