Page 47

Before he could suggest accompanying her on her hike, the song ended, and his mother waved him over. Time to sing Happy Birthday and cut the cake, she pantomimed. “Hey … I have to do family stuff. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay? Unless … would you like to come with me?”

She stepped back, breaking their intimate contact.

“No … no … thank you, though. I understand family time. You should go alone,” she said with her lips, but her eyes looked sad.

She blinked and smiled, shaking it off. “I’ll go beat up the bald man in the machine again. Meet me there when you’re finished.”

He stepped toward her, closing the distance between them.

Her slight accent was so cute that he felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her.

But no. They’d just met. He couldn’t — shouldn’t — kiss a woman he’d known for a little more than an hour.

He shook his head to remove the ridiculous thoughts creeping into his mind. “Sounds like a plan.”

As he approached his family’s table, Gina carried out the cake his mother had brought to the bar earlier.

Vince, the only smoker in the family, pulled out his lighter.

Twenty-one candles. It was nearly impossible to believe that it had been twenty-one years, but it was.

His son was a man. A man who wanted to risk his life saving others, just like the rest of the family. Just like the father Sam had lost.

The family and practically the entire bar joined in singing Happy Birthday . With one long breath, Daire blew out the candles.

Then the phones went off in unison.

Instinctively, Sam, Alex, and Erik reached for their phones at the same time.

“Water rescue,” Alex spoke first.

Daire darted his gaze from Alex to Sam. “Cool! My first rescue is on my birthday.”

Sam shook his head. “Not tonight, Daire. You’ve been drinking.”

Daire lifted his glass with a smug grin. “Not a sip. You thought you were gonna hold me back again by getting me drunk. Not this time, Sam!”

Erik smacked Sam on the back. “Gotta let Daire grow up some time, you know.”

Sam looked to his mother for backup, but she just shrugged. “This is my fifth time through this, Sam. What can I say? Your dad and I raised a brood of superheroes.”

Defeated, Sam ran his hands over his head.

“All right, everyone pack up.” Hey, if his son was grown up, that meant he was free to carry on with his life.

And right now — well, after he stopped everything he was doing to save someone’s life — he knew exactly the path he wanted to pursue.

He turned to find Nora, explain why he had to leave, and hopefully to get her number … but she was gone.

Nora

Nora had just dropped four quarters into the boxing game when her phone buzzed.

No one ever called her but him .

She glanced toward Sam’s table. His back was to her as he stood with his arms around two men.

All of the people at the table, along with most of the people around the bar, were singing to the young man who had to be Sam’s relation.

The boy had the same chestnut-colored hair and eyes.

And even though the younger man didn’t have the distinguished laugh lines around his eyes and mouth that Sam had, his face held the same hard angles.

Determined, she decided. Even when Sam had smiled at her, his face maintained an intent expression, as though he was attempting to solve a problem — her problem.

Although she hadn’t said anything that should have given him the impression she was in trouble, he’d implored her to tell him why she’d come to the top of the world.

And damn, she’d wanted to.

She shivered as she thought about the way Sam had wrapped his arms around her at the pool table.

He’d made her think of things she had no business thinking.

Not now, anyway. Definitely not now. Not when her life — and possibly any person’s around her — could be in danger.

He’d also made her forget to check her environment. A risky distraction.

Nora pulled out her phone as she rushed toward the exit. She glanced down at the caller ID at the same time she pushed through the heavy door. She had to get outside before the fourth ring. If she didn’t answer, he’d get suspicious.

As soon as the solid door closed behind her, drowning out the laughter and music from the tavern, she clicked Accept .

“ Hola, amor! Lo siento. Me atrapaste en un mal momento. Estaba en la ducha .” She tapped Mute , knowing Sergio would berate her for her use of Spanish, which would give her a chance to reach the car and catch her breath.

“English, Nora! I’ve asked you a thousand times to only speak to me in English. Why do I always have to remind you?”

Safely locked inside her rental car, she unmuted the phone.

“Sorry, my love. I was apologizing that I didn’t hear your ring at first. I was in the shower.

” Grrrr … Only in North America would a man with the name Sergio not speak Italian or Spanish.

Sam hadn’t minded her use of Spanish. Actually, he’d liked it.

She’d seen the faint blush that had risen on his cheeks when he was trying to be smooth.

He’d carried himself as though he felt assured and confident, but there was something lurking there.

A hurt that he’d buried deep down … just like she did.

“It’s okay, my darling.” Sergio’s words interrupted her thoughts about Sam.

Thoughts, she reminded herself, that she couldn’t act upon.

“I was starting to worry about you,” he continued in his sickeningly honeyed voice.

At one time, she’d believed his words. Now she knew otherwise.

“Thought maybe you found an Eskimo to keep you warm when you didn’t answer your phone. ”

“Never, my darling.” She cringed on the endearment, but knew he’d expect it.

Just for a little bit longer she’d have to keep up the charade.

What she wanted to say was how ridiculous he sounded, assuming that all Alaskans were Eskimos, especially since most of the Alaska Natives he was referring to probably didn’t even use the term Eskimo .

But Sergio wasn’t one to be teased. Or corrected.

Maybe that’s why she’d had so much fun bantering back and forth with Sam.

It’d been years since she’d felt as though she could be herself.

Well, kind of herself. She’d had to lie about why she was in Alaska.

But the rest of her actions — playing games and taunting, speaking in Spanish if she wanted — had felt like a part of her that had been lost in the last seven years.

She’d never imagined running for her life would actually make her feel so … alive .

