Julian was running toward the back exit, his heavy boots clicking on the marble floor.

As he reached the kitchen corridor, a heavy security gate slid down from the archway, blocking his path.

“They are trapped inside,” Nathan said quietly.

“The system has cut off all access to the garage and the basement stairs.”

“What about the police?” I asked.

“The automated distress signal went out the moment the upload finished,” Nathan said.

“With the blizzard, it will take them forty minutes to reach the ridge.”

“But they cannot get out,” he added, looking at his daughters.

“And they cannot get in here.”

Emma looked up at her father, her thumb still in her mouth.

“Is the bad lady gone?” she asked in a small voice.

Nathan knelt down, placing Sophie on the floor beside her sisters.

He gathered all four of them into his arms, squeezing them tightly.

“She can’t hurt you anymore,” he said, his voice cracking.

“Your mother made sure of it.”

On the desk, the main computer terminal chimed.

A small notification box popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen.