PART 2 — THE SECRET THE MOUNTAIN MAN WAS HIDING

The first bullet struck the water trough just as Grover shouted, “THREE!”

Cherish ran.

She had never run so fast in her life.

Behind her, Grover fired once more, then swung himself into the saddle of a mᴀssive black horse. He reached down, caught her wrist, and pulled her up behind him.

“Hold тιԍнт!”

The horse surged forward.

Oak Haven disappeared behind a cloud of dust, but the sound of angry voices followed them beyond the last wooden buildings.

Cherish clung to Grover’s coat as they thundered toward the narrow mountain trail.

“Where are you taking me?” she shouted.

“Somewhere Higgins cannot reach you.”

“My father! I have to go back for my father!”

Grover’s jaw тιԍнтened.

“I know.”

Those two words made her stomach drop.

“You know?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he guided the horse through a narrow pᴀssage between two enormous rocks. Only when the trail widened did he finally speak.

“Your father isn’t at the boardinghouse anymore.”

Cherish went cold.

“What?”

“Three men came for him yesterday. They said they were taking him somewhere he could receive better medical attention.”

“My father would never leave without telling me!”

“I know that, too.”

She stared at the back of his head.

“Then where is he?”

Grover looked toward the mountains.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

By sunset, they reached a cabin hidden beneath a ridge of towering pine trees.

It was unlike anything Cherish had imagined.

There was a stone chimney, a covered woodpile, a small barn, and a garden surrounded by a handmade fence. Smoke rose gently from the chimney.

Grover helped her down from the horse.

“Inside.”

Cherish hesitated.

“I don’t know you.”

“That’s fair.”

He removed his rifle and placed it against the wall.

“You can sleep with the door locked. I’ll stay outside if that makes you feel safer.”

She studied him.

No man in Oak Haven had ever offered her a choice.

Not even her father’s creditors.

“Why did you pay that money?” she finally asked.

Grover looked down at the leather pouch still hanging from his saddle.

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

“Five pounds of gold is a fortune.”

“Not as much as a person’s freedom.”

He turned away before she could ask anything else.

Inside, Cherish discovered a clean bed, a basin of warm water, and a plate of bread, beans, and roasted venison.

She ate slowly, her hands still trembling.

But something bothered her.

Grover had said he knew her father was missing.

And he had not seemed surprised.

When he returned with a lantern, she confronted him.

“Tell me the truth. How do you know my father?”

Grover stood very still.

Then he reached into a wooden chest and removed an old pH๏τograph.

A younger man stood beside her father in front of a mining camp.

Cherish recognized the face immediately.

“That’s my father.”

Grover nodded.

“And the man beside him was my brother.”

He placed the pH๏τograph on the table.

“His name was Samuel Holmes. He died seventeen years ago.”

Cherish looked from the pH๏τograph to Grover.

“What does that have to do with me?”

Grover’s voice became quieter.

“Your father saved my brother’s life during a mine collapse. He carried him out when everyone else believed there was no way through.”

He paused.

“Samuel never forgot him. Neither did I.”

Cherish felt tears gather in her eyes.

“So you helped me because of my father?”

“Partly.”

“What does that mean?”

Grover looked toward the window.

“Your father once made me promise something. If trouble ever came to his family, I was to make sure his daughter never became someone else’s property.”

Cherish stared at him.

Her father had never mentioned such a promise.

Then Grover added something that made her blood run cold.

“He also told me that one day, a man named Bartholomew Higgins would try to collect a debt that wasn’t his to collect.”