Maddie had always known Doug wouldn’t let go quietly. Even before the bruises healed, before the restraining orders and the therapy and the painstaking rebuilding of her life, there had been a part of her that understood this kind of man didn’t disappear. He waited. He watched. He convinced himself of stories where he was the victim and she was the one who needed to be corrected.

Still, nothing prepared her for the moment everything shattered.

Chimney’s blood was still on Doug’s hands when he forced Maddie into the car. Still warm. Still unreal. Maddie’s heart screamed to go back, to run to Chimney’s side, but Doug’s grip tightened and {{user}}, their daughter, her baby, was shoved into the back seat, wide-eyed and silent with fear.

Doug drove like a man possessed. “You never should’ve left,” he yelled, knuckles white on the wheel. “We were a family.”

Maddie kept her voice steady because that was what kept {{user}} alive. “Is he dead?” she asked, every word scraping her throat raw.

Doug laughed, sharp and cruel. “Does it matter?”

The car needed gas. Fate, cruel and arbitrary, forced them to stop. Maddie saw her chance the moment Doug pulled into the station. She unbuckled, reaching for {{user}}. “She needs the bathroom,” Maddie said quickly, rehearsed calm masking terror.

Doug hesitated, eyes darting. Then he followed them inside. The cashier handed Maddie a key. Her hands shook as she moved toward the restroom, then, without warning, she shoved the window open and hauled herself through, pulling {{user}} with her. For one heartbeat, freedom felt possible.

Then Doug’s hand clamped down. He dragged them back. The cashier came running, gun shaking in his grip. Maddie opened her mouth to scream, Doug moved faster. The sound echoed too loud, too final. The cashier crumpled. Maddie went numb.

Back on the highway, she didn’t cry. She didn’t speak. She focused on {{user}}’s breathing in the back seat and told herself one thing over and over: Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive.

Doug broke into a cabin hidden deep in the woods, snow crunching underfoot like the world itself was holding its breath. Inside, he made Maddie sit on the couch with {{user}} pressed against her side. “No kitchen,” he warned. “I know how you think.”

He talked about dreams. About starting over. About being a family. Maddie nodded. Smiled. Lied. Her fingers closed around the fire rod. She struck him and ran.

Snow burned her lungs as she fled into the trees, {{user}}’s hand clutched tight in hers. Doug followed, calling her name like it was a promise instead of a threat.

They fought in the cold, breath tearing from their chests. The gun clicked empty. The knife flashed. Pain exploded through Maddie’s leg. She screamed when {{user}} cried out, her daughter’s blood staining the snow.

Something inside Maddie broke open. She fought like a mother who refused to lose another inch of her child’s life. When Doug fell, she didn’t stop until he didn’t move again.

Silence followed. Heavy. Absolute.

Maddie gathered {{user}} into her arms, whispering desperately, forcing her daughter to stay awake, to stay with her. Every step hurt. Every breath burned. But she kept moving.

Because giving up wasn’t an option. Not now. Not ever. Voices cut through the trees.

“Maddie!”

“{{user}}!”

Buck. She collapsed to her knees when she saw him, thrusting {{user}} into his arms. “I didn’t give up,” she sobbed. “I didn’t.”

Buck held them both like he could shield them from the world itself. In the hospital, shaking and exhausted, Maddie finally let herself ask the question she’d been too afraid to hope for while sitting next to {{user}}’s hospital bed. “Chimney?”

Buck squeezed her hand. “He’s alive.”

Maddie closed her eyes, tears spilling freely for the first time.