Chapter 7 - The Chase
The turning point came on a Tuesday. Lily had been attending a play-therapy session, and I arrived to pick her up, only to find the room empty.
My heart stopped. The therapist’s assistant was pale. "I’m sorry, Mr. Vance. A woman claiming to be your wife’s sister arrived with documents. She said there was a family emergency. She took her."
I didn't think; I moved. I grabbed the GPS tracker I had secretly sewn into the lining of Lily’s favorite stuffed bear—a precaution I had taken after the first night at the hospital. The signal flickered, then stabilized. She was heading for the interstate, toward the state line.
I drove like a man possessed. The traffic was a sea of taillights, but I pushed through, my eyes locked on the dot moving across my screen. I saw them twenty miles out, a black sedan weaving through traffic.
I pulled alongside her, honking my horn, but Clara didn't slow down. She accelerated, her face a mask of frantic desperation as she looked over at me. She wasn't driving to go home; she was driving to disappear.
Then, she did the unthinkable. She swerved, slamming her car into the side of mine, trying to force me into the concrete median. Metal screamed against metal. The car buckled, sparks showering the windshield.
"Dad!" Lily’s scream echoed from the other car as the windows caught the moonlight.
I realized I couldn't force her off the road without hurting Lily. I had to outsmart her. I tapped my brakes, falling back, then swerved into the exit lane, cutting across the grass to get ahead of her. I positioned my car directly in her path, forcing her to brake hard on the shoulder of the highway.
Dust billowed as her car skidded to a halt. I jumped out, my heart hammering. She was trying to scramble out of the car, pulling Lily by the arm.
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"Clara, stop!" I yelled, my voice booming in the quiet night. "It’s over!"
She stopped, looking around as if realizing there was nowhere left to run. Her eyes were wild, broken, and for a moment, the facade of the monster she had built finally collapsed into the face of a terrified, lost child.
