Chapter 3 - The Boy Who Wasn’t Afraid
Natalie unplugged the kitchen telephone.
Then she shut off her cell phone.
Roman told her not to.
“If Derek realizes you know something, he’ll panic.”
“He already knows I’m awake.”
“He doesn’t know you know he’s involved.”
“I’m not letting him track my phone.”
“He probably already can.”
Natalie stared at him.
“What?”
“If he pays for the account or ever had access to it, he could have installed something.”
“He doesn’t.”
“Are you sure?”
She hated how often Roman asked that question.
She hated even more how rarely she could answer it confidently.
Natalie removed the battery.
Then she found an old cookie tin and dropped the phone inside.
Roman nodded.
“Metal helps.”
“You know a lot about being tracked.”
“I know a lot about surviving people who want information.”
Liam sat at the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate as if a bleeding crime boss hiding beneath his pantry was merely an unusual snow day.
Goliath occupied the doorway.
Roman had returned to the kitchen because the cellar was too cold.
Natalie had dressed him in the largest clothes she could find: gray sweatpants left by a former tenant and one of Derek’s old college sweatshirts that she had once used for painting.
Roman stared down at the faded PHILADELPHIA EAGLES logo.
“I own suits worth more than some cars.”
Natalie tightened his bandage.
“Tonight you own sweatpants with a hole in the knee.”
Liam snorted into his cocoa.
Roman looked at him.
“You find that funny?”
“A little.”
“You know who I am?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Mom said you’re mixed up with bad people.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“Liam.”
“What? You did.”
Roman leaned against the counter.
“She’s right.”
“Are you bad?”
Roman didn’t answer immediately.
Natalie watched him.
This was the first question that seemed to wound him.
“I’ve done bad things.”
Liam considered that.
“So have I.”
Roman blinked.
Liam lifted one finger.
“I broke Mom’s lamp.”
“That’s not quite the same.”
“I lied about it.”
“Still not the same.”
“I blamed Goliath.”
Roman looked at the enormous dog.
“That is serious.”
Liam nodded solemnly.
“He was disappointed in me.”
Goliath yawned.
Roman’s mouth twitched.
Natalie almost forgot, for one second, that men were hunting them.
Then Roman said, “We can’t stay here.”
The warmth vanished.
Natalie looked toward the rain-soaked window.
“Roads are flooding.”
“They’ll return before daylight.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they didn’t believe you.”
Liam’s fingers tightened around his mug.
Natalie noticed.
“Hey. Upstairs.”
“But—”
“Take Goliath.”
Roman shook his head.
“Leave the dog.”
Natalie stared at him.
Roman looked toward the windows.
“He hears things before we do.”
Liam frowned.
“He’s my dog.”
Roman met his eyes.
“Tonight he’s everyone’s dog.”
That satisfied Liam enough to go upstairs.
When he disappeared, Natalie faced Roman.
“I am not dragging my son into some mafia war.”
“You already are.”
“You’re the reason.”
Roman took the accusation without flinching.
“Yes.”
Natalie hadn’t expected that.
He continued.
“And if I could change where your dog found me, I would.”
She folded her arms.
“So what do you suggest?”
“A safe place.”
“Yours?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever betrayed me knows all of them.”
Roman looked toward the kitchen clock.
“Do you have somewhere no one connects to you?”
Natalie thought.
Her hospital?
Impossible.
Coworkers?
Too dangerous.
Then she remembered.
“My father owned a hunting cabin.”
“Where?”
“Northwest of Jim Thorpe. It hasn’t been used in years.”
“Did Derek know about it?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
This time she was.
“My father died before I met Derek.”
Roman nodded.
“How far?”
“Forty minutes normally. Maybe an hour in this.”
“We go there.”
“You can’t travel.”
“I can travel or I can die here.”
Natalie checked the wound again.
She hated that medically, movement was dangerous.
She hated more that staying looked suicidal.
A noise came from the porch.
Goliath’s head snapped up.
Roman went silent.
The mastiff walked to the front window.
A vehicle engine sounded somewhere down the road.
It did not approach.
It stopped.
Roman moved toward the curtain.
“Don’t.”
He ignored Natalie and looked through a narrow gap.
“What?”
“Lights off.”
Natalie killed them.
Darkness swallowed the cabin.
Roman stared into the rain.
“They’re staging down the road.”
“How can you tell?”
“No one stops there in this weather.”
Natalie’s pulse accelerated.
Roman stepped away.
“We leave now.”
“My car is outside.”
“They’ll see it.”
“I can’t teleport.”
Roman looked toward the back of the property.
“What’s behind the cabin?”
“Forest. An old logging road about half a mile west.”
“Does it connect to the highway?”
“Eventually.”
“Vehicle?”
Natalie suddenly remembered the old Jeep.
It had belonged to her landlord’s brother.
Parked in the detached shed for months because the battery frequently died.
“I might.”
Roman gave her a look.
“That sounds promising.”
“Stay with Liam.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“No.”
“You’re barely walking.”
“I’m not letting you go outside alone.”
“I survived nursing school, an emergency room during a pandemic, and marriage to Derek. I can walk fifty yards to a shed.”
