The first bullet shattered Gideon Reed’s kitchen window.

The second struck the wooden table where five-year-old Tess had been sitting only moments earlier.

Maeve heard the little girl scream.

She raced up the cellar steps.

“Tess! Toby!”

Both children were crouched behind the overturned table.

Gideon followed with his rifle.

“Get them downstairs!”

But before Maeve could reach the twins, Uncle Amos shouted from outside.

“Bring me the girl, Gideon! This doesn’t concern your children!”

Maeve stopped.

For eighteen years, Amos had been the only family she believed she had left.

Now he was standing outside a mountain cabin with armed men.

And he wanted her.

Gideon moved beside the broken window.

“Take your men and leave, Amos.”

“You forget our arrangement.”

“Our arrangement ended when I paid you.”

Amos laughed.

“Two mules don’t buy a man’s silence.”

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Maeve looked sharply at Gideon.

“What arrangement?”

Gideon didn’t answer.

Instead, he fired a warning shot into the snow.

The men outside scattered.

“Downstairs. Now!”

Maeve carried Tess while Toby followed, clutching the hem of her skirt.

Eleanor waited at the bottom.

“There’s another way out,” she whispered.

She moved toward a wooden shelf and pushed aside a crate of potatoes.

Behind it was a narrow tunnel.

Maeve stared.

“Where does that lead?”

“To the old mining road.”

Gideon appeared behind them.

“Take the children. Follow the tunnel until you reach the creek. There’s a hunting shelter beyond the ridge.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll keep Amos occupied.”

Maeve grabbed his sleeve.

“You’re not leaving me with another unanswered question.”

For the first time, Gideon looked directly into her eyes.

“Then hear this. I didn’t buy you because I wanted a servant.”

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“Why did you buy me?”

“Because your uncle was planning to sell you to someone much worse.”

Before Maeve could demand more, another gunshot echoed above.

Gideon pressed a small pistol into her hand.

“Keep the children safe.”

Then he disappeared upstairs.

The tunnel smelled of wet earth and old timber.

Maeve led the twins through the darkness while Eleanor followed with the lantern.

After nearly half an hour, they emerged beside a frozen creek.

Snow was falling heavily.

Toby began shivering.

Maeve wrapped her shawl around him.

“We’re going somewhere warm.”

The boy looked up.

“Are you leaving us afterward?”

Maeve knelt.

“No.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Toby hesitated.

Then he whispered, “That’s what the other lady said.”

Maeve’s heart tightened.

“Which lady?”

“The one with the blue ribbon.”

Eleanor stopped walking.

“What blue ribbon?”

Toby pointed toward the mountain.

“She used to sing to us. Then Papa took her outside one night, and she never came back.”

Tess began crying.

“She said she would come back for our birthday.”

Maeve looked at Eleanor.

The older woman’s expression had become strangely troubled.

“How long ago was that?” she asked.

Toby held up three fingers.

“Three winters.”

Eleanor sank against a tree.

“Oh, merciful heavens.”

“What is it?” Maeve asked.

Eleanor’s lips trembled.

“Three winters ago, a young woman came to Red Creek searching for two missing children.”

Maeve felt a chill.

“Who?”

“Her name was Clara.”

The name meant nothing to Maeve.

But Toby suddenly cried out.

“That’s Mama’s name!”

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Eleanor covered her mouth.

“Clara Bellamy.”

Tess began shaking her head.

“No. Mama was called Annie.”

Eleanor looked confused.

Maeve crouched beside the twins.

“Sweetheart, was Annie your mother?”

Toby nodded.

“She sang us to sleep.”

“And Clara?”

The boy’s expression changed.

“Clara was the lady who came after.”

Maeve stared at him.

Two women.

Two names.

And Gideon had claimed the children’s mother was gone.

Suddenly, the pieces no longer fit.

“Where did Clara go?” Maeve whispered.

Toby looked toward the trees.

“Papa took her to the river.”

Eleanor closed her eyes.

Maeve stood.

She had believed Gideon was protecting them.

But what if the man who rescued her from Amos was hiding something equally terrible?

They reached the hunting shelter near sunset.

Inside, Maeve found dry firewood, blankets, and a locked wooden chest.

The lock had already been broken.

She lifted the lid.

Inside were three women’s shawls, a blue ribbon, and a bundle of letters tied with twine.

Each letter was addressed to a different woman.

Mrs. Bell.

Martha Ellis.

Ruth Whitcomb.

Maeve froze.

Whitcomb.

Her own family name.

She opened Ruth’s letter.

The handwriting was Gideon’s.

“If Amos discovers where you are, he will come for the children. Do not return until I send word.”

Maeve unfolded another letter.

Then another.

They were not farewell letters.

They were instructions.

Directions.

Warnings.

And every one mentioned the same name.

Silas Crowe.

The wealthiest mining investor in Red Creek.

At the bottom of the chest lay a folded newspaper clipping.

Maeve held it near the firelight.

MISSING: ANNIE REED AND HER TWO CHILDREN.

A reward had been offered for their return.

The notice was dated four years earlier.

But the final line made Maeve’s blood run cold.

“Information should be delivered directly to Sheriff Silas Crowe.”

Maeve read it twice.

Silas Crowe wasn’t merely a mining investor.

He was also the sheriff.

And according to the newspaper, Gideon Reed’s wife and children had disappeared four years earlier.

Maeve slowly turned toward the twins.

They were sleeping beneath a blanket.

Alive.

Safe.

Hidden.

Then she noticed something written on the back of the newspaper.

A message in faded ink.

“THE CHILDREN ARE NOT HIS.”

Before Maeve could understand what that meant, the shelter door opened.

Gideon stood there.

Blood stained his coat.

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His rifle was missing.

And behind him stood a woman with a blue ribbon tied around her wrist.

Toby woke, saw her face, and screamed.

“CLARA!”

The woman looked at Maeve.

Then she said five words that changed everything.

“Gideon has lied to everyone.”