PART 2: THE SECRET BEHIND THE BLOOD
Temperance had spent years learning how to remain calm when lives were at stake. She cleaned Bryce’s wound, stopped the bleeding, and discovered a deep bullet injury beneath his torn trousers.

“This wasn’t an accident,” she whispered.

Bryce closed his eyes.

“No. They found me.”

A heavy knock shook the cabin.

“Bryce Teller! We know you’re inside!”

Temperance looked at her husband. His face had gone white.

The stranger outside claimed to be a lawman investigating a murder. He said Bryce had stolen money and killed a man on the eastern slope.

But Temperance noticed something strange. The visitor knew exactly where Bryce had been wounded, yet he carried no medical supplies and showed no concern for his condition.

She refused to open the door.

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Instead, she hid Bryce beneath a pile of blankets and stepped outside with a hunting rifle.

“Leave this property,” she demanded.

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The stranger smiled coldly.

“You’re protecting a murderer, woman.”

“Then bring proof.”

His expression changed. He reached beneath his coat, and Temperance realized he wasn’t carrying a badge.

A gunshot shattered the night.

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She stumbled backward as the stranger disappeared into the trees.

Inside, Bryce struggled to sit up. With trembling hands, he pulled a small leather packet from beneath his mattress.

Inside were documents bearing the signatures of several powerful businessmen, along with a photograph of a young woman.

Temperance recognized the yellowed handkerchief on the mantel.

It had belonged to the woman in the photograph.

“Who is she?” Temperance asked.

Bryce swallowed hard.

“My first wife.”

He revealed that she had not abandoned him because she couldn’t endure the wilderness. She had discovered a conspiracy involving stolen land, murdered witnesses, and men who wanted an entire valley for themselves.

Before she disappeared, she had hidden evidence that could destroy them.

Bryce had spent years searching for the truth.

Now the men responsible had returned.

Temperance looked at the medicine chest, then at the wounded man she had married.

She had come north believing she would become someone’s wife.

Instead, she had become the only person Bryce could trust.

And when another horse appeared on the ridge before sunrise, she understood that the worst danger had only begun.