Chapter 5 - The Confrontation
The old pine door shattered inward with a deafening crack.
"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Rachel screamed, stepping into the cabin like a nightmare born of rain and fury, the heavy iron prybar raised high above her head.
Melissa gasped in utter shock, stumbling backward against the wood stove. Her hand darted instantly toward the waistband of her jeans, reaching for the handgun.
"NO!" Rachel roared, closing the distance in a fraction of a second.
Before Melissa could clear the holster, Rachel swung the iron prybar with full force. The heavy metal struck Melissa’s forearm with a sickening CRACK.
Melissa shrieked in agony, dropping the handgun onto the hardwood floor. The gun slid across the floorboards, disappearing beneath the low wooden sofa.
"MOMMY!" Lily screamed, tears bursting from her eyes as she recognized her mother.
"Run, Lily! Out the door! RUN!" Rachel shouted, stepping between her daughter and Melissa.
Melissa, clutching her broken arm, her eyes wild with murderous malice, tackled Rachel at the waist. Both women crashed hard onto the floor, scattering wooden chairs across the room.
Melissa grabbed Rachel by her dark hair, slamming her head against the floorboards. "You ruined everything!" Melissa shrieked, her voice high and unhinged. "Daniel gave you everything! A home! A family! And you were going to take his money and walk away!"
Pain exploded behind Rachel’s eyes, but the motherly instinct overriding her body was absolute. She brought her knee up violently into Melissa’s ribs, knocking the wind out of her.
As Melissa gasped for air, Rachel rolled over, grabbed a heavy iron poker from the fireplace stand, and brought the blunt handle down hard against the side of Melissa’s jaw.
Melissa slumped sideways onto the floor, unconscious.
Rachel scrambled to her feet, panting heavily, blood trickling from a small cut above her eyebrow. She didn't look back at Melissa. She turned toward the open doorway, where Lily stood trembling in the freezing rain on the back porch.
"Lily!" Rachel cried, dropping the poker and rushing out into the rain.
She fell to her knees on the porch, gathering her eight-year-old daughter into her arms, crushing her small body against her chest.
"Mommy's here, baby," Rachel sobbed, burying her face in Lily’s wet curls. "Mommy’s here. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry."
Lily wrapped her small arms tightly around her mother's neck, weeping hysterically against Rachel’s shoulder. "I knew you didn't burn the house, Mommy! I knew it!"
Rachel lifted Lily in her arms and ran toward the dark forest, heading for the logging road.
As they reached the edge of the trees, heavy yellow headlights suddenly cut through the thick mountain fog at the wooden gate.
A dark SUV plowed straight through the gate, smashing the wooden posts to splinters, and skidded to a halt in the mud twenty feet in front of them.
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The driver’s door flew open.
Daniel Carter stepped out into the rain, holding a high-powered tactical shotgun in his hands.
