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She looked down at the sparkling ring and pouted.

“But it looks so pretty on me.”

“I don't fucking care. It’s my wife’s.”

When she moved too slowly, I ripped it off her finger and pointed to the backseat.

“Get your ass back there and attend to my mother.”

“You really think Léonie will forgive you after what you’ve done to her?” Faustine said bitterly.

“Of course,” I snorted. “I know everything there is to know about Léonie. That woman would follow me off a cliff. She might have shown me more mountain temper than I’ve ever seen from her, but she’ll just be grateful when I tell her the truth.”

I hopped in the SUV and spun it around, my eyes zeroing in on the first Pinoteaux truck.

But just as I slammed down on the gas, I got a call from my security chief that I’d sent down to secure the lodge.

“Not right now,” I bit into the phone.

The service was shit, but through the static buzz I could hear crackling in the background.

“Étienne, you need to get down here immediately. Something bad has happened.”

CHAPTER 10

Étienne

“What happened? God damn you, tell me what happened!”

“You—I think you better come see for yourself. It’s—Léonie.”

Tires squealed as I spun my SUV around and took off down the mountain in the opposite direction.

“Étienne, what—” my mother protested from the back seat.

“Shut up,” I snarled as I jammed my foot on the accelerator, spinning around the tight corners in a plume of dirt and gravel.

“You’re scaring us,” Faustine whimpered as my right tire tipped over the edge.

But my eyes were glued on the road below me, irises burning in their sockets.

What had happened?

Those bastard Pinoteaux had made it very clear that they were willing to kill Léonie rather than lose face.

Cold sweat was breaking out on my neck, pouring down my back.

The gate had locked behind me. There was no way anyone could have gotten in.

Léonie was safe.

I would never have left her anywhere unsafe.

But panic crawled all over my skin, nightmarish fears I had to ruthlessly force out of my brain. I was pushing the SUV to the limits of its engine to make it down the switchbacks and across the pitted, uneven ground.

Blood was still dripping down my arm, pooling on my thighs as I jerked the car around the last curve.

And something was burning.