Chapter 2
1134 Words
Liam’s POV
The moment the alert hit, Liam felt his heart drop and his training snap into place.
Security breach. Panic code. Mama B’s house.
He didn’t let himself feel. Not yet. Just moved.
“It’s Mama B’s house,” he said, already reaching for his phone. “Rear door sensor panic code.”
That last part made his blood run cold. Nadyia froze. Noah looked like someone had cut the light out of his eyes. Liam launched the feed to the TV. His thumb barely shook as he navigated the app, but his jaw clenched so tight it ached.
The grainy footage loaded. One figure. One exit. Something in his arms.
Someone. Ethan.
Nadyia screamed. Liam’s fists curled into stone.
Noah caught her, voice urgent, steady. Liam tuned it all out. Focused. Moving.
“Call 911. Send the footage. I need GPS from the baby monitor. If it's still on him, we can track.”
His voice came out low, clipped. Controlled. It had to be. If he let the fear in
No. Not now.
“Gray Dodge,” Noah said. “Got the first four digits on the plates.”
Liam was already dialing Detective Sandoval. “We’ve got partial plates and live video. Requesting immediate BOLO. This is an active abduction.”
When Nadyia collapsed to the floor, Liam felt it in his gut but he didn’t rush to her. He trusted Noah to hold her. He had a job to do. He crouched beside them only once the call was over. His voice came out fiercer than he meant. “We’re getting him back. This isn’t a maybe. This is happening.”
He held her eyes, steady and grounding. “But we have to go. Now.”
When she nodded, he stood first and helped her up. Noah handed off the go-bag. They were moving before the emotion could choke them again. Out the door. Into the car. Tires screaming into the night. Liam gripped the wheel like it was the only thing keeping him from unraveling.
You’re okay, baby boy. Just hang on. We’re coming for you.
The road blurred beneath them, but Liam’s focus was razor-sharp.
Noah sat beside him, phone rigged into the dash, cycling through GPS blips from the baby monitor. Nadyia was in the back, silent now, arms wrapped tight around the stuffed lion. Every few seconds, Liam checked the rearview mirror just to see her still breathing. Still holding on.
He couldn’t afford to fall apart. Not now. He had to think like Michael. Predict him.
Where would you go, you bastard? Where would you hide with a baby you’ve never raised?
“Check the cabin,” Liam said suddenly.
Noah glanced at him. “What cabin?”
“He mentioned it once years ago. Some bullshit about getting off the grid someday. I thought he was posturing.” Liam’s knuckles whitened on the wheel. “He said it was inherited. Northern woods, family land. Said no one but him had the coordinates.”
“If it’s not documented, we won’t find it by search,” Noah said.
“No, but Michael’s lazy when it comes to digital hygiene. He’s careful, not smart.” Liam was already pulling out his tablet. “Start with Mama B’s texts and emails. If she ever replied to anything about property or repairs out there, we’ll find a keyword.”
“Got it,” Noah said, already typing.
Nadyia leaned forward. “He’s paranoid. He wouldn’t go anywhere new. He’d go somewhere he thinks is safe. Somewhere he’s obsessed with.”
“Exactly,” Liam nodded. “Check his old posts, too. f*******:, before he got clean. He used to brag when he was high wrote about disappearing into the woods to get away from the ‘noise.’”
Noah snorted. “Dramatic much?”
“Yeah. But if he posted coordinates once, even in a meme or a caption, it’s enough.”
The car fell silent again, broken only by the hum of the engine and the rapid tapping of keys.
Think like him. Think like someone who’s desperate. Delusional.
And then Noah’s voice cut through.
“Got something. A photo from five years ago. Cabin in the woods. Caption says, ‘Where no one can find me.’ Attached file has GPS data.”
Liam’s foot pressed harder on the gas.
“Send it to Sandoval and give me directions. If he’s there, we need to move fast.”
He didn’t say the rest out loud: Before Michael panics. Before he realizes he’s already lost.
Liam’s heart pounded as they tore through the night. Not from fear. From fire.
Ethan was out there.
And Liam was going to bring him home.
Michael’s POV
The cabin creaked like it was breathing. Every gust of wind made the walls groan, and every groan made Michael’s hand twitch toward the gun on the table.
He hadn’t slept. Not really. Just drifted in and out, ears sharp for sirens, helicopters, footsteps in the snow.
Ethan slept beside him in the portable crib bundled, warm, safe. Michael kept checking. Kept whispering, “Daddy’s right here. We’re okay.”
But he knew that was a lie.
The baby stirred. Michael froze, watching his little chest rise and fall. Still breathing. Still his.
They’ll twist it, he thought. Say I took him. Like I’m a criminal. Like I’m not his father.
The phone buzzed. One bar of service is barely enough.
A message. From the only person left in his corner.
“They’re coming. GPS ping off old post. You have hours. Maybe less.”
Michael’s blood iced over.
“s**t,” he hissed, stumbling to his feet. He paced once, twice, then yanked open drawers, stuffing what little gear he had into the duffel baby formula, cash, burner phone, fake plates.
He lifted Ethan carefully. The baby blinked at him, confused but quiet.
“We gotta go, buddy. Change of plans.”
Outside, the woods were still. But stillness meant nothing. Stillness was where the wolves waited.
Michael loaded the car with shaking hands. Every sound in the trees felt like a footstep. Every shadow, a team of cops. Or worse, them.
Nadyia. Liam. Noah.
He could picture them now. Guns drawn. Heartless. Ready to tear his son away.
“Not this time,” Michael muttered, slamming the trunk. “You won’t take him from me again.”
He strapped Ethan into the car seat with trembling hands, then climbed behind the wheel, heart pounding like a war drum.
And as the cabin disappeared in the rearview mirror, swallowed by forest, Michael whispered:
“We just need one more day. Just one more day to disappear.”
But even he knew
He was running out of road.
And the hunt had already begun.
- Writer
