“That’s right. I picked her up at a park three blocks from her house, and we drove to a motel not far away. The sex was even better than before, but as soon as we were finished, she started in on me. ‘It was fun,’ she said. ‘But we won’t be able to do this anymore. I’ve got a husband, you know. I can’t risk Bryan finding out.’

“I watched those painted lips moving and thought of how Heather had said the same thing. Then the rage set in, just like before.” He looked at Ellie. “I loved Heather so much. But she was still in love with Kade.”

Ellie swallowed the dryness in her throat and tried to breathe past the mine dust in her lungs. “If you wanted to get back at Kade, why did you wait eight years?”

His lips thinned. “When they found Heather’s car in the lake, everything came flooding back. How much I loved her. How Heather had chosen Logan over me. I went to Vail, the place we’d met. I thought it might help.”

“And that’s where you met Barbara.”

“That’s right. Everything about her reminded me of Heather. When she tried to end things, I felt the same uncontrollable anger, the same thrill when I slammed her head against the bedside table. I wrapped my hands around her throat and felt the same rush as before.” His mouth curled in a sick, wolfish smile. “I look forward to feeling that rush again tonight.”

Rick reached down and stroked a hand over the front of his jeans. Ellie realized he was aroused, and her stomach rolled with nausea.

“You made a mistake when you showed up at my office,” he said. “The moment you and Logan walked in, I knew what I was going to do.”

* * *

Kade spotted the old pine tree that marked the loose spot in the chain-link fence and hurried toward it. Pulling up the unattached section, he ducked through the opening, then hurried toward the abandoned tunnels, trying to stay out of sight. He prayed he could figure out which tunnel Egan had chosen to take Ellie.

As he rounded the side of the mountain, he stopped. A vehicle sat in front of the boarded-up entrance to one of the old tunnels—Egan’s dark green Hummer.

Kade’s hand fisted. Cold fury washed over him, while white-hot rage burned inside. Pulling the Colt, he eased closer to the mountain and made his way toward the boarded-up entrance. Shining the beam of the flashlight over the old, discarded boards, he spotted what looked like a wooden door camouflaged to go unnoticed.

Kade turned off the flashlight and stuck it in his pocket, pulled the door open, and eased silently inside. Muffled voices came from deeper in the mine, a man and a woman. Ellie. His heart raced as gratitude filled him. She was still alive.