Chapter 7 - The Wife's Return
Chloe collapsed onto her knees on the asphalt, gasping for air.
The front end of her SUV was completely crushed, steam hissing violently from the ruined radiator.
I stood frozen in shock, keeping my body firmly positioned between her and my children.
"Why are you here, Chloe?" I yelled, refusing to drop my defensive stance.
She looked up at me, tears streaming down her bruised face.
"I had to stop him, Grant, I had to fix this," she sobbed hysterically.
She explained that she had never intended for anyone to get hurt.
Richard had blackmailed her into the money-laundering scheme by threatening to expose a fatal hit-and-run she committed years ago.
When she realized the cartel was planning to murder Tessa to tie up loose ends, she panicked.
She claimed she left the kids today to try and steal the ledger and buy our freedom.
"I love you, Grant, I love our family," she cried, crawling slowly toward us.
I looked at her desperate, tear-stained face, searching for any hint of the woman I had married.
But my mind flashed back to Tessa’s innocent words from earlier that afternoon.
Tessa had told me the secret phone had been buzzing in that drawer for months.
Chloe had not been forced into a corner today; she had been willingly participating in this nightmare for a very long time.
"You are lying," I said, my voice as cold as ice.
Chloe stopped crawling, her expression instantly shifting from a weeping mother to something deeply sinister.
The tears vanished, and her face hardened into a mask of pure, unadulterated malice.
She slowly raised the pistol, aiming it directly at my chest.
"You were always too smart for your own good, Grant," she whispered coldly.
"Hand over the baby, and I will let you and Tessa run into the woods."
She was willing to trade Miles to the cartel to save her own skin.
I gripped the rusty crowbar, preparing to charge her, knowing I would take a bullet before reaching her.
Suddenly, a low, guttural growl echoed from the shadows of the crushed SUV.
Titan, bleeding from a grazing bullet wound to his shoulder, dragged himself out of the wreckage.
He locked his golden eyes onto Chloe, his teeth bared in a terrifying snarl.
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Chloe panicked and swung her gun toward the dog, but it was too late.
Titan lunged with horrifying speed, clamping his jaws down on her wrist with bone-crushing force.
