People spoke, but all Jonas heard were soundless words. The man followed his sister out of the airport with the automatic stance of a robot; Jonas got in Elsa's car with his father. Another police car opened the way while the other closed behind them.

Jonas only revived once seated, "Elsa, speak."

"Jonas, please, calm down. "

"I can't, tell me, now."

Elsa began to explain. During that time, Lars made a u-turn. He was heading to his parent's house, where the whole family gathered when he got Rut's call. The man had to park to speak; otherwise, he, too, would have had an accident with what Rut revealed. Ten minutes later, Lars was at Rut's house.

"Rut, please tell me you have nothing to do with this."

"Lars, I didn't do anything," the woman lashed out, "I didn't know he'd do this. He killed Sierra, IㅡI. He has Jonas' son."

The man grasped the woman's shoulders and shook her, "Rut listen. You have to tell the police."

"No."

"You have to tell them," Lars insisted; he had to. The information Rut held was vital.

"I don't want to go to jail."

"RUT."

"NO," the woman yelled back, "I won't do it. If I do, the police will arrest you too."

Lars frowned, "why, I have nothing to do with this?"

"You told me. You're the one who gave me all the information during all this time."

Manipulative Rut was back in business. All the woman had to do was persuade Lars they were in the same boat. Rut counted on Lars's cowardness and will to survive.

The man was no fool. It was a hoax too many for Lars. His voice roared like a thunderclap, "BUT I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D SCHEME TO KIDNAP MY NEPHEW."

"NEITHER DID I," Rut screamed back.

The veins around Lars's eyes popped. Rut barely had time to turn away as the man began to drag her along to her house's door, "you are coming with me to tell the police everything."

"No, I refuse to give a testimony." The woman pulled back and gripped the door frame.

Lars turned to face her, "you screwed me with your bullshit about wanting me. Now listen, I don't give a shit whether you or I go to jail. I must save my nephew."

The man's mind exploded. Leone wasn't just Jonas' son he was also Sierra's. Leone was his nephew, the boy he had grandparents, who were one step closer to death with fright at that instant.

Rut fought; she refused to go to the police leaving no choice but for Lars to call Elsa.

The unexpected call rang while Elsa drove, making it impossible for the inspector to speak without Jonas hearing, just as it was useless to tell the man to keep out of the investigation.

"Elsa, you're telling me to stay out of this when my wife and son are missing. Rut and Lars are involved. Are you kidding me?"

"Jonas, you'll only get in the way. I'm not even supposed to be on this."

The woman put her job on the line, posing her insignia on the table in front of her superintendent. They either let her participate or else Sweden would resemble Taken x John Wick in the theaters of hell.

Elsa refused to see her brother suffer another loss. She managed to deploy a substantial number of officers within Stockholm but had the borders covered with her boss's support.

She knew many would criticize as she was always the first to point out inequalities in how the police handled specific affairs. There Elsa got the best resources for her family.

"Elsa, let him come."

"Dad, please."

None knew the risks Elsa took in the affair, and they didn't need to; Jonas, Leone, and Sierra were her family. She would do anything for them. There were checkpoints at every route, and Elsa hoped the kidnapper wouldn't get far. The woman shifted gears and drove to Rut's house.

 She could not suspect the instant of pure bliss the man experienced. The night surpassed everything he had ever done. The images kept coming and replaying. Even killing Colette didn't release this level of hormones.

Bertrand recalled how he made a u-turn after driving away from the accident. Sierra still stood in the middle of the road. Bertrand switched gears and returned with the intent of knocking her down like a bowling pin. The woman had no choice but to run off the road. Bertrand then parked, walked to the woods, and yelled, "come out, Sierra, ramène tes fesses [bring your ass here]. You know you've always been a stone in my shoe. You came with all your monkey business and shambled up Cecile, that kid in the car would have been mine, but you had to fucking interfere."

While Bertrand spoke, Sierra ran. She wasn't dumb enough to confront a taller, more robust man holding a gun. The woman's plan was more subtle. If she made it to his car, she could get Leone out. It was risky, but it was her only option.

Why didn't a car pass?

In movies, there were always flashing car lights to save the day.

No, there Sierra was on her own. She didn't have Rufus. The woman had no time to mourn; she came out of the woods and was about to open the door when a snapping branch at her feet caught Bertrand's attention. He shot at her feet, making Sierra run back into the darkness.

"You think you're so fucking smart, don't you?" The man said while he ran and entered the woods where she did. Sierra sprinted, and Bertrand followed, "come here, you fucking bitch, come and face me." Bertrand almost caught up, and Sierra could barely see where she went. Her foot slipped, and her body toppled into what appeared to be a ditch. Something in her leg snapped, the woman couldn't move, and her head bled excessively.

Bertrand stood above, his gun pointing at her body. One wrong move and she was dead. The man wasn't one to hesitate.

The woman stopped breathing; she had to play dead.

"ㅡSierra, don't tell me you're dead," the man chuckled; he took his phone out and turned on the torch, "that's a stupid way to die if you ask me. ㅡYou always have to find a way to deprive me of my pleasures, don't you?"

Yes, he wished to kill her. He had been so close once. Sierra would have been his first victim. He remembered the excitement he felt while holding that knife under her neck.

Why didn't he do it?

Because having Sierra living in fear was more exhilarating than the limited high given by death.

 You know what, it's a great day anyway, Sierra. You'll get to see your good friend Cecile."

Bertrand sighed, switched off the light, and turned away, "and I'm finally going to be a dad. Leone is mine now. As for Jonas, I hope he gets back on track and stops polluting the world's descendants by mating with cockroaches. ㅡIt shouldn't be allowed, but those fucking WOKE salad balls theories have people getting twisted. Anyway, rest in peace."

Bertrand didn't go down the ditch to check. Even if Sierra were alive, it would take time before anyone found her. The man preferred to let nature do its duty than to shoot Sierra. With a bit of luck, a hungry scavenger would come to nibble her here and there. He could not be accused of murders, at least not hers.

Left for dead, Sierra waited. The cold quickly got to her making her body numb. She fought to keep her eyes open. Suddenly a silhouette appeared and crouched down next to her body. The frame was too small to be one of an adult.

"What are you doing?"

The voice was one of a child. All Sierra distinguished was the mass of hair that resembled a halo.

"I'm dead."

The child placed her elbows on her knees and hands under her chin, "no, you're not. You can't go yet; we need you. You can't die yet."

"Not yet, ㅡnot yetㅡnot yet, " Sierra repeated the phrase like a mantra from that instant. The child's silhouette disappeared as it came leaving the woman tormented by the harsh winter winds.

Though semi-conscious, Sierra knew a child could not roam alone in the woods at night. She hallucinated, but the geist created by her mind allowed her to fight the drowsiness.

Forty minutes later, the moment Sierra prayed for occurred. One of Sierra's neighbor's sons, Hans Lucas, drove home from a party with his girlfriend. The boy was in a panic; he had passed his curfew, and it was almost midnight. He knew his parents would go crazy, especially since his girlfriend crashed at his place without notice, but when his headlights beamed on Rufus' dead body, the young men stepped on the brakes and got out. The young man's eyes scooped the surroundings, and he immediately noticed Sierra's car on the Birch tree and ran to it.

"Hans, what are you doing?" His girlfriend asked.

"There's a car."

"What?"

"I said there's a crashed car."

"Hans, it's none of our business. Let's get going," the girl said while staring at the moonless sky. It wasn't time to play heroes for Simone, who just wished to sleep.

"No, the passengers might be here somewhere and needing assistance," Hans returned.

The mystery was worth getting a tag team sermon from his parents for the boy who lived in an area where nothing happened.

"Hans, please, these woods give me the creeps at night."

Hans didn't listen; he grabbed the torch in his glove box and went to examine Jonas's car. It was empty, but it didn't seem the police had come. If it were the case, there would be tape delimiting the site. A professional assassin would have hidden the car, and if Bertrand had done so, things would not have turned out the way they did.

Hans grabbed his phone and dialed. It wasn't long before the police beat the woods and bushes to find the passengers. All Sierra saw were the infamous flashing lights as the paramedics slipped down and prepared her for the stretcher.

"Leone, Leone," Sierra whispered. The police guessed she spoke of the passenger in the baby seat.

Elsa only knew there was an accident when she went to fetch Jonas at the airport and the message concerning Sierra being found arrived as Elsa rang on Rut's door, but the inspector didn't announce the news. She went inside the house while Jonas and his father waited in the car. Elsa warned them she would arrest them if they tried to step in.

Five minutes later, Rut and Lars came out without handcuffs; as they came willingly still, Elsa's colleagues held them by the arm.

Jonas couldn't hold himself back. He sprung out of the car and ran up to them. "Rut, what have you done. Where's my son?"

"Jonas, stop it," Elsa nodded in her other colleague's direction for them to intervene. They immediately executed the silent order and held Jonas back. Elsa had promised to be impartial, never had a family member participated in an investigation. Jonas' intervention would have her suspended if not fired.

Elsa shook her head and placed her hands in front of her brother's chest to halt him, "Jonas, please, let us do our job. Please, I beg you," she leaned and whispered, "we found her, Jonas. Sierra's alive."

The man's arms fell beside him; Jonas thought he had the worst experience ever with the miscarriage, but the last hours were the worst. However, even though they found Sierra, the nightmare continued. Leone was still somewhere in the wilderness with a psychopath, and the diabolical duo formed by Rut and Lars were suspects.