Chapter 16 - Fractured Loyalties
The convoy of three black SUVs navigated the winding, fog-drenched curves of Route 9, cutting through the dense timberland of the Hudson Valley. Sleet glazed the asphalt, reflecting the sweep of their high-beam headlights against the dark, encroaching pines.
Inside the lead vehicle, Daniel sat in silence, checking the chamber of his service sidearm—a habit ingrained from his military deployments that he had hoped never to revisit in civilian life. Beside him, Victoria stared unblinkingly into the darkness ahead, her fingers nervously clutching the wooden robin Ethan had carried for years.
"What if she doesn't know you, Daniel?" Victoria asked quietly, her voice barely louder than the hum of the engine. "Six years of high-dose sedatives, neurological therapy, and isolation. Evelyn’s doctors weren't trying to heal her; they were trying to keep her docile. Arthur Sterling’s people have likely been pumping her full of stimulants to force her recall. She might not be the woman you left behind."
"I don't care if she remembers me," Daniel answered, his voice thick with unyielding resolve. "I only care that she is free. She has lived in hell for six years because my mother was a monster and I was too blind to see it. If she never wants to look at my face again, I will accept that. But she will not spend another night as a pawn in some billionaire’s vendetta."
Marcus’s voice crackled through the encrypted tactical radio mounted on the dashboard. "Daniel, we have a complication. Local county sheriffs just pulled up to the gates of Blackwood Ridge. Two cruisers, lights flashing."
Daniel leaned forward, grabbing the handheld mic. "Has Sterling called them?"
"Negative," Marcus responded. "The calls were logged from an anonymous tip line inside Manhattan. Someone tipped off the state authorities that an undocumented foreign national in critical medical distress is being unlawfully detained at the property. The police are demanding entry right now."
"Who called it in?" Victoria gasped.
Daniel closed his eyes for a split second, realizing the horrifying truth. *Evelyn.*
Even from behind the reinforced concrete walls of a federal penitentiary, Evelyn still had strings to pull. She had realized during Daniel’s visit that the truth was breaking loose. If Arthur Sterling presented Julianna to the courts, Evelyn’s legacy was obliterated. Therefore, Evelyn had directed her remaining loyalists to send the police in first—not to rescue Julianna, but to cause a chaotic, armed raid where an unstable, fragile woman could easily be caught in the crossfire or rushed into state psychiatric custody where she would be silenced forever.
"Marcus, hit the gas," Daniel ordered, his eyes snapping open with cold precision. "We have to breach the estate before the tactical units deploy. If Evelyn’s people inside the sheriff’s department get to Julianna first, she will never leave that house alive."
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The SUV surged forward, its tires biting into the slush as the heavy vehicle roared up the steep mountain approach toward the wrought-iron gates of Blackwood Ridge.
***
