Chapter 4 - Blood and IceThe roar of high-powered SUV engines cut through the silence of the Wisconsin woods. Daniel didn't hesitate. He scooped Ivy and Skye into his arms, grabbing his heavy winter coat, and sprinted out the rear door into the knee-deep snow just as the cabin's front door was kicked off its hinges.
"Search the house! Kill him if he resists, but bring the kids to me!" Ethan’s voice boomed from inside the house, devoid of any brotherly warmth, filled only with desperate malice.
Cold air slapped Daniel’s face like a whip. The snow was falling heavily, erasing his tracks, but it also slowed his movement. Carrying two toddlers through a freezing forest in pitch darkness was nearly impossible.
"Daddy, I'm cold," Skye whimpered, her tiny body shivering against his chest.
"I know, baby. Stay close to Daddy. We're going to play a game of hide and seek, okay?" Daniel whispered, his breath clouding in the freezing air.
He found a hollowed-out tree trunk beneath a massive pine tree, thick with heavy evergreen branches that swept down to the snowline. He placed the girls inside, wrapping them securely in his heavy goose-down jacket.
"Stay here. Do not make a sound, no matter what you hear," Daniel commanded gently, kissing both their foreheads. "I'll be right back."
"Daddy, don't leave!" Ivy sobbed softly.
"I'm just going to win the game, sweetie. I promise."
Daniel closed the branches over them, concealing them completely in the snow. Then, he purposefully trampled a set of loud, heavy footprints leading away from the tree toward an icy, frozen creek fifty yards away.
He grabbed a heavy wooden fallen branch and waited behind an oak tree.
Seconds later, footsteps crunched through the snow. One of Ethan's mercenaries moved carefully through the trees, holding a silenced pistol equipped with a tactical flashlight.
As the gunman stepped past Daniel's hiding spot, Daniel swung the heavy branch with all his force, striking the man across the neck. The mercenary crumpled into the snow. Daniel immediately lunged, grabbing the tactical flashlight and the fallen pistol, securing the weapon.
"Over here! I heard something!" another voice shouted from the dark.
Daniel fired two warning shots into the trees, forcing the mercenaries to take cover, and then sprinted back to the hidden tree trunk. He pulled Ivy and Skye out, carrying them toward the edge of the secondary highway a mile away.
His feet were numb, his body battered, but the fire of a father's love burned wildly in his chest.
He reached the highway just as a long-distance freight truck rumbled down the icy road. Daniel stepped into the middle of the road, waving his flashlight wildly. The truck air-brakes squealed loudly as the vehicle skidded to a halt feet away from him.
The trucker popped his window open, angry. "Are you crazy, man?!"
"Please," Daniel begged, holding up his terrified, freezing daughters. "My family is trying to kill us. Take us to the nearest major city. I’ll pay you whatever you want."
The trucker took one look at the shivering toddlers and unlocked the passenger door. "Get in. Fast."
As the truck roared away into the night, Daniel looked back out the window. Stand standing near the edge of the woods was Ethan, glaring at the truck through the falling snow, realizing his brother had escaped once again.
Daniel opened his burner phone and sent a single text message directly to his mother, Margaret:
"You missed your chance, Margaret. I know about the bitter water. I know about the surrogate. I am coming for everything you own."
A minute later, his phone rang. It was Margaret.
When Daniel answered, her voice was cold as ice, lacking any maternal warmth.
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"You always were too sentimental, Daniel," Margaret hissed. "You think you can beat me? Look at the news, son. You're already a ruined man."
CHAPTER 4 HOOK: Margaret unleashes her ultimate trump card—a national news broadcast branding Daniel as a mentally unstable billionaire who murdered his wife and kidnapped his niece and nephew!
