Chapter 10 - The Final Breath
The shocking impact of the freezing water immediately sucked the breath from Jason's lungs.
He thrashed wildly in the dark, icy depths, entirely blinded by the freezing temperature and the frantic bubbles.
Sarah let go of his ankle, using the momentum to propel herself upward toward the faint light of the surface.
She broke through the broken ice, gasping desperately for the freezing, wonderful air.
Jason struggled to swim up, but his heavy, stolen tactical gear pulled him relentlessly downward like a massive anchor.
His lungs burned with agonizing fire as the dark water filled his mouth and dragged him into unconsciousness.
Flashing red and blue lights suddenly illuminated the snowy shoreline of the lake.
Canadian police officers and rescue divers sprinted across the ice, throwing a heavy rope directly to Sarah.
They pulled her shivering, exhausted body out of the freezing water and immediately wrapped her in thermal blankets.
Two rescue divers plunged into the hole, returning a minute later with Jason's lifeless body.
They performed aggressive CPR on the ice, eventually forcing him to cough up a massive amount of lake water.
Jason survived the ordeal, but he was immediately handcuffed to a stretcher and officially arrested for attempted murder and international fraud.
He would spend the absolute rest of his miserable life rotting in a maximum-security prison cell.
Sarah spent a few days recovering in a local hospital, finally feeling the heavy weight of trauma lift from her shoulders.
She returned to her cozy cabin and began to build the beautiful, peaceful life she had always dreamed of.
She opened a charming little bakery in the center of the snowy Canadian town, filling the air with the scent of fresh bread.
She adopted a golden retriever, made wonderful friends, and finally experienced true, uninterrupted happiness.
The dark nightmare of her abusive marriage was completely over, replaced by a life of warmth and safety.
One quiet evening, she was flipping the open sign on her bakery door to closed.
She noticed a thick, black envelope that had been secretly slipped under the wooden doorframe.
She carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a fresh, high-resolution photograph.
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It was a picture of her supposedly deceased father, tied to a chair in a dark, unfamiliar basement.
A handwritten note on the back simply read, "Jason was only a small piece of our syndicate, and you owe us a lot of money."
