Chapter 6
I pulled up to the Hale mansion at 2:17 a.m.
The whole place was dark.
No lights on except a faint glow in the second-floor window of Lily’s old bedroom.
The gates were open.
Margaret wasn’t even trying to hide.
She thought she’d won.
I parked the car behind a big oak tree at the end of the driveway.
I cut the engine.
I still had Lena’s gun in one hand, the USB drive in the other.
I checked the clip.
Six bullets left.
I crept up the back stairs, just like I’d done a hundred times when I’d snuck out to meet Richard before we got married.
The back door was unlocked.
I slipped inside.
The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
I could hear my own breathing echoing off the marble walls.
I crept up the grand staircase.
My heart was hammering so hard I was scared someone would hear it.
I got to the second floor.
Lily’s room was at the end of the hall.
The door was cracked open.
I heard a small, familiar sniffle.
Lily.
I stepped closer.
I peeked through the crack.
My blood ran cold.
Lily was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands tied together in front of her with a silk scarf, tears streaming down her face.
Margaret was standing in front of her, holding a glass of water.
“Drink it,” Margaret said, her voice sharp.
“No,” Lily whispered. “I want my mommy.”
Margaret slapped her across the face.
Hard.
Lily fell back on the bed, crying harder.
“Your mommy doesn’t want you,” Margaret said, cold as ice. “She gave you up. You’re mine now. And you will do exactly what I say. When we get to Switzerland, you will learn to be a proper Hale. You will forget all about that worthless woman. And if you ever misbehave again, it will be much worse than a slap. Do you understand?”
Lily nodded, sobbing.
I saw red.
I kicked the door open so hard it slammed against the wall.
“Get away from her.”
Margaret spun around, shocked.
She recovered fast.
“Clara. How nice of you to join us. I was just telling Lily what a disappointment you are.”
She reached into her robe pocket and pulled out a small silver gun.
She pointed it right at me.
“Put the gun down, Clara. Or I’ll put a bullet in your daughter’s head before you can blink.”
My whole body froze.
I looked at Lily.
Her eyes were wide with terror.
“Mommy,” she whimpered.
“It’s okay, baby,” I said, my voice steady even though I was dying inside. “Mommy’s here. Everything is gonna be okay.”
I slowly lowered my gun to the floor.
Kicked it across the room.
“Good girl,” Margaret said, smiling. “Now kick that little USB drive you stole from Javier over here too. I know you have it. Lena called me right before you knocked her out. Told me you’d be coming.”
Of course.
Lena had played me.
She’d told me exactly what I wanted to hear so I’d lead Margaret right to the drive.
I reached into my pocket.
I pulled out the drive.
I tossed it to her.
She caught it one-handed.
“Perfect,” she said. “Now we tie up all the loose ends. First, I shoot you. I tell the cops you broke in here, tried to kidnap Lily, I had to defend myself. Then I take Lily to the airport. By the time anyone figures out what happened, we’ll be in the middle of the Atlantic. And no one will ever find us.”
“You’re never gonna get away with this,” I said. “Ben is outside with the cops. They’re gonna be here any second.”
Margaret laughed.
“Please. I paid off the chief of police three days ago. The only cops coming tonight are the ones on my payroll. They’ll be here in 10 minutes to help me clean up the body. No one is coming to save you, Clara. No one ever has.”
She cocked the gun.
Lily screamed.
I dove to the side just as she pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit the wall right where my head had been a split second earlier.
I grabbed the first heavy thing I could reach—a heavy ceramic lamp off the dresser—and threw it at her.
It hit her arm.
She screamed.
The gun went flying.
I tackled her to the ground.
We rolled across the thick Persian rug, punching and scratching.
She was stronger than she looked.
She kneed me in the stomach.
I gasped for air.
She climbed on top of me, her hands wrapped around my throat, squeezing as hard as she could.
“You stupid little girl,” she hissed, her face inches from mine. “I should have killed you the day you married my son. You ruined everything. Everything I worked my whole life for.”
Black spots danced in front of my eyes.
I couldn’t breathe.
I looked over at Lily.
She’d managed to untie the scarf around her wrists.
She was standing by the bed, holding the heavy silver candlestick Richard had kept on his nightstand.
“Let go of my mommy!” she screamed.
She swung the candlestick as hard as she could.
It hit Margaret right on the top of the head.
Margaret’s eyes rolled back in her head.
She collapsed on top of me, unconscious.
I pushed her off, gasping for air, my throat raw.
Lily ran to me, crying.
I grabbed her and held her so tight I thought I’d never let go.
“Mommy! Mommy, are you okay? I’m sorry I hit her! I was scared!”
I kissed her all over her face, crying too.
“You are so brave, baby. The bravest little girl in the whole world. You saved Mommy. You saved us both.”
Sirens blared outside.
Loud.
Getting closer.
Blue and red lights flashed through the windows.
Ben burst through the door a second later, followed by a dozen uniformed cops, guns drawn.
“Clara! Jesus, are you okay?”
I nodded, still holding Lily tight.
I pointed at Margaret, still unconscious on the floor.
“She’s all yours.”
Two cops cuffed her.
They carried her out.
An EMT came in to check on Lily and me.
Ben picked the USB drive