Chapter 4 - The Road That Led NowhereGavin left the farmhouse through the back door.
He did not use the driveway, and he did not take the main road. Instead, he led Belle, Lily, and Nora through the narrow strip of pine forest behind the property, carrying Lily's backpack over one shoulder while Belle leaned against him for support.
Nora followed with two canvas bags and a kitchen knife tucked into her coat.
"I've lived next door to you for seven years," she muttered. "You never mentioned that your life was going to become a crime novel."
"Neither did I."
"Well, next time you decide to rescue a billionaire, give me advance notice."
Belle heard her.
"I'm not a billionaire."
Nora looked at her designer coat, diamond earrings, and ruined silk scarf.
"Of course not, dear."
Lily giggled.
It was the first sound of uncomplicated happiness Gavin had heard all morning.
He wished he could keep it.
They reached the abandoned maintenance road fifteen minutes later. Gavin had parked an old utility vehicle there the previous summer after repairing its transmission. It was ugly, unreliable, and nearly impossible to steal without a key he kept on a chain around his neck.
Today, ugly and unreliable sounded perfect.
He helped Belle into the passenger seat, secured Lily in the back, and opened the driver's door.
Before climbing in, he looked at Nora.
"Take the northern trail. Follow it to the Miller property. There's a red barn beside the creek. Stay there until I call."
Nora folded her arms.
"No."
"Nora—"
"You are not sending me into the woods while you drive off with a woman being hunted by armed men."
"I need someone to stay with Lily if we get separated."
The older woman's expression changed.
She looked at the little girl sitting in the back seat, trying to pretend she was not frightened.
Then Nora stepped forward and placed both hands on Gavin's face.
"You come back to us," she said. "Do you understand?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"I am too old to raise another child, and Lily is far too clever to let me get any sleep."
"She gets that from her mother."
Nora's eyes shone briefly.
"Then she'd better get your stubbornness, too."
She kissed his forehead, turned away before he could respond, and disappeared into the trees.
Gavin climbed behind the wheel.
Belle watched Nora's figure vanish.
"She loves you."
"She loves Lily."
"That's not what I said."
He started the engine.
"Let's keep the conversation focused on not dying."
For the first few miles, the old vehicle moved slowly through the snow. Lily sat in the back, hugging her stuffed rabbit and occasionally asking questions about the trees, the road, and whether they could stop for breakfast.
Gavin answered each one patiently.
Belle watched him in silence.
The man had barely slept. His clothes were dirty, his jaw was bruised, and he had spent the morning carrying an injured stranger through freezing wilderness. Yet when his daughter spoke, he answered as if nothing in the world mattered more.
It was a kind of wealth Belle had never learned how to measure.
Her phone vibrated.
She pulled it from her pocket.
A message appeared from Marcus Vale.
BELLE, I KNOW YOU'RE FRIGHTENED. COME BACK TO DENVER. WE CAN FIX THIS WITHOUT ANYONE ELSE GETTING HURT.
Another message followed.
THE DRIVER IS NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS. ASK HIM ABOUT THE NIGHT HIS WIFE DIED.
Belle's stomach tightened.
She looked at Gavin.
He noticed immediately.
"What?"
She hesitated before showing him the screen.
He read the message without speaking.
Then he handed the phone back.
"Delete it."
"Why?"
"Because he wants you to ask questions while we're driving through a blizzard."
"Maybe he's telling the truth."
"Maybe. But if he knew something about me that mattered, he wouldn't need to send you a message. He'd tell me himself."
Belle studied him.
"You don't trust anyone."
"Not anymore."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
In the rearview mirror, he caught Lily looking at him.
She quickly lowered her eyes to her stuffed rabbit.
Gavin felt a familiar ache in his chest.
He had tried so hard to keep his daughter's world gentle that he had forgotten children noticed the things adults refused to explain.
He slowed the vehicle and reached toward the back seat.
"Hey, bug."
Lily looked up.
"Yes, Daddy?"
"Nothing that's happening today is your fault. I want you to remember that."
She nodded.
"Are you scared?"
He glanced at Belle, then at the road.
"Yes."
Lily's eyes widened.
"Daddies can get scared?"
"All the time."
"But you always fix things."
Gavin gave her a sad smile.
"Sometimes fixing things starts with admitting you're scared."
Lily thought about it.
Then she held up her stuffed rabbit.
"Mr. Buttons is scared, too. But he doesn't have to do anything except sit here."
"Mr. Buttons has a very sensible job."
Lily giggled.
Belle turned toward the window, blinking rapidly.
She had not cried when she saw her wrecked vehicle burning below the mountain. She had not cried when she discovered her security chief was involved. She had not cried when she realized the people hunting her intended to kill her.
But watching Gavin reassure his daughter nearly broke something open inside her.
She had spent her life in rooms where vulnerability was treated as weakness.
This man was teaching his daughter that fear could be spoken aloud without making anyone smaller.
Then the radio crackled.
A voice broke through the static.
"Utility vehicle traveling east on County Road Twelve. Pull over immediately."
Gavin's face hardened.
The voice belonged to Deputy Harlan.
A moment later, the radio went silent.
Belle turned toward him.
"How did he find us?"
Gavin checked the mirror.
Far behind them, two headlights appeared through the snowfall.
A black SUV.
It was closing the distance.
"Because he knows these roads," Gavin said. "And someone told him which one we'd take."
He accelerated.
The old engine protested.
Lily gripped the sides of her seat.
"Daddy?"
"Seat belt tight, sweetheart."
The vehicle behind them surged forward.
Belle looked through the rear window.
The SUV's headlights flickered once.
Then its high beams illuminated a second vehicle coming toward them from the opposite direction.
A dark pickup.
Both vehicles were moving far too quickly for the conditions.
Gavin's eyes narrowed.
They were not trying to stop him.
They were trying to close the road.
"Everybody hold on!" he shouted.
He yanked the steering wheel toward a narrow gap between two snowbanks.
The utility vehicle bounced off the packed shoulder, slid down a shallow embankment, and crashed through a wooden barrier.
Branches snapped against the windshield.
Lily screamed.
Then they were off the road, racing down a slope toward a frozen creek.
Gavin fought the steering wheel, trying to keep the vehicle upright.
For one terrifying second, all four wheels left the ground.
They landed hard on the creek bank.
The engine stalled.
Silence fell.
Belle turned in time to see the black SUV stop at the top of the slope.
Its driver's door opened.
Deputy Harlan stepped into the snow.
May you like
He lifted a pistol.
And pointed it directly at the little girl in the back seat.
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