Roman almost argued.
Goliath stepped beside Natalie.
She clipped on his leash.
“I won’t be alone.”
That ended the conversation.
The rain had weakened slightly, but the wind remained vicious.
Natalie and Goliath moved into the darkness behind the cabin.
She didn’t use a flashlight.
The shed appeared as a black shape between the trees.
Natalie reached it.
Unlocked the door.
The battered green Jeep sat inside.
She climbed in.
Turned the key.
Click.
Nothing.
“Of course.”
She tried again.
Click.
Goliath suddenly growled.
Natalie stopped.
A branch cracked behind the shed.
Not from wind.
Goliath moved in front of her.
Someone was there.
Natalie reached for the tire iron beneath the driver’s seat.
A figure emerged.
“Nat?”
Her blood froze.
Derek.
Her ex-husband stepped into the dim glow from the shed’s security light.
His hair was soaked.
His jacket was muddy.
“Jesus, what are you doing out here?”
Natalie stared at him.
“How did you get here?”
“I was worried.”
“At three thirty in the morning?”
“I told you.”
“You called me twenty minutes ago from Philadelphia.”
“I was already driving.”
Roman had been right.
Natalie forced herself to breathe.
Derek approached.
Goliath snarled.
“Control that monster.”
“He remembers you.”
Derek had always hated the dog.
Mostly because Goliath had never liked him.
“Where’s Liam?”
“Asleep.”
Derek looked toward the cabin.
Then toward the muddy ground.
“Anyone else here?”
Natalie’s heart hammered.
“No.”
Derek smiled.
Too quickly.
“Good.”
He stepped closer.
“Come on. Get Liam. I’ll take you both somewhere safe.”
“Safe from what?”
Derek stopped.
“The storm.”
“You keep saying that.”
“What’s your problem?”
“You are.”
He exhaled in irritation.
“Nat, not tonight.”
Goliath’s growl deepened.
Then headlights appeared through the trees.
Derek looked over his shoulder.
Natalie saw his face.
He wasn’t surprised.
He was relieved.
That told her everything.
She backed away.
“Who did you bring?”
Derek’s expression changed.
“Natalie.”
“Who did you bring?”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I understand you knew armed men were coming to my house.”
His face went pale.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By giving them my address?”
Derek stared.
Then something dark entered his eyes.
“Who told you that?”
Wrong question.
Natalie tightened her grip on the tire iron.
Derek stepped forward.
“Who is in that house?”
Goliath lunged so hard the leash nearly tore from Natalie’s hand.
Derek stumbled backward.
“Call him off!”
“Leave.”
“Natalie—”
“Leave!”
The approaching vehicle turned onto the rear trail.
Derek swore.
“You idiot. You have no idea who you dragged into this.”
Natalie’s chest went tight.
He knew.
Derek knew Roman was alive.
“You were there.”
His silence confirmed it.
“You helped bury him.”
Derek’s face twisted.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
Natalie felt sick.
“Were you going to bury me too?”
“No!”
“Then why use my property?”
“I needed money!”
The confession burst from him.
Even Derek looked shocked by it.
Natalie stared.
He lowered his voice.
“I owed people.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“So you sold us.”
“No. I gave them access to empty land.”
“I live here!”
“They said nothing would happen to you.”
“You believed criminals burying a man in the woods?”
Derek stepped toward her.
“You think you’re better than me? You dragged us into debt. Liam’s surgery. Your loans. That ridiculous custody fight—”
“You started the custody fight!”
“Because they paid for it!”
Silence.
Even the storm seemed to disappear.
Natalie whispered, “What?”
Derek realized what he had admitted.
The headlights were almost at the shed.
He reached for her.
“Natalie, we need to go.”
Goliath roared.
Derek retreated.
Then the Jeep behind Natalie suddenly started.
The engine thundered.
Natalie spun.
Roman sat behind the wheel.
Blood had soaked through the sweatshirt.
Liam was beside him.
Roman leaned across and kicked open the passenger door.
“Get in.”
Natalie didn’t hesitate.
She grabbed Goliath and climbed inside.
Derek ran toward them.
“Natalie!”
Roman slammed the Jeep into reverse.
The vehicle shot through the shed doors as the approaching SUV entered the clearing.
Wood exploded around them.
Liam screamed.
Goliath braced himself across the back seat.
Roman spun the wheel.
The Jeep fishtailed in the mud.
A gunshot cracked.
The rear window shattered.
Natalie covered Liam.
Roman accelerated toward the logging road.
Another gunshot.
Then another.
Derek’s voice disappeared behind them.
The Jeep plunged into the darkness.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Liam whispered from beneath Natalie’s arm.
“Dad was helping the bad men?”
Natalie’s heart shattered.
She had no answer gentle enough for a seven-year-old.
Roman looked at Liam through the rearview mirror.
“No.”
Natalie stared at him.
Roman’s eyes stayed on the road.
“Your father was helping himself.”
He glanced at Liam.
“There’s a difference.”
The Jeep climbed the muddy trail.
Behind them, headlights appeared.
The men were following.
May you like
And this time, Natalie knew exactly who had led them there.
The man she had once trusted enough to marry.
