Chapter 3

Graham’s POV

I hung up, grabbed the SUV keys and the medical kit from the counter, pulled on a black cashmere overcoat, and headed out.

Snow was coming down hard.

Wind drove it against the windshield in relentless waves. Even with the wipers going full speed, visibility was poor.

This leave was supposed to be for catching up on company documents. I hadn’t expected to be tearing up a mountain road in the middle of the night.

In weather like this, no one should have been driving fast.

But all I could hear was Louis’s voice in my head—her heart rate is really fast, and she’s burning up.

Isolde had always been fragile. The slightest chill could leave her coughing for half a month.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel until my knuckles whitened.

Louis, how long did you leave her alone?

What should have taken much longer, I made in thirty minutes.

My headlights tore across North Ridge Campground as the black SUV skidded to a stop in the snow.

A dozen or so young people were still gathered around the bonfire, drinks in hand, laughing like the night was still young.

Then the headlights hit them, and they turned.

I stepped out into the snow and swept a cold glance over the group.

The entire campsite fell silent.

I knew them all—Louis’s usual crowd.

I had no time for any of them. My gaze locked onto the RV, and I strode straight toward it.

I yanked the door open. Freezing air hit me at once.

Louis was sitting on the floor with Isolde in his arms, his voice shaking. “Isolde, hang on. Graham’s almost here...”

He looked up the moment he heard me. “Graham! Thank God you’re here! Her head is burning, but the rest of her is freezing—”

I didn’t answer him. I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from her.

He slammed into the cabinet with a dull thud.

Dropping to one knee, I looked at the figure curled up inside the blanket.

Her eyes were shut. Her face was flushed with fever, but her lips were almost bloodless.

Her brow was tightly drawn, and her breathing was so weak it looked as if it could stop at any moment.

A few damp strands of hair clung to her cheek.

Something in my chest tightened.

I pressed a hand to her forehead.

She was burning.

I forced my anger down, pulled the blanket tighter around her, and called softly, “Isolde?”

No response. Only the faint rise and fall of her breathing.

I opened the medical kit, took out the electronic ear thermometer, supported her head, and gently slipped the probe into her ear.

Beep.

I looked down at the screen.

104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dangerously high.

I rose slowly and turned toward Louis, who was still huddled in the corner.

“This is what you call taking care of her?”

Louis was shaking so hard he could barely speak. “I didn’t know... I really didn’t know this would happen. Lily said it was fun over there, so I just stepped out for a bit. Just a little while...”

A little while?

It was already four in the morning.

His “little while” had meant leaving Isolde alone in an ice-cold RV while he spent the night playing with another woman.

I closed my eyes for a second and forced myself to stay focused.

Saving her came first.

The cabin was freezing, every breath turning white in the air.

I crouched again, opened the medical kit, and pulled out a strip of ibuprofen.

She wouldn’t last all the way down the mountain without bringing the fever down first.

Holding the pills in one hand, I snapped, “Get water.”

Louis finally moved, stumbling toward the back of the RV. A moment later, he rushed back.

“Here!”

He dropped to his knees beside her, fumbling to help her sit up.

Then I saw what he was holding.

A bottle of mineral water, its surface coated in frost.

Even from a few feet away, I could feel the cold coming off it.

And he was about to give that to someone burning with a 104-degree fever and barely conscious.

In that moment, I understood something clearly.

Louis wasn’t just useless.

He was dangerous to her.