Instead of slipping up and giving Sergio a reason to question her, she went on offense, asking him a question that would keep him talking.

“So, how was your day? Any new clients?” Sergio was the most narcissistic man she’d ever known; he could talk about himself — or his business — longer than anyone she’d ever met.

“No one as good as you, babe, but yeah … I found a few hopefuls.” Sergio went on and on about the street fighters he’d discovered in Tijuana.

Just as he’d found her in Buenos Aires seven years ago.

She’d been working with her mother during the day cleaning fancy hotel rooms. At night, she’d been cage fighting.

Sergio had recognized her when she entered his hotel room, but she had begged him with her eyes not to say anything in front of her mother.

Her mother had no idea what she had to do to earn the money they needed to fix the roof and buy their old car.

Nora had even bought a skateboard to explain her cuts and bruises.

Too many falls, Mama, she’d had to lie. But someday I’ll be really good at it. It makes it easier to get to work.

He hadn’t given away her secret. All he’d asked for was to share a coffee with her.

He’d been charming and sweet, wooing her with fancy dinners and, more meaningfully, hope.

He’d promised to take her away to a life of leisure and luxury.

She could find a job and send money back to her mother, who refused to leave her grandmother.

At twenty-four, Nora thought her days of fighting — and struggling — were over.

But instead it was her dreams that had ended.

Sergio insisted that she hand over her passport for “safekeeping,” as he’d put it.

And the job? He’d actually brought her to Los Angeles to fight in women’s MMA.

While tamer than the street fighting she’d been doing for years, it was still fighting.

Thankfully, she’d been good, and few women could touch her.

And those women kept coming. Every six months he’d go on a talent search, probably using the same lines on women — and men — to lure them to the United States.

She hoped he hadn’t found any new women.

She hated to think about the woman — girl — who’d take her place once she was gone.

What some innocent teenager would go through to achieve the American Dream — Sergio’s version anyway.

How can you let him keep doing this? some crazy part of her conscience asked.

Of course, she wanted to stop him. But how could she, just one woman from another country? A woman who belonged nowhere. A woman who not only feared for her life if she spoke up, but worse, her mother’s and grandmother’s lives.

As Sergio rambled on, Nora stared out the windshield.

It was nearly ten p.m. and the sun was still shining.

The door to the tavern flew open, and Nora jumped.

She sank low in her seat as five men sprinted from the bar, her heart pounding until she saw that it was only Sam and his family.

Sam and another man hopped into a huge Ford pickup, one of those off-road trucks that sat up high with rugged tires and a light bar on the roof.

The other three men jumped into a similar vehicle.

With barely enough time for the occupants to buckle up, both trucks peeled out, heading north. Some emergency must have come up.

“Nora? Did you hear me?”

She clicked off the Mute button. “Sorry … I’m just so tired,” she said loudly to cover up any sounds of the trucks speeding off.

“I haven’t been sleeping well. My mind must have slipped away for a second.

Did you know there’s still daylight at midnight here?

Of course, you did. Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble.

I know how you hate that. What did you say? ”

“I asked if you were sure about going ahead with this hike. You know, there are plenty of mountains within driving distance of L.A. I don’t like that you are so far from me.”

Ahh, but that’s one of Alaska’s best features , she wanted to say.

But she couldn’t. Even on Mute , she was afraid he might hear her.

Knowing Sergio, he might have sent someone to watch her.

She probably shouldn’t have carried on the way she had inside the bar.

Just being near her could put Sam’s life in danger.

But after scanning the clientele, she’d felt confident all the people were locals.

That was why she’d chosen a dive bar and not the more popular bar listed on Yelp.

Outside though, one command from Sergio might send some thug out of the shadows.

Not that Sergio would ever take responsibility for hurting her; he had never hit her with his own hands.

No, he preferred to make his fighters suffer at the hands of others so the authorities couldn’t prove it.

Like setting her up with a heavyweight butch, and then paying the woman to cheat.

When he’d first brought Nora to the U.S.

, he’d shown her how he could make life hard or easy for her.

And she’d seen him do the same to others.

If his fighters didn’t do what he said —

She shook off what she’d witnessed for fear that her voice would shake. She had to keep up their farce love affair for a few more days. It was the one thing that had given her some freedom.

She checked her tone before answering him, remembering to let her English words drip with her Argentina inflection, the way he liked her to speak.

Soft and sweet, as though she was helpless without him.

“I miss you too, my darling, but I’ve wanted to hike Mount McKinley my entire life.

Thank you so much for allowing me to do this on my own.

” Actually, she wanted to be in the country of her birth.

To hike her own beloved Andes Mountains.

But without her passport, Alaska was the farthest she could go to get away from him.

“It’s the least I could do as a wedding gift for my future bride. But I won’t rest until you’re home with me, safe in my arms. Call me with your itinerary before you leave on your hike.”

Safe? She’d never be safe with him. One wrong move and he’d do the same to her as he’d done to one of his other fighters.

But she kept a smile on her face so her words would ring with sincerity.

“Of course, my darling. I can’t leave until next week, though.

A storm is coming, so I have to wait for it to pass before heading out. ”

He could easily check out her story with a click of a button on the weather app, but he wouldn’t.

Sergio was too confident of his control over her — over all of the fighters that he’d so-called rescued .

Too confident that she knew nothing of his illegal activities.

By the time he figured out she was lying, she’d be lost in the Alaska wilderness, never to be seen again.

She had grown up in the mountains of Argentina, and then she’d survived the streets of Buenos Aires for ten years; she could certainly survive in Alaska.

Sergio would mourn her passing for a minute. Then he’d move on to someone else.