Chapter 3
Claire's POV
I drove back to Old Faithful Inn alone and booked the quietest suite on the top floor.
After my shower, I curled up on the couch by the window. Outside, Old Faithful erupted right on time.
Sipped my wine and opened my iPad. Daniel and Natalie's feeds loaded.
As expected. Those two idiots were still here.
Predictable. These two idiots were still here.
Daniel had maxed out his last credit card on the cheapest room at some dump motel on the edge of the park.
Natalie couldn't sit still for five minutes.
I opened TikTok. She'd just posted: eyes red and puffy, hair a disaster. Caption read — "Nearly mauled by a grizzly in Yellowstone. Worse? My 'best friend' locked me out of her car to save herself and dumped us in the middle of nowhere. If Daniel hadn't protected me, I'd be dead. People are terrifying. #YellstoneNightmare #ToxicFriendship #Survivor"
Comments were flying.
"That bitch literally tried to murder you!"
"OMG poor baby. Expose her ass!"
"Daniel's a KING. That's a real man right there."
I stared at the screen and laughed. Let them rage. The worse it gets, the better for me.
Swiped over to another tab.
Before I dumped him, I'd already figured Daniel out.
He'd put tracking software on my phone — "for your safety, babe" — really just spying on me 24/7.
I never said a word. Just slipped spyware onto his. Not just location. Every single message, live-streamed straight to me.
Right now, his chat with Natalie was lighting up my screen.
Natalie: Okay so my video's already at 100K views. If we do something INSANE we could land actual sponsors. Like BIG money.
Daniel: Like what?
Natalie: There's this crazy sulfur hot spring near Death Gulch up north. Tons of wolves and bears. We livestream from there? Instant viral gold. We cash in and never have to deal with Claire's bullshit again.
Daniel: But there's no road. You can't get a normal car in. Plus zero signal. Way too risky.
Natalie: Claire's G-Wagon is literally perfect. She's at Old Faithful Inn for sure. She always keeps a spare key in that magnetic thing under the car. We grab it tonight, do the stream, make bank, return it. What's she gonna do, call the cops? lol
Daniel: You sure?
Natalie: Trust me. She's too scared to do anything.
I stared at the screen. Shook my head slowly.
Last life, they pulled this exact move. Stole my car, went out there to play influencer, and I died trying to find them.
This time? They want to kill themselves? Be my guest.
I called the front desk. "Hi, this is Claire in the presidential suite. I'm not feeling well tonight — took a sleeping pill. If anyone asks, tell them I'm out cold. Oh, and move my car somewhere quiet. I don't want the noise."
Hung up. Threw on my coat and went down to the lot.
The night air bit through my jacket.
I crouched by the G-Wagon and pulled the spare key from the magnetic box under the frame. Still there.
Opened the door. Activated everything I'd installed: mics buried in the panels, 4K cams in all directions, hidden cameras inside the cabin. Every feed uploading straight to my cloud in real time.
Locked it. Went back upstairs.
2:00 AM. iPad screen lit up.
Daniel's location was moving fast — straight toward the Old Faithful lot.
I pulled up the security feed. Two shadows sneaking past the guard booth, creeping up to my car. Daniel reached under, grabbed the key, hit unlock.
Beep beep. Headlights flashed.
Natalie clamped a hand over her mouth, grinning like crazy. Whispered, "Oh my GOD yes — get IN, let's GO—"
They jumped in. Engine hummed to life.
The G-Wagon rolled out of the lot and turned north — straight toward the most dangerous restricted zone in Yellowstone.
I leaned back on the couch, watching that little red dot crawl across my screen.
Raised my glass. Clinked it against nothing.
"Bon voyage, assholes."
Next morning, I called 911 the second I woke up.
"Yellowstone police, what's your emergency?"
I made my voice shake. "Hi — yes — I need to report a stolen vehicle. Black Mercedes G63, custom build. There's really expensive equipment inside. I think my ex-boyfriend took it — Daniel Kerr. He's been harassing me since I broke up with him. He said he'd make me regret it."
The dispatcher's tone shifted immediately.
"Okay ma'am, stay calm. We're dispatching officers now. Does the vehicle have GPS?"
"Yes. But it's — it's showing up near Death Gulch. In the restricted zone up north."
Silence. Then his voice dropped. "Death Gulch? Ma'am, that's a core protection area. We just issued a blizzard warning — red alert. If they're out there, they're in serious danger. I'm contacting search and rescue right now."
Hung up. Did my makeup slowly. Pulled on my parka.
I didn't wait for the cops.
Called a charter service. Booked their best helicopter.
"This location." I handed the pilot the coordinates. "Follow the search-and-rescue team. Stay behind them."
The rotors spun up. We lifted off.
I opened the live feed from the car.
