PART 3: THE DOCTOR KNEW WHO PUT THE BLADE INSIDE HIM… 🩸❄️

“Eliza, open this door before you make a terrible mistake.”

Dr. Alden’s voice sounded different now. The reᴀssuring authority he used in his office had vanished, replaced by something sharp and threatening.

Eliza stood motionless beside the door.

Behind her, Gideon Rourke struggled for breath. Every few seconds, his fingers twitched against the bloodstained cloth covering his side. The fragment of metal remained buried in his wound, and the black fluid surrounding it continued to seep into the linen.

She had spent years being told that a woman like her should never question an educated physician.

Tonight, she had never been more certain that she should.

“Tell me why,” she called through the door.

“Why what?”

“Why must I leave the blade inside him?”

A pause followed.

“Because removing it could kill him.”

“Then why did you close the wound without removing it?”

Silence.

Eliza heard the horses shifting outside. Someone stamped snow from his boots onto the porch.

Then Silas Vane spoke.

“Doctor, I told you she would ask questions.”

Eliza’s blood ran cold.

The voice was calm, almost amused, as though the man outside were discussing the weather instead of a dying human being.

Dr. Alden replied too quietly for her to hear.

Silas laughed.

“Open the door, Miss Hartwell. I would prefer not to spend the entire night freezing on your porch.”

Eliza glanced toward Wade.

He stood beside the fireplace with his rifle raised, his jaw clenched so тιԍнтly that a muscle jumped beneath his cheek.

“Don’t let them in,” he whispered.

“If we refuse, they’ll know we’re hiding something.”

“They already know.”

Before Eliza could answer, Gideon made a sound from the table.

A low, strained groan.

She hurried to his side.

His eyelids fluttered, revealing a narrow glimpse of dark eyes. For one fleeting moment, he seemed to recognize the room around him.

Then his gaze fixed on Eliza.

“Vane,” he rasped.

She leaned closer.

“What about him?”

Gideon’s fingers closed around her wrist with surprising strength.

“Don’t… trust…”

His grip weakened.

“Don’t trust who, Gideon?”

His eyes shifted toward the front door.

“Alden.”

Then his head fell back.

Eliza felt a chill that had nothing to do with the winter outside.

She returned to the door and lifted the latch.

Wade immediately stepped forward.

“Eliza—”

“Stay behind me.”

She opened the door only a few inches, keeping the heavy chain fastened.

Dr. Alden stood on the porch in a fur-lined coat, his silver hair dusted with snow. Beside him stood Silas Vane, a tall, impeccably dressed man whose expensive gloves looked absurd against the frozen wilderness.

A third man waited behind them, holding a lantern.

Alden’s eyes moved past Eliza’s shoulder.

“Where is my patient?”

“Alive,” she replied. “For now.”

“Then let me examine him.”

“Not until you answer a question.”

His expression hardened.

“You are not qualified to interrogate me.”

“And you are not qualified to explain away a blade hidden inside a man’s body.”

For the first time, Alden looked genuinely frightened.

It lasted only a second.

But Eliza saw it.

Silas Vane did, too.

He slowly turned toward the doctor.

“A blade?” Silas repeated.

Alden swallowed.

“She has misunderstood what she found.”

“Then come inside and explain it.”

Silas’s smile disappeared.

“No,” he said. “I think we’ve heard enough.”

He looked directly at Eliza.

“Miss Hartwell, I am prepared to pay you five hundred dollars for your trouble. You will give Dr. Alden access to Gideon, allow him to finish his treatment, and forget everything you believe you saw tonight.”

Five hundred dollars.

For a woman who had spent the winter stretching flour and dried beans to make them last, the amount was enormous.

It could repair her roof, replace her cracked windows, and buy enough supplies to keep her cabin stocked for months.

But Eliza remembered the small puncture in Gideon’s shirt.

She remembered his desperate whisper.

And she remembered the fear in Dr. Alden’s eyes.

“Make it a thousand,” Silas added.

Eliza stared at him.

“You think I’m asking for money?”

“Everyone has a price.”

“Then you have mistaken me for someone else.”

She shut the door.

The chain rattled into place.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then Silas struck the wood with the heel of his hand.

“You foolish woman! You have no idea what you’ve involved yourself in!”

Eliza turned away from the door.

“Perhaps not,” she murmured. “But I’m about to find out.”

The next few minutes pᴀssed in a blur of urgent work.

Eliza knew she could not leave Gideon untreated while she argued with the men outside. The embedded metal, the infected wound, and his worsening condition required immediate professional medical care. She needed to stabilize him and get him to a surgeon as soon as the roads became pᴀssable.

But first, she needed to understand what had happened.

“Wade,” she said, “you told me Gideon was attacked near the northern ridge. Who found the bear?”

“I did.”

“Was Gideon alone?”

Wade hesitated.

“No.”

Eliza looked up.

“Who was with him?”

“His younger brother. Thomas.”

“Where is Thomas now?”

Wade’s expression changed.

“He disappeared the night Gideon was wounded.”

The words settled over the cabin like another layer of snow.

“Disappeared?”

“We searched the ridge. We searched the creek and every trail leading back to the ranch. His horse returned without him.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“We thought the bear had killed him.”

“Did you find blood?”

“Some. Near the old logging road.”

Eliza glanced at the door.

“Does Silas Vane own that road?”

Wade nodded slowly.

“Not officially. But he’s been trying to buy the timber rights for years.”

A faint scraping sound came from beneath the table.

Eliza turned.

Gideon’s hand had moved again.

His eyes were open.

This time, he was looking directly at Wade.

“Thomas,” he whispered.

Wade rushed to his side.

“Gideon! Where is your brother?”

Gideon struggled to speak. Each word seemed to cost him an enormous effort.

“Not… ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.”

Wade went completely still.

“What did you say?”

Gideon swallowed painfully.

“Thomas… alive.”

Eliza leaned closer, careful not to disturb the wound.

“Where is he?”

Gideon’s gaze drifted toward the window.

For a moment, she thought he had lost consciousness again.

Then he whispered four words.

“Beneath the old mill.”

Wade stumbled backward.

“No.”

His face had gone pale.

“The old mill burned twelve years ago.”

Gideon tried to lift his head.

“Cellar…”

Then his eyes closed.

Wade stared at him as though the man on the table had just returned from the grave.

Eliza caught Wade’s sleeve.

“What is beneath that mill?”

He looked at her.

“An abandoned storage cellar. It was sealed after the fire.”

“Could someone survive down there?”

“Not for four days in this weather.”

“Then we’d better hope Gideon is mistaken.”

Wade shook his head.

“He isn’t.”

Before Eliza could ask another question, a tremendous crash shook the front of the cabin.

The doorframe splintered.

Owen shouted from the pantry.

Wade seized his rifle.

Outside, Silas Vane’s voice rang through the storm.

“Bring Rourke out now!”

A second blow struck the door.

The chain snapped.

Wade raised his weapon, but Eliza stepped between him and the entrance.

“Don’t shoot unless you have no other choice!”

The door burst inward.

Dr. Alden stumbled into the room, followed by Silas and the third man. Snow swirled around their boots, and the lantern cast their shadows across the walls.

Silas took one look at Gideon.

“Good. He’s still breathing.”

Eliza moved in front of the table.

“You’re not touching him.”

Silas barely glanced at her.

“Move.”

“No.”

He took a step forward.

Wade leveled his rifle at Silas’s chest.

“Another step, and you’ll regret it.”

For the first time that night, Silas appeared uncertain.

But Dr. Alden had already moved toward Gideon.

Eliza caught his arm.

“Tell me what the blade has to do with Thomas.”

The doctor’s face crumpled.

Silas spun toward him.

“Don’t you dare.”

Alden began trembling.

“I didn’t know the younger brother was still alive,” he whispered.

Silas grabbed his collar.

“You stupid old fool!”

Wade raised his rifle higher.

“Let him go!”

Silas released the doctor, but his eyes never left Eliza.

“You wanted the truth, Miss Hartwell? Fine. The blade came from a knife carried by Gideon himself. He was injured during a fight, and his brother ran away. The rest is none of your concern.”

It was a plausible story.

But Eliza had spent her life learning to recognize the difference between a frightened man and a man trying to hide his fear behind anger.

Alden was frightened.

Silas was furious.

And neither man had answered her question.

She looked at the fragment of metal beneath Gideon’s torn skin.

Then she noticed something she had overlooked earlier.

A tiny engraved mark near the exposed edge.

Three letters.

S.V.

Eliza looked up slowly.

Silas saw where her eyes had gone.

For the first time, the wealthy landowner’s composure shattered completely.

“Get her away from that table!” he shouted.

The third man lunged forward.

Wade struck him aside with the stock of his rifle, sending the lantern crashing onto the floor. The room plunged into darkness, illuminated only by the faint glow of the fireplace.

Someone grabbed Eliza’s shoulder.

She twisted free.

A chair overturned. Owen shouted from the pantry. Boots thundered against the floorboards.

Then Gideon spoke.

Not a whisper this time.

A low, unmistakable voice rose from the darkness.

“Silas.”

Every sound stopped.

Gideon Rourke opened his eyes.

Though his face remained pale and sweat covered his forehead, something terrible and determined had returned to his gaze.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

Silas stepped backward.

“No,” he whispered.

Gideon struggled to turn his head toward Eliza.

“Listen to me carefully.”

She moved beside him.

“What is it?”

His eyes flicked toward the door, where the storm howled through the broken frame.

“Thomas isn’t beneath the old mill.”

Wade stared at him.

“But you just said—”

“I needed Silas to believe that.”

Gideon drew a painful breath.

Then he looked directly at Eliza.

“Thomas has something Silas will kill to recover. Something that proves who murdered our father.”

Silas suddenly pulled a revolver from beneath his coat.

Wade raised his rifle.

But before either man could fire, a second voice came from outside the cabin.

“Put the gun down, Silas!”

Everyone froze.

A young man stood in the broken doorway, his clothes soaked with melting snow, one hand pressed against his side.

His face was bruised, and he could barely remain standing.

But Gideon recognized him instantly.

“Thomas…”

His younger brother lifted his head.

Then he looked at Eliza and spoke the words that turned the entire night upside down.

“Don’t let Gideon die. He’s the only person who doesn’t know what our father really did.”

And behind Thomas, somewhere in the white darkness, another horse began approaching the cabin.

Someone else had followed him.

Someone who had been believed ᴅᴇᴀᴅ for twelve years.

To be continued in Part 4…