CHAPTER 2 — The Price on the Maid's Head
Forty-eight hours after the attack...
Sarah became the most hunted woman in New York...
without even knowing it.
She and Dominic remained hidden inside the cabin.
His fever worsened.
His wound became infected.
Every hour reduced his chances.
Sarah refused to give up.
She searched the surrounding forest for medicinal herbs she remembered from nursing electives.
She melted snow for clean water.
She stitched torn flesh beneath lantern light while Dominic nearly lost consciousness from pain.
Then...
someone knocked on the cabin door.
Three slow knocks.
Silence.
Three more.
Sarah grabbed Dominic's pistol.
Neither breathed.
Another knock.
Then a familiar voice.
"Sarah?"
It was Old Ben.
The retired groundskeeper.
Everyone thought he had moved to Florida years earlier.
Instead...
he quietly stepped inside carrying supplies.
Fresh antibiotics.
Food.
Fuel.
Dominic immediately reached for his weapon.
Ben simply smiled.
"I buried your father."
"I changed your diapers."
"I've protected this family longer than either of you have been alive."
Sarah frowned.
"How did you find us?"
Ben answered quietly.
"I didn't."
"I followed the people trying to kill you."
Outside...
fresh tire tracks crossed the snow.
Black SUVs.
At least six.
Sarah's stomach dropped.
"They're here."
Ben nodded.
"Lorenzo announced a one-million-dollar reward."
He looked directly at Sarah.
"For the maid who disappeared with Dominic Rossi."
Sarah couldn't believe it.
"Me?"
"They think you know where the heir is."
Dominic finally understood.
"They're not hunting me anymore."
"They're hunting the witness."
Ben opened an old hunting locker beneath the floorboards.
Inside...
lay military radios...
rifles...
satellite maps...
and a weatherproof metal box.
Dominic stared in disbelief.
"You've been preparing for war."
Ben looked at him sadly.
"No."
"I've been preparing for betrayal."
Then he handed Dominic the metal box.
Inside rested dozens of flash drives.
Financial records.
Secret ledgers.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Names.
Judges.
Politicians.
Federal agents.
Every corrupt payment the Rossi organization had made during the last thirty years.
Sarah looked horrified.
"What is all this?"
Dominic whispered.
"My father's insurance policy."
Ben nodded once.
"Carmine knew Lorenzo would eventually betray him."
"He documented everything."
"But there was one condition."
Ben pointed directly at Sarah.
"The box only opens completely..."
"...if the maid survives."
Sarah blinked.
"What?"
Ben smiled.
"Carmine trusted only one kind of person."
"Someone with absolutely nothing to gain."
At that exact moment...
a sniper's bullet shattered the cabin window.
Glass exploded across the room.
Ben shoved Sarah to the floor.
Dominic returned fire.
Outside...
engines roared.
Lorenzo's men had found them.
May you like
The hunt was over.
The war had officially begun
