Chapter 13 - THE FALL SHE CHOSE
Vanessa slipped.
Her body dropped halfway through the broken window.
She caught the metal frame with both hands.
For one second, everyone froze.
Then I grabbed her wrist.
She stared up at me.
“You should let me fall.”
“No.”
“She killed Rachel,” Robert shouted.
“I know.”
Vanessa’s nails cut into my skin.
“Why save me?”
“Because my children are watching.”
Lily stood behind me, holding Ethan.
I would not teach them that revenge was justice.
Daniel helped pull Vanessa inside.
The police broke through the stairwell door.
Officers forced her to the floor and cuffed her.
She screamed when they took the remote.
“You think this is over?”
Detective Sarah Monroe entered with the arrest warrant.
“For you, it is.”
Vanessa was charged with kidnapping, child abuse, fraud, conspiracy, and Rachel’s murder.
Henry faced the same murder conspiracy charges, along with embezzlement and evidence tampering.
Maria received protection in exchange for her testimony.
The board vote was canceled.
But the damage inside my home was harder to undo.
At the hospital, doctors examined Lily and Ethan.
Ethan had bruises on his shoulders and back.
Lily had a hairline fracture in one wrist from shielding him.
I sat beside their beds until sunrise.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Lily opened her eyes.
“For what?”
“For not seeing.”
She thought for a moment.
“Will you see now?”
“Yes.”
“Even when we don’t say it?”
My throat tightened.
“Especially then.”
Ethan reached for my hand.
“Are we going home?”
I looked through the window at the mansion in the distance.
The place no longer felt like a home.
“No,” I said.
“We’re going somewhere safe.”
Robert entered carrying Rachel’s black document case.
“There’s one more letter.”
May you like
It was addressed to Lily and Ethan.
And the date on it was six months after Rachel died.
