Chapter 112

Ollie POV

I heard Samuel chasing me, his heavy footsteps getting closer. But I was smaller, could fit through spaces he couldn’t. I dove under a low-hanging branch, scrambled over a fallen log, kept running even though my lungs were burning and my legs felt like they were going to give out.

And then something hit me from behind.

Frank. It was Frank, back from town, and he’d caught me.

His fist connected with the side of my head, and pain exploded through my skull. Everything went bright and then dim, and I fell into the snow, my vision swimming.

“Stupid kid,” Frank growled, grabbing me by my coat and hauling me up. “Samuel! I got him!”

Samuel appeared, breathing hard, his hand bleeding where I’d bitten him. He looked at me with pure rage. “You’re going to regret that, Oliver. You and your mama both.”

Frank shook me, and my head rang like a bell, making everything blurry and confusing. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“Take