Page 130 of Peaks and Promises

I still didn’t answer.

“Never mind. I don’t need to know.” He paused for a moment. “If he turns up dead, you know none of us will say a word. But if law enforcement can trace him to Summer, it won’t be hard to figure out it was you.”

“I know. That’s the other problem.”

I’d thought it through and already come to a decision. If I had to, I’d go to prison to keep them safe. But that would only work if I knew for sure Mayhem wouldn’t retaliate.

“I’ll still do it,” I said, my voice quiet. “If that’s what I have to do. But if I’m locked up because of it, and the club chooses vengeance, she’ll be worse off than before.”

“You’d go to prison for her?”

“Yeah.”

He laughed. Of all the things my little brother could have done in that moment, he had to laugh.

“What are you laughing at, you jerk?”

“You are so in love with her,” he said through his laughter.

I growled in frustration.

“You’d risk everything for her. Take a bullet. Murder her ex and go to prison. Whatever it takes.”

“Yeah.”

Whether or not I was in love with her, I was willing to do anything to keep them safe. I’d promised. And I was going to see it through, no matter the cost.

“That’s sacrifice.” He reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “That’s love. But whatever. What would I know about it? Oh wait, I know a lot, because I’m married to the love of my life and it’s the best thing ever.”

I shot him a glare, although the force of it was lost in the darkness.

“You’ll figure it out,” he said. “We all do eventually.”

“I’m a little busy trying to figure out how to keep Summer’s asshole ex from kidnapping her child.”

“I wish I knew what to tell you. If someone was threatening Marigold, I’d want him gone, so I get it. But the consequences are real.”

“Yeah. They’re real. But I might have to risk it. I can’t let the asshole get his hands on Nate. And I can’t hide them up here forever.”

“I almost feel sorry for him.”

“For Axel? Why?”

He patted my shoulder again and stood. “He picked the wrong guy. Or maybe it’s Summer who picked the right one. Either way, I don’t think this is going to end well for him.”

Zachary was right. It wasn’t going to end well for him. How it was going to end for me, though? That was another question.

CHAPTER 31

Summer

After two days at Paul and Marlene’s, I was going out of my mind.

Not because of them. They were as gracious as ever. And Nate treated our stay like a run-of-the-mill visit—just one without an end date.

Despite how many people were looking for him, we didn’t know where Axel was. It didn’t help that it was visitor season and Tilikum was packed with tourists. Reese got dozens of calls and texts from people passing on information. He’d been spotted at the Zany Zebra. At Nature’s Basket. At the Quick Stop. Getting a haircut at the Art of Manliness.

None of the leads were Axel.