Chapter 9 - The Confrontation
Ice water flooded my veins.
Grant had known where they were going the entire time.
I sprinted up the basement stairs, ignoring the burning in my lungs.
I dialed Natalie’s number repeatedly, but it went straight to voicemail.
I jumped into my car and tore out of the industrial park, breaking every speed limit on the highway.
I tracked Natalie's phone using the emergency location sharing we had set up.
Her car had stopped on a deserted stretch of rural road, twenty miles outside of Atlanta.
I arrived thirty minutes later to find the rental car idling on the shoulder.
The driver's side door was wide open.
Natalie was slumped against the steering wheel, unconscious but breathing.
I grabbed her shoulder, shaking her gently until she groaned.
"Where are they?" I demanded, panic making my voice crack.
"The woods," she gasped, clutching her bleeding forehead.
"He ran us off the road."
"Tessa took the kids and ran into the trees."
I didn't hesitate.
I plunged into the dense, dark forest, using my phone's flashlight to track the broken branches.
Ten minutes later, I heard Lily crying.
I burst into a small clearing.
Grant was standing there, holding Tessa by the hair with a gun pressed to her temple.
Owen and Lily were huddled behind a massive oak tree, trembling in terror.
"Let her go, Grant," I commanded, stepping fully into the light.
Grant laughed, a manic, desperate sound.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" he spat.
"You ruined everything!"
"I have the servers, Grant," I lied, holding up my empty phone.
"I already sent the files to Vargas."
"He knows you were stealing from him."
Grant’s face twisted in pure, unadulterated fury.
He released Tessa and pointed the gun directly at my chest.
"Then I guess we all die tonight," he screamed, pulling the trigger.
May you like
Click.
The gun didn't fire.
