Teresa stumbled, and Emberly slapped the gun away from Nimue?—
A shot.
She rounded and slammed her hand into Teresa’s nose.The woman shouted, blood gushed, and Emberly lunged for the weapon.
Luis tackled her, slamming her into the ground.Her breath whoofed out, her body turning to fire?—
Nimue screamed and Emberly spotted Teresa grabbing her sister’s hair, pushing her to the ground.Nimue struggled, kicking, fighting.
Attagirl.
Luis had found his feet, pointed the gun at her.“So much trouble.”He shook his head.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move?—
God, please?—
She put her arms over her head, closed her eyes.
Shots shattered the air.
* * *
How had this happened?
Steinbeck stood in the inn’s kitchen doorway, extinguisher gripped tight, staring at the flames clawing up the walls.
The September night had been crisp, perfect—family laughing on the porch, the lake glinting under the stars, the scent of Mama Em’s pot roast still lingering.
Now, smoke choked the air, thick with the acrid bite of burning timber and melted wiring, the sprinklers’ hiss a weak sputter against the inferno.
Faulty wiring?A gas leak?The questions gnawed at him, but he shoved them down.
He swung the handle, foam blasting out, cutting through the black haze.The fire snarled, spitting embers that stung his face like shards.His tennis shoes slipped on wet grass, leaves crunching, the lawn slick with mist, the lake’s glassy surface reflecting the orange blaze.Sweat soaked his shirt, arms burning as foam billowed into the heat.Jack wrestled a hose beside him, water jetting wild, slashing the siding.
“Keep it steady, Stein!”Jack shouted, voice hoarse.
Doyle charged in with another hose.“Left side’s spreading—hit it!”
Conrad had hauled in a third, spray shimmering.
Steinbeck pushed forward, foam arcing, the blaze hissing back an inch.“We’ve got this!”
A flicker caught his eye—movement.Not flame.He squinted past the cottonwoods toward the Norbert’s porch, shadows shifting, dim against the light.He glanced again, longer, the spray faltering.
A scream ripped through the chaos—high, desperate, and...hers.
“Emberly?”Steinbeck’s head jerked, the canister slipping, thudding to the grass.He turned—and everything inside him went hot.
Through the smoke, he spotted—no, what?Luis?—standing over a figure on the ground.
And just like that—yeah, he got it.Luis had set the fire, a distraction to pull them away.
Steinbeck had brought trouble home.
He took off, even as Luis loomed over Emberly.
“Luis!”
