By dawn, the storm broke. The snowplows cleared the main roads, and the world outside my window looked deceivingly pure and peaceful. But the rot had already breached my walls.
I left the children under the fierce, watchful eye of Rose and a team of private security I had hired at 4:00 AM. I had one mission: find my sister. Lily had murmured a few disjointed clues in her delirium—a bus terminal, a coughing fit, a hospital in Portland with a blue awning.
It took me thirty-six hours of relentless driving, bribing motel clerks, and leveraging every medical contact I possessed in the Pacific Northwest. I moved through the gritty underbelly of cheap clinics and homeless shelters, places a man in a tailored suit like me rarely tread. I was a ghost hunting another ghost.
Finally, a favor called in to an administrator at Providence Portland Medical Center yielded a hit. A Jane Doe matching Sarah’s description had collapsed in their lobby two days ago.
I bypassed the front desk, my hospital ID badge getting me through the secure doors. The oncology ward smelled of bleach, wilted flowers, and waiting. Room 314.
I stopped outside the door, my hand hovering over the handle. For seven years, I had rehearsed the righteous anger I would unleash on her for choosing Marcus over her own flesh and blood. Now, all that anger evaporated, leaving only a hollow, terrifying ache.
I pushed the door open.
The woman in the bed was a skeletal shadow of the vibrant, stubborn girl who used to race me to the lake. Her golden hair was gone, replaced by a pale scarf. Dark bruises stained her translucent skin where IVs were taped to her frail arms. The rhythmic hiss of a ventilator filled the quiet room.
She turned her head. Her eyes, still that same piercing green, widened.
“Nate,” she breathed, the word barely a rasp.
I crossed the room and fell into the hard plastic chair beside her, grabbing her cold, bony hand. “I’m here, Sarah. I’m here.”
Tears spilled over her sunken cheeks. “Lily… the babies…”
“They’re safe,” I said quickly, squeezing her fingers. “They’re with me. They’re warm. Lily is the bravest kid I’ve ever met.”
Sarah let out a shuddering sigh, a heavy weight visibly lifting from her chest. “I knew she’d make it. I told her… Uncle Nate’s house is a fortress. He won’t let the monsters in.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” my voice cracked. “Why did you wait until it was almost too late?”
“I was ashamed,” she whispered, looking at the ceiling. “You were right about him. You were right about everything. By the time I realized it, he had isolated me completely. Then… the cancer came. By the time they found it, it was everywhere.” She looked back at me, her eyes burning with a sudden, fierce intensity. “Did you find what I put in the coat?”
“The insurance policies. Yes.”
“He owes terrible people a lot of money, Nate. A week ago, I heard him on the phone. He said he had a ‘payout’ coming soon. He looked at the twins when he said it.” She gripped my hand with a surprising, desperate strength. “I couldn’t run with them. I’d only slow them down. I packed the sled. I told Lily to follow the highway north, to follow the stars to your mountain. Promise me, Nate. Promise me you won’t let him take them.”
“He will never touch them,” I vowed, my voice a low, hard rumble. “I will burn the world down before I let him near them.”
“I love you, big brother,” she smiled, a beautiful, heartbreaking echo of the girl she used to be. “I can finally rest.”
The heavy silence of the room was suddenly shattered by the sound of the heavy wooden door slamming against the wall.
“Well, ain’t this a touching family reunion.”
I turned. Standing in the doorway was Marcus Kane.
He looked feral. His clothes were rumpled, his eyes bloodshot and manic, reeking of stale whiskey and cheap cologne. He stepped into the room, locking the door behind him with a sharp, decisive click.
“Marcus,” Sarah gasped, her heart monitor suddenly spiking into a rapid, panicked rhythm.
He didn’t look at her. His dead, hollow eyes were fixed entirely on me.
“Where are my kids, Doc?” he slurred, pulling a heavy, rusted hunting knife from his jacket pocket. “Because you and I are going to make a little withdrawal.”
The air in the room evaporated. Marcus took another step forward, the blade of the knife catching the harsh fluorescent light.
I didn’t back away. I stood up slowly, putting my body entirely between him and Sarah’s bed. “You aren’t taking anyone, Marcus. It’s over. I have the policies.”
Marcus let out a ragged, ugly laugh. “You think a piece of paper stops me? I’m their father. The law is on my side. And right now, I’m holding all the cards.”
