Vanessa stepped out of the darkness near the woodstove, holding a snub-nosed revolver leveled straight at my chest.

Her designer trench coat was torn, her blonde hair plastered to her skull by the rain, her mascara running in black streaks down her cheeks.

She looked entirely unhinged.

“Drop the weapon, Vanessa,” Detective Miller ordered, keeping his service pistol locked onto her. “Marcus is already in custody. It’s over.”

Vanessa laughed, a shrill, hysterical sound that echoed against the log rafters.

“Marcus was weak!” she screamed, her hand shaking violently around the gun. “He hesitated! He should have finished Elena’s family a year ago, but he was terrified of the probate court!”

“You orchestrated the marriage,” I said, taking half a step forward into the room. “You were never going to marry me.”

“Marry you?” she spat, her lip curling in disgust. “I couldn't stand being in the same room with you! I couldn't stand watching you fawn over that miserable little girl and her dead mother’s junk!”

Her eyes flared with pure venom.

“I was going to wait until the wedding was finalized, transfer the estate to my shell corporation, and then ensure Lily had an unfortunate accident at her private school!”

The blood in my veins turned to liquid fire.

“You were never going to touch my daughter,” I growled.

“I would have cleared that whole house out!” she yelled, her finger tightening on the trigger. “Everything Elena built belonged to my brother! We deserved that fortune!”

A sudden gust of wind caught the broken porch door behind us, slamming it violently against the frame with a sound like a gunshot.

Vanessa flinched, her eyes darting toward the door in panic.

Miller didn't hesitate.

He fired once, striking the revolver directly out of her hand.

The metal gun went flying into the open woodstove, hissing against the burning embers.

Miller tackled Vanessa to the floorboards before she could dive for the open duffel bag on the table.

She kicked, screamed, and clawed at his uniform, screaming obscenities that tore through the mountain night.

Miller pinned her arms behind her back, fastening the steel handcuffs with a sharp, decisive click.

“Vanessa Vance,” Miller breathed, wrenching her up by her collar. “You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit capital murder, extortion, and child endangerment.”

Vanessa glared at me as she was pulled past, her teeth bared like a trapped animal.

“You’ll never get rid of us, Adrian!” she screamed. “You’ll never be safe!”

I looked down at her with nothing left inside me except cold, absolute finality.

“You are nothing to us,” I said quietly. “And you never will be again.”