Chapter 17 - Snow and Blood
The forest was a chaos of gunfire, screaming wind, and the blinding white of the snowstorm. Hailey crawled out of the shattered windshield of the overturned SUV, her forehead bleeding from a sharp cut. She struggled to her feet, gasping for air as the sound of automatic weapon fire echoed through the trees.
"Dad!" she screamed, looking back at the smoking wreckage.
Finnley was climbing out, his shoulder injured, but he was holding a sidearm, returning fire toward the muzzle flashes in the woods. "Hailey! Run! Get to the tree line! They want you alive—they won't shoot to kill you!"
Before Hailey could move, a heavy hand grabbed her from behind, slamming her against the side of the damaged vehicle. She spun around, face-to-face with Jasper Thorne.
He looked completely unhinged. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, a manic grin stretching across his face as he held a heavy pistol. "Got you," he whispered, his breath hot and sour in the freezing air. "You’re coming with me, Hailey."
"Let go of me, you coward!" Hailey yelled, driving her elbow hard into his ribs. Jasper gasped, dropping his gun, but he grabbed her hair, dragging her toward a waiting snowmobile parked in the thick brush.
"You took everything from me!" Jasper screamed over the howling wind, his face twisted in pure madness. "My company, my family's name! You’re going to give it all back, or I swear to God, I will make sure Toby never sees his mother again!"
"You touch my son, and I will tear your throat out with my bare teeth!" Hailey roared, fighting him with a primal, desperate strength. She grabbed a sharp piece of shattered metal from the wrecked SUV and slashed it across Jasper's cheek.
Jasper shrieked in pain, letting go of her hair as blood began to pour down his face, staining the white snow a bright, violent red.
"You bitch!" Jasper roared, lunging at her again.
Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Jasper fell to his knees, clutching his leg as a bullet tore through his thigh.
Dominic Vance stepped out from the shadows of the pine trees, holding a smoking rifle. "Get up, you pathetic idiot," Dominic spat, looking at Jasper with absolute disgust. "I told you to secure her, not play with her."
Dominic turned his rifle toward Hailey, his expression completely blank. "You’re coming with us, Ms. Robertson. Your father’s security detail is dead or pinned down. You have no cards left to play."
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Hailey looked back. Through the blizzard, she could see her father being dragged away by two of Dominic’s men, his face covered in blood. Her security guards were gone, their bodies dark shapes in the snow.
She was completely alone.
