Chapter 4 - Confrontation at the Sawmill
Nathan felt a surge of adrenaline so intense it turned his vision red at the edges. "You touch those children again, and I'll make sure you never walk another step."
Marcus laughed—a dry, rasping sound. "You think your money makes you tough, Pierce? You sat up in your glass house while Sarah starved down here. She tried to run three times. Every time, I brought her back. Every letter she wrote you? I burned them. I made her write those bitter notes to you while I held a belt to her back. You gave up on her because you're weak!"
The truth hit Nathan like a physical blade, tearing through seven years of self-righteous bitterness. It was all true. His pride had blinded him. He had let his anger toward Marcus turn into abandonment of Sarah.
Before Marcus could react, Ray stepped into the cabin doorway, his weapon raised and trained directly on Marcus's chest. "Drop the iron, Kane. Down on the floor. Right now."
Marcus’s eyes widened slightly as he realized Nathan hadn't come alone. He glanced toward the back door of the kitchen. "You think you've won?" Marcus spat. He suddenly swung the crowbar wildly at an oil lantern hanging from the low ceiling.
The glass shattered, splashing burning kerosene across the dry wooden walls and curtain rags. Flames instantly roared to life, filling the small room with thick, black smoke.
Marcus turned and bolted out the rear doorway into the knee-deep snow behind the cabin.
"Ray! Get the fire out or find Sarah!" Nathan yelled, lunging through the smoke toward the back bedroom.
"Nathan, wait!" Ray shouted, drawing an extinguisher from his belt to fight the spreading flames near the entry.
Nathan burst into the small, freezing bedroom at the end of the hall.
There, lying on a thin mattress on the floor, wrapped in a threadbare quilt, was Sarah.
Her face was pale as limestone. A crude bandage was wrapped around her head, dark with blood. Her breath was barely discernible, her skin ice-cold to the touch. But as Nathan dropped to his knees beside her, her eyelids fluttered.
"Nathan...?" she rasped, her voice barely a whisper.
"I'm here, Sarah. I'm here," Nathan sobbed, throwing his arms around her, pulling her thin, fragile body against his chest. "I'm so sorry. God, Sarah, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"Lily..." Sarah gasped, clutching at his coat with weak, trembling fingers. "The boys... did they...?"
"They're safe. They're at my house," Nathan said, tears spilling over his eyes and dripping onto her forehead. "Lily is a hero. She brought them all the way to my door. They are alive, Sarah. They are safe."
A soft, broken smile appeared on Sarah’s blue lips. "My brave little girl..."
Behind them, the fire roared louder, smoke pouring over the doorframe.
May you like
"We have to go!" Ray called out, rushing into the room with a wet towel pressed to his face. "The roof is catching! We have to get her out now!"
Nathan didn't hesitate. He wrapped Sarah securely in his heavy winter coat, lifted her frail frame into his arms, and sprinted through the burning hallway, out into the biting winter air.
