Chapter 2 - The Long Night
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The rain started an hour after they hit the tree line. It was a freezing, relentless downpour that soaked through Clara’s thin uniform in minutes. She found shelter beneath the sprawling roots of an overturned pine tree, huddling in the mud to create a human shield for the twins.
"I've got you," she whispered, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. "I won't let the cold get you."
She unbuttoned her blouse, pressing the boys directly against her bare skin to share her body heat. She draped her cardigan over them, creating a makeshift tent. Owen was quiet, his breathing shallow, while Oliver fussed softly, hungry and exhausted.
Every time a branch snapped in the distance, Clara flinched. The gunmen could still be searching. The men who had ordered the hit on the Costello family were thorough. They wanted the bloodline eradicated.
As the hours dragged on, Clara fought to keep her eyes open. She thought of her mother, lying in a hospital bed miles away. She had taken this maid job to pay for the surgeries. Now, she was a fugitive with the heirs to a mafia empire.
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"Why didn't she take you?" Clara murmured, tears mixing with the rain on her cheeks. She remembered Victoria’s cold eyes, the leather bag full of diamonds. A mother leaving her own flesh and blood to burn.
By dawn, the rain had stopped, leaving a heavy fog over the woods. Clara’s body was numb, her limbs stiff and unresponsive. But as the first light broke through the canopy, she felt two tiny hands gripping her shirt. They were alive. She had to keep moving.
