Chapter 9 - Beneath the PinesPolice raced back to Blackwood Lake.
Two hundred yards behind the cabin, hidden beneath dead leaves, they found the shelter door.
Locked.
They forced it open.
Ryan waited outside.
Seconds felt like hours.
Then someone shouted.
“We've got someone!”
Ryan ran forward.
Paramedics carried a woman from the darkness.
Thin.
Bruised.
Barely conscious.
But alive.
Natalie.
Ryan stopped.
Eight years disappeared in one instant.
Natalie's eyes opened.
She saw him.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Ryan…”
He knelt beside her.
“Lily's safe.”
Natalie began sobbing.
“Thank God.”
Then she grabbed his wrist.
“Caroline?”
“Gone.”
Natalie's expression filled with fear.
“No.”
“What?”
“You don't understand.”
She struggled to sit up.
“Caroline didn't do this alone.”
Ryan stared at her.
“Who helped her?”
May you like
Natalie whispered:
“Your brother.”
