The roaring fireplace in the Cascade Ridge Estate could not melt the ice forming inside Dr. Nathan Pierce’s chest. For seven years, he had worn his cold arrogance like a suit of armor, convinced that cutting Sarah out of his life was an act of tough love.

Marcus spun around, looking up at the mezzanine. When he saw Nathan standing there with a firearm pointed at his chest, any pretense of polite civility vanished from his face.

"You self-righteous bastard!" Marcus screamed, raising his rifle. "You ruined my life! You turned Sarah against me!"

Before Marcus could pull the trigger, Sheriff Miller fired a warning shot from the shadows of the hallway. The bullet shattered a decorative vase inches from Marcus's head, showering him in ceramic dust.

"Drop the weapon, Kane! This is the Pierce County Sheriff's Department! You're under arrest for the murder of Sarah Carter!" Miller shouted.

Marcus didn't drop his weapon. Instead, he dove behind a massive marble pillar, signaling frantically to his two hired mercenaries. "Kill them both! Clean house!"

The living room erupted into a deafening symphony of gunfire. Bullets punched through interior walls, showering drywall dust and shattering priceless artwork. Nathan didn't flinch. Relying on the muscle memory of his steady surgeon's hands, he leaned over the glass railing of the mezzanine and squeezed the trigger twice.

Crack! Crack!

One of the mercenaries cried out, dropping his weapon as a bullet clipped his shoulder, spinning him around before he crashed backward onto the glass coffee table.

"Covering fire!" the second mercenary shouted, spraying blind rounds up toward the mezzanine, forcing Nathan to duck behind the reinforced concrete pillar of the balcony.

Down below, Marcus used the distraction to sprint toward the grand staircase leading directly to the second floor—the exact hallway where Rosa had hidden Lily and the babies in the basement shelter.