CHAPTER 2 — "DON'T LET HIM DIE!" The Millionaire's Desperate Race Turned Into a Deadly Chase
Lucas had never driven like this in his life.
The speedometer climbed past 100 miles per hour.
The luxury SUV bounced violently over uneven pavement, the tires screaming every time he swerved around another truck.
Behind him...
A dusty gray pickup was closing the distance.
Lucas checked the rearview mirror.
The driver's face was hidden beneath the brim of a faded baseball cap, but one thing was unmistakable.
He wasn't trying to pass.
He was hunting them.
"Júlia..." Lucas asked without taking his eyes off the road. "Is that him?"
The little girl looked through the rear window.
The color instantly drained from her already pale face.
Her lips began to tremble.
"Yes..."
Her voice was barely audible.
"It's him."
Lucas tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"The man who hurt your mother?"
Júlia nodded.
"The man who wanted to get rid of your brother?"
Another nod.
"He said..." she whispered, fighting back tears, "...he said babies only bring hunger."
Lucas felt rage boil inside him.
"What is his name?"
"Marcos."
The name settled into the silence like poison.
"He drinks every day," Júlia continued.
"When he's angry, he breaks everything."
She paused.
"And when there's nothing left to break..."
She looked down.
"...he hurts us."
Lucas couldn't answer.
His jaw locked so tightly it hurt.
He had spent years believing the world could be understood through contracts, profits, and negotiations.
But there was no negotiation with cruelty.
Only survival.
Suddenly—
BANG!
The pickup slammed into the rear of the SUV.
The entire vehicle lurched forward.
Júlia screamed.
The red backpack slid across the seat.
Lucas caught it with one hand before it could fall.
Inside...
The tiny baby remained terrifyingly still.
"No..."
Júlia whispered.
"Please wake up..."
She gently rubbed her brother's tiny cheek.
Nothing.
She touched his little fingers.
They were colder than before.
Her breathing became frantic.
"He isn't moving!"
Lucas reached for his phone.
His hands shook as he dialed emergency services.
"Emergency. What's your location?"
"I'm on Highway TO-050 heading toward Palmas Regional Hospital. I have a critically ill newborn—about eighteen days old—and we're being chased by a violent man trying to stop us!"
The operator's voice immediately changed.
"Stay on the line. Police and paramedics are being dispatched."
Another crash.
The pickup struck them again.
Harder this time.
The SUV fishtailed across both lanes before Lucas wrestled it back under control.
The operator shouted through the speaker.
"Sir! Slow down!"
"I can't!"
"If I stop..."
He glanced into the mirror.
"...he'll kill those children."
The call remained connected.
Police units were still nearly fifteen minutes away.
Fifteen minutes.
The baby might not have fifteen more seconds.
Lucas looked back.
Júlia had unwrapped the stained towel.
For the first time...
He saw the infant's tiny face clearly.
The baby was impossibly small.
His lips had turned bluish.
His eyelids didn't move.
His chest...
Barely rose.
Lucas remembered something.
Years ago, during a corporate first-aid course he had nearly skipped, an instructor had spent an hour teaching emergency care for infants.
At the time, Lucas had thought it was useless.
Now...
Those forgotten lessons might be the only thing standing between life and death.
"Júlia!"
She looked up, tears pouring down her face.
"Lay him flat across your lap."
She obeyed instantly.
"Watch his chest."
"I can't see it moving!"
Lucas swallowed hard.
"Listen carefully."
"You have to be brave."
"I don't want to hurt him..."
"You won't."
He took a deep breath.
"Use two fingers."
"The center of his tiny chest."
"Very gently."
"Thirty compressions."
She stared at him in terror.
"I can't!"
"You can."
"No!"
"You already carried him across miles of burning road."
"You already saved his life once."
"You are the bravest person I've ever met."
Júlia burst into tears.
"But... I'm only twelve."
Lucas's voice cracked.
"Today..."
"You don't have to be twelve."
"You only have to be his sister."
Her trembling hands moved into position.
One...
Two...
Three...
Every compression looked impossibly delicate.
Lucas silently counted while weaving through traffic.
Twenty-eight...
Twenty-nine...
Thirty.
"Now give him two tiny breaths."
"I don't know how!"
"I'll tell you."
She leaned down.
Her tears fell onto the baby's face.
One tiny breath.
Then another.
Nothing.
The baby remained motionless.
Lucas's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Again.
Thirty compressions.
Two breaths.
Again.
Again.
The highway stretched endlessly ahead.
The hospital still seemed impossibly far away.
Behind them...
Marcos smiled.
He reached beneath the passenger seat of his pickup.
When his hand came back into view...
It was holding a revolver.
Lucas saw it in the mirror.
His blood ran cold.
"This is bad," he whispered.
Marcos lowered the driver's window.
He stretched one arm outside.
The gun pointed directly at the SUV.
Júlia saw it too.
Her scream echoed through the car.
Before Lucas could react—
A deafening gunshot exploded across the highway.
The rear window shattered into thousands of glittering pieces.
Glass rained over the seats.
Júlia instinctively threw her body over the baby.
Another shot rang out.
The bullet tore through the backrest only inches from Lucas's shoulder.
Then...
Something unbelievable happened.
The tiny infant who hadn't moved for nearly two minutes suddenly let out a faint...
Fragile...
Miraculous cry.
Lucas almost cried with relief.
"He’s alive!" Júlia sobbed.
But before either of them could celebrate, flashing red-and-blue lights appeared ahead.
Police cars blocked the highway.
Lucas smiled for the first time since meeting Júlia.
"We made it..."
Then his smile vanished.
The officers weren't pointing their weapons at the pickup.
They were pointing them at Lucas.
May you like
Someone had reported that a millionaire had kidnapped two children.
And in the next few seconds, the only man trying to save their lives was about to be arrested—while the real monster was still free.
