part 2
PART 2
Mason forced the cabin door open with his shoulder.
The wind followed us inside, throwing snow across the hardwood floor.
The living room looked like a beautiful place where something ugly had died.
A crystal wine glass lay shattered near the fireplace.
A chair was overturned beside the dining table.
The legal papers Adrian had brought were scattered across the white rug like dead birds.
The fire had burned low.
The room smelled like smoke, wet silk, and fear.
Mason slammed the door shut.
Then he locked it.
His eyes scanned the room quickly.
“Where’s your phone?”
“Kitchen floor.”
I pointed with shaking fingers.
“Adrian smashed it.”
Mason crossed the room and crouched near the island.
He found the phone under the edge of a cabinet.
The screen was cracked black.
“Landline?”
“He cut it.”
“Vehicle?”
“Only the snowmobile.”
Mason looked toward the window where the tracks were already being swallowed by fresh snow.
“Of course he took the only one.”
I staggered toward the dining table.
The papers were still there.
The pen was still there.
The custody waiver lay open to the signature line.
My handwriting cut through the blank space.
REFUSED.
Mason picked it up.
His jaw tightened.
“What is this?”
“My daughter’s life.”
My voice sounded strange to me.
Flat.
Frozen.
“He wanted me to sign away emergency custody.”
Mason read the first page.
Then the second.
Then the trust transfer attached behind it.
His face went darker with every line.
“He was taking her out of the country?”
“Switzerland.”
“When?”
“Tonight if the airstrip opened.”
Mason looked up.
“In this storm?”
I laughed once.
It hurt.
“Adrian believes weather is something other people obey.”
Mason placed the papers carefully into a plastic evidence pouch from his pack.
That small action nearly broke me.
He was treating the papers like proof.
Not drama.
Not hysteria.
Proof.
“I called my attorney two weeks ago,” I said.
“Naomi Brooks.”
“I changed the trust access yesterday.”
“I filed a sealed custody objection.”
“I told Lily’s nanny not to open the door if Adrian came alone.”
Mason stared at me.
“You planned ahead.”
“I was terrified.”
“That’s often when people plan best.”
My knees buckled.
He caught me before I hit the floor.
He guided me to the couch and wrapped a wool blanket around me.
My whole body shook violently now.
The cold was inside my bones.
Mason knelt in front of me and pulled emergency socks from his pack.
“I need to check you for frostbite.”
“No.”
I grabbed his wrist.
“I need to get to Lily.”
“You will not reach her if you collapse.”
“She’s six miles away.”
“She’s behind a locked door with a nanny you warned.”
The way he said it made me breathe again.
Just once.
He checked my feet quickly, professionally, and without making me feel small.
Then he brought boots from the mudroom and helped me put them on.
“There’s a satellite phone in my pack,” he said.
“Storm may block it, but we’ll try.”
He moved toward the west window and powered it on.
The screen flickered.
No signal.
He cursed under his breath.
Then I remembered.
“The camera.”
Mason turned.
“What camera?”
I pointed above the pantry door.
A tiny black lens watched the kitchen and living room.
Adrian had never noticed it because he never noticed things he did not own.
“My attorney told me to document everything.”
Mason looked at the red indicator light.
It was still blinking.
He looked back at me.
For the first time since he found me outside, something like hope entered his face.
“He left you in a blizzard.”
May you like
I nodded.
“He also left a witness.”
