“Take Him, Not Me” “Take him, not me!”

The lock turned with a sharp snap.

The door swung open, revealing Maddie standing in the middle of the room with an old wooden closet rod held like a baseball bat. Behind her, Oliver was curled into a ball on the center of the large king-sized bed, his arms wrapped around the dinosaur backpack so tight his knuckles were white.

Maddie dropped the rod, her chest heaving as she searched Luke’s face. “Did he... did Wayne take us back?”

“No,” Luke said softly, leaning against the doorframe to make himself look as unthreatening as possible. “Nobody is taking you anywhere. He’s gone.”

Maddie collapsed onto the edge of the mattress, burying her face in her hands. Her small body shook with silent, deep-racking sobs. All the tough, protective armor she had worn in the courthouse hallway melted away, leaving only a terrified ten-year-old girl who had been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders for far too long.

Luke walked over slowly, sat on the floor near the foot of the bed, and waited. He didn't offer a hollow hug or false promises. He just stayed there, a solid, unmoving presence in the quiet room.

After a few minutes, Maddie wiped her nose on her sleeve and looked up at him. “He wants the backpack.”

Luke nodded once. “I heard him mention it on the porch. He said something about a drive.”

Oliver whimpered from the pillows, pressing his face deeper into the fabric.

Maddie reached over and gently stroked her little brother’s hair. “My mom... she worked for a company downtown. A shipping company owned by some big shot named Vance.”

Luke’s eyes sharpened. “Vance? Like Brenda Vance, the woman who was just on my porch?”

“Her husband,” Maddie whispered. “Mom started doing books for them at night. Then Wayne came around three months ago. He brought bad people to the house. Mom got scared. Last week, she put a tiny silver thing inside Ollie’s dinosaur bag and told him never, ever to take it out. She said if anything happened to her, we had to give it to a judge.”

Luke leaned his head back against the bedframe, processing the information. The pieces were fitting together into a terrifying picture. The mother hadn't just been busted for drugs; she had been framed or targeted because she held evidence of high-level corruption involving a county official and her husband. And Brenda Vance had used her authority inside Child Protective Services to fast-track an illegal custody release to Wayne so they could retrieve the drive from a six-year-old boy.

“Luke?” Maddie’s voice was barely an audible squeak. “Are we going to jail?”

Luke looked up at her, his dark eyes filled with absolute, unwavering resolve. “No. You’re not going to jail. And Wayne isn't getting this bag.”

He stood up, walking over to the window and pulling the heavy curtains shut. “Tomorrow morning, at eight o’clock, I’m taking both of you to see an old friend of mine. His name is Jim Harrison. He used to be the federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Texas before he retired to raise horses down the road.”

Oliver peeked over his sister’s shoulder, his small brown eyes locked onto Luke. “Is he nice?”

Luke offered a small, genuine smile—the first one to touch his lips in three years. “He keeps peppermint candies in his pocket and he has a three-legged golden retriever.”

Oliver let out a tiny, breathless hiccup that sounded almost like a laugh.

“Get some sleep,” Luke said, stepping toward the door. “I’m going to sit on the porch with a rifle tonight. Nothing gets through that gate.”

“Luke?” Maddie called out just as he reached the hallway.

He paused. “Yeah?”