My daughter’s husband beat her bloody, threw her out in the middle of the night, and told her no one would believe her because her father was “nobody.” Hours later, he opened his front door expecting her to crawl back and beg, but instead he found me standing there with an old baseball bat and a question that wiped the arrogance from his face.

The heavy ash wood struck Daniel perfectly on his right wrist.

The bone snapped with a sickening crack that echoed in the silent quarry.

Daniel screamed in agony, dropping the silver handgun onto the rocks.

I forced myself up from the ground, ignoring the burning hole in my shoulder.

I drove my knee violently into his stomach, folding him perfectly in half.

I brought the handle of the bat down across the back of his neck.

Daniel collapsed face-first into the gravel, completely motionless.

I dropped the bat and ran to the trunk of the teetering sedan.

My bloody hands fumbled desperately with the rusted trunk latch.

It would not open.

I grabbed the crowbar from my truck bed and wedged it under the trunk lid.

I pulled back with all my remaining strength, screaming against the pain in my shoulder.

The metal groaned, snapped, and finally popped open.

Claire was lying inside, shivering uncontrollably and covered in bruises.

I ripped the tape from her mouth and cut the ropes on her wrists.

"Daddy," she cried, throwing her arms tightly around my neck.

"I got you, sweetheart," I whispered, lifting her carefully out of the trunk.

"It is over."

Suddenly, the deafening chop of helicopter blades cut through the night air.

A sleek black helicopter descended rapidly over the edge of the quarry.

It hovered just a few feet above the ground, shining a blinding spotlight directly on us.

The side door slid open, revealing Warren Voss covered in soot and burns from the explosion.

He was holding a military-grade assault rifle.

Four heavily armed mercenaries jumped out of the chopper and immediately surrounded us.

Warren stepped out, his eyes burning with pure, unadulterated hatred.

"You burned my home to the ground," Warren screamed over the roar of the rotors.

"Now I am going to make you watch your daughter die."

He raised the rifle and pointed it directly at Claire's chest.

The Clumsy Maid Bathed His Dog—Then The Mafia Boss Said She Wasn’t Leavi...

She found her husband with another woman and walked away so quietly that...

The Mafia Boss Asked a Disabled Widow If She Was Okay

I pushed Claire behind me, ready to take the bullets for her.

Before Warren could pull the trigger, the entire quarry suddenly lit up in red and blue.

Chapter 9 - The Swing