The trees stayed still for one long second.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
a horse stepped out of the darkness.<\/p>\n
Snow clung to its black mane.<\/p>\n
A rider sat tall in the saddle, coat dusted white, rifle resting across his lap.<\/p>\n
Behind him\u2014<\/p>\n
two more men emerged between the pines.<\/p>\n
Amelia stumbled backward.<\/p>\n
Her hand flew to her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The man beside her didn\u2019t lower his rifle.<\/p>\n
\u201cInside the cabin,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n
But Amelia grabbed his arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. If we run, he\u2019ll burn it down with us in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rider at the front smiled when he saw her.<\/p>\n
Cold.<\/p>\n
Certain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice drifted through the snow like a knife.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was beginning to think you\u2019d frozen to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amelia\u2019s breathing turned ragged again.<\/p>\n
The man in the Stetson stepped slightly in front of her.<\/p>\n
Shielding her with his body.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurn around,\u201d he said flatly.<\/p>\n
The rider laughed under his breath.<\/p>\n
Then his eyes dropped to Amelia.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really thought you could disappear?\u201d<\/p>\n
Amelia\u2019s voice shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t hiding from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man on the horse smiled wider.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n
His gaze slid toward the stranger standing beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why\u2019d you steal my wife and run?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence hit like a gunshot.<\/p>\n
The man in the Stetson glanced back at Amelia.<\/p>\n
Just once.<\/p>\n
Confused.<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled with tears instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not true,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
The rider\u2019s expression darkened.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left with my money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stranger\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
Snow blew harder between them.<\/p>\n
Amelia looked at the ground for one broken second.<\/p>\n
Then back up.<\/p>\n
Voice trembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rider\u2019s smile vanished.<\/p>\n
And the man beside her asked the one question that changed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmelia\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes stayed on her.<\/p>\n
Steady.<\/p>\n
Sharp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the boy?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The trees stayed still for one long second. Then\u2014 a horse stepped out of the darkness. Snow clung to its black mane. A rider sat tall in the saddle, coat dusted white, rifle resting across his lap. Behind him\u2014 two more men emerged between the pines. Amelia stumbled backward. Her hand flew to her mouth. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}