Chapter 4 - The Chaos of Order
The safehouse in Lake Geneva was a sprawling, secure cabin surrounded by dense pine forests.
On Sunday morning, Victor took Clara to see Lily.
The drive was silent, the black SUV navigating the winding, fog-shrouded roads of southern Wisconsin. When they arrived, Lily ran out of the cabin, her curly hair flying, and threw herself into Clara's arms with a force that nearly knocked them both into the pine needles.
"Mommy! Mommy, we’re in a giant log castle!" Lily squealed, her face bright and entirely free of the fear that was currently consuming her mother. "And there are horses in the field next door!"
Clara clung to her daughter, breathing in the sweet, familiar scent of her hair, her tears soaking into Lily’s pink jacket.
"You like it here, baby?" Clara whispered.
"I love it!" Lily said, pointing to the two tall, serious men in dark suits standing near the porch. "Those are our guard-knights. They gave me a chocolate bar!"
Clara looked up at Victor, who was standing a few feet away, his hands shoved into his pockets, his eyes fixed on the horizon. He looked out of place in the rustic setting, a city king in a wild forest, but there was a quiet, protective energy radiating off him that Clara could no longer deny.
The Quadruplets' DefenseWhen they returned to the Hale estate that evening, the boys were waiting for them in the foyer.
They had not been told about the threat to Lily, but children are intuitive; they knew the atmosphere in the house had shifted. Mason was holding his hockey stick like a sentinel, while Ryder and Cole stood on either side of him.
Theo walked up to Clara, his dark eyes solemn. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of drawing paper.
"This is for Lily," Theo said, handing it to her.
Clara unfolded the paper. It was a beautiful, remarkably detailed drawing of a large, friendly-looking dragon standing guard over a small girl with curly hair.
"She’s safe, right?" Theo asked. "Our dad said she’s staying in the castle."
Clara’s throat tightened. She knelt down, pulling Theo into a warm embrace, before reaching out to pull Mason, Cole, and Ryder into the circle as well. For once, none of them resisted. They held onto her, their small bodies warm and solid against hers.
"She is safe, Theo," Clara whispered, her voice steady. "Because she has the bravest knights in the world looking out for her. And so do I."
Victor stood by the front door, watching the embrace.
May you like
His face was a mask of stone, but his chest rose and fell with a heavy, ragged breath. He had spent eighteen months watching his boys turn into monsters of grief, but in the span of less than two weeks, this broke, stubborn woman had turned them back into children.
He walked into his study and closed the door, his mind made up. He was going to destroy the men who had threatened this warmth.
