Haven Hill: Chapter 28

An Excerpt from Haven Hill

Here’s where the story left off last time.

When Kate awoke, it took her a moment to remember why she’d been asleep on the large leather chair in the living room. She remembered what was really going on quickly, and her brief moment of peaceful confusion was gone.

In the kitchen, she made coffee—her daily ritual. It felt absurd to be doing something so normal when she was heading out to track a man down and might have to kill him. The smell filled the cabin, sharp and bitter, oddly comforting. She went into her bedroom to pull up a loosened floorboard. There lay another Glock 19 with two magazines. She pulled them out and replaced the floorboard.

Outside the windows, dawn was still more shadow than light. The fog lay low, veiling the trees, and every branch glittered with moisture.

Kate scooted the armoire over just a little bit and eased the front door open just wide enough to feel the air on her face. Nothing moved. The perimeter lines were still, the cans untouched. The scent of rain lingered, mingling with the sharp tang of pine and hemlock.

She heard movement behind her and said without turning, “Good morning, sweet girl.”

“Morning, Mama,” Ariel said sleepily as she padded to the bathroom.

Kate flinched. Her daughter hadn’t called her Mama in years. The word reached back to when things were soft and safe—before Logan had entered their lives.

“I’m going to follow his trail while it’s still early,” Kate said quietly when Ariel emerged from her much-needed shower. “If I’m not back by noon, stay here. Keep the fire low. If you hear the bells—”

Ariel straightened, blinking hard. “I remember. Behind the fridge.”

“I have an extra pistol for you. I’m trusting you to use good judgment with this.”

Ariel nodded soberly as her mother placed the gun in her hand, butt first.

Pride and guilt twisted together in her chest. This must be what mothers in war zones felt like—teaching their children that someone might be coming to hurt them. Teaching them the difference between cover and concealment. Teaching them that sometimes it wasn’t just okay, but necessary, to kill someone.

“Keep the door locked behind me. Don’t open it for anyone. Not even me, unless I knock twice and say your name.”

Ariel hesitated, then stood and wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist. “Be careful.”

Kate pressed her cheek to the top of Ariel’s head, breathing in soap and woodsmoke. “Always.”

It was hard to let go, but finally, Kate stepped onto the porch. The boards were slick with dew, the air cold enough to sting her lungs.

Behind her, the door lock clicked, and the armoire groaned in protest as Ariel pushed the heavy piece into place. Somewhere in the distance, a crow called once—low and harsh, as if warning Kate to be wary of what waited in the forest.

As she crossed the yard, a gust stirred the bells, just a whisper of sound, but it tightened something inside her. She followed the trail down the slope, past the garden gone wild, into the gray hush of the trees.

The forest was damp and gray at this hour of the morning, the mist curling low across the ground like smoke.

Deeper in the forest, a branch cracked, and she froze—it had not been loud enough to be threatening, but just loud enough to remind her that she wasn’t alone in these woods.

Behind her, Haven Hill stood sentry. A curl of smoke from the chimney, the faint glimmer of light through the curtains, the shape of her daughter standing in the window, watching until the forest swallowed her mother whole.

Kate moved slowly, every step measured. She wasn’t following tracks anymore so much as feeling for them—the tilt of disturbed moss, the faint depression where a boot had pressed through wet leaves.

It felt like she had walked for hours before she saw it.

A cigarette butt gleamed white on the forest floor, near a fallen log, dry and clean of mud. Too new. Too deliberate.

Her pulse quickened. He had wanted her to see this, and it was recent. Why? Was he leading her into a trap?

She crouched, studied it without touching it, then looked up into the fog. The woods were utterly still, so quiet it felt unnatural, like the world had ended and the only thing left alive was her.

Kate straightened, brushing leaves and dirt from her dew-dampened knees. She kept walking.

There—another sign. Her own boot print. Only this time, another track lay on top of it, pressed deep and fresh, toes pointed the opposite direction.

He’d walked her trail backward. Circling. Studying.

He wasn’t running from her.

He was stalking her.

A chill ran through her despite the sweat trickling down her spine.

The forest suddenly felt smaller, the air heavy and close. Every branch seemed to lean inward to catch at her clothing. She had the intense feeling that she was being watched, maybe even being trapped, but she couldn’t see anyone through the brush.

What on earth had she been thinking? Had she really thought she could go out into the woods and hunt down her ex-boyfriend, who was straight out of jail? That was arrogance, not courage. Maybe she was nuts.

She turned back toward Haven Hill. There had to be a better way to end this.

Kate broke into a jog, hiking boots silent on wet soil. The mist had thinned just enough to show the roofline of Haven Hill through the trees. She paused when she saw it—another cigarette butt. It was like Hansel and Gretel’s famous trail of breadcrumbs, except this trail was nicotine-induced.

Finally, she reached the clearing where her beloved cabin stood, a cheerful sentinel in the dappled sunlight.

And there it was—in the mud beside the garden fence—a new footprint, crisp and deep, toes pointed toward the porch.

He was already there. A few cigarette butts indicated that Logan had been there for a while.

“Ariel,” she whispered, feeling a wave of devastation wash over her. Her plan had been arrogance dressed as bravery. It had been stupid.

And Ariel might be paying the price.

She raised the pistol and kept moving, each step faster, the weight of the forest pressing at her back.

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About Daisy

She is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X.