Boone
I run as fast as I can towards the cabin. Chest heaving, heart racing, and stomach clenching as I try not to panic and just get to Margot and Amelia to protect them from whoever is out here intentionally setting fires to hurt my family.
I go around back and silently enter. The last thing I need to do is scare the perp off to where he gets away before I can beat the living shit out of him and turn him over to the police.
Creeping slowly into the cabin, I come upon a man standing in the living room. His back is to me so I can’t get a good look at his face. I can, however, see what the idiot is trying and failing to do.
He’s bent down over a small pile of cloth he has propped against one of the cabin’s walls. In his hand is a mini blow torch, like the kind chefs use. He keeps lighting one piece of cloth on fire to spark a fire along the walls and burn the cabin down.
Fucking dumbass.
I’m a damn firefighter. Did this idiot really think I would have a cabin in the mountains, essentially surrounded by kindle and fire-starter material, and not make it fire-proof?
I made the cabin fireproof to be smart, safe, and to protect me and Crockett. Now I’m relieved I took the precaution because it’s saved not just Crockett, but Margot and Amelia.
The arsonist becomes more and more frustrated with each failed attempt.
He turns briefly so I finally get a good look at his face.
My blood runs cold.
I recognize the man. I know his face.
He’s been present at every Masters family function since I was a kid.
My father’s bodyguard.
Shit.
With this realization, everything that has been bugging me for the past couple of days come into focus. Everything becomes clear.
Margot’s parents were right.
My father hates her family so much that he’s willing to have her and Amelia killed. He will stop at nothing if it means hurting them. It obviously doesn’t matter if I get hurt in the process, either.
Anger floods my system.
Anger for the asshole standing in my home, trying to burn it all to the ground, with everything I love inside with it.
And anger for my father, who would rather take the road to pain and to revenge towards Margot’s family rather than see me happy.
He’s always been the root of the problem when it comes to me and Margot being together.
I would bet my life on the fact that if there’s an arsonist here right now trying to kill Margot, then there was also one who started the fire that night five years ago at her sorority house—and that he was also hired by my father.
Margot’s parents knew he was capable of this. They warned Margot to stay away from me, causing her to doubt seeking me out.
He’s the reason I could have lost everything tonight. I’m going to kill him. I swear to god.
But first, I need to take care of the slime bag idiot still trying to get the cabin to catch fire. I start to move silently across the hardwood floor in his direction.
Just as I’m about to grab him and beat the shit out of him, I hear feet padding down the stairs. Shit.
I glance over to see Margot and Amelia halfway down the stairs.
The arsonist clearly heard them, too.
In my moment of distraction, he stops what he is doing to lunge towards me with one of his meaty fists.
“Boone!” I hear Margot cry out.
I pivot my left foot back to swivel my body to the side and back, barely avoiding his fist trying to make contact with my face.
The arsonist put so much momentum and force behind his attempt to punch me that he goes flying towards the fireplace that is standing behind me. His fist makes contact with the stone.
I hear a crunch of bones, and he lets loose an agonizing scream.
Amelia reacts with her own.
Then I see a blur of gray and black fly across the room and towards the arsonist.
It’s Crockett. He lashes out and sinks his teeth into the man’s ankle.
The arsonist screams again while shaking his leg out to get away from Crockett, who refuses to let go.
While the asshole struggles with the racoon, I lash out at him with my fist and clock him in the face. Unlike him, I don’t miss my target.
His nose breaks and sprays blood all over his face and on my fist.
He flies backwards and lands on the floor. I flip him over onto his stomach, pin one knee into his back, and secure his arms behind him so he is unable to try attempt two at punching me.
“Margot,” I call out. “Call the police, baby. Tell them some asshole just tried to burn my cabin down, and I have him subdued for them to arrest.”
She runs to find a phone, and soon I hear her talking to dispatch on the other end.
Crockett is standing next to me, baring his teeth at the arsonist. He’s damn protective of his family—like me.
I turn my head to the right and see Amelia sitting on the steps of the stairs, looking scared and unsure of what’s happening. I see her tears are wet and immediately want to scoop her into my arms and comfort her.
But I can’t. Not while I’m keeping the asshole from running off.
Margot is still on the phone, so she can’t help, either.
I look down at Crockett and nod my head in Amelia’s direction.
“Go comfort Amelia, buddy,” I tell him. “I got this under control.”
Crockett relaxes and stalks over to where Amelia is sitting. He snuggles next to her and leans his body into her side.
Amelia reaches out to gently grab onto his fur, and, immediately, I see some of her tension and anxiety release. While comforting Amelia, Crockett never takes his eyes off the arsonist and me.
One move from the dumbass, and, no doubt, Crockett would fly over in a heartbeat to sink his teeth into the other ankle.
Margot walks back into the living room a few seconds later.
“They’re on their way,” she tells me.
She takes a seat on the stairs with Amelia and Crockett.
“Are you okay?” she asks me.
“I’m fine. You?”
“I’m a little shaken, but I’ll be okay,” she replies. “Even better when the police get here. What happened, Boone? Who is he?”
With the last question, she nods toward the man still struggling to escape my hold on him.
“He’s the jackass who started the fire you saw outside earlier—and the same jackass who tried to burn down the cabin while you and Amelia are in it.”
She goes pale, and her body shivers in fear.
“But why?” she asks.
“I don’t know for sure…but I suspect it’s because my father told him to.”
That answer elicits a look of shock on her face.
“Your father hates me…hates my family so much that he would hire someone to kill us?” She tugs Amelia closer to her as she says this.
My stomach clenches in horror, sickness, and anger. I just got Margot back into my life and got Amelia in it for the first time. All of it could have been taken from me in a heartbeat at my father’s orders tonight.
“He’s not going to get away with this, Margot the arsonist or my father. I promise you.”
She stares at me for a minute before shaking her head in assent. With that nod of approval, she’s saying she trusts me and has faith in me to protect her and our daughter.
I want this asshole out of my house and away from my family. And I want my father taken care of, as well.
I meant what I promised to Margot. He isn’t fucking getting away with this.