Chapter 5 - The Bleeding Heart
"Grace!" Daniel screamed, catching her as she began to slide off the snowmobile.
Maya began to cry hysterically as she saw the dark blood staining her mother's clothes.
Daniel carried Grace through the heavy snow toward a small, closed veterinary clinic on the edge of town.
He used his elbow to smash the glass of the front door and unlocked it from the inside.
He laid Grace gently on the stainless-steel examination table.
"Stay with me, Grace," Daniel pleaded, frantically searching the cabinets for medical supplies.
He found sterile bandages, local anesthetic, and a surgical suture kit.
The shotgun pellet had grazed her ribs, causing a deep, bleeding laceration.
Daniel's hands shook as he injected the numbing agent and carefully stitched the wound closed.
Grace let out a sharp breath and slowly opened her eyes.
"You saved me," she whispered, offering him a weak, tired smile.
"I told you I would never let anything happen to you," Daniel replied, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
The air in the small clinic suddenly felt incredibly heavy and charged with unspoken emotion.
Daniel leaned in slowly, his lips brushing softly against hers in a desperate, tender kiss.
For a moment, the nightmare outside the walls completely faded away.
Then, the small television mounted on the waiting room wall suddenly flickered to life.
A breaking news alert flashed across the screen with a massive red banner.
The news anchor looked grave as a photograph of Daniel filled the screen.
"Billionaire Daniel Whitfield is currently the subject of a nationwide manhunt," the anchor announced.
"Police have just discovered the body of a security guard at the Whitfield estate."
"Security footage shows Daniel Whitfield fleeing the scene with a kidnapped maid and her young child."
Daniel stared at the screen in absolute horror.
Robert had not just tried to kill them tonight.
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He had framed Daniel for murder and kidnapping on national television.
Before Daniel could process the devastating news, the red and blue flashing lights of three police cruisers illuminated the clinic windows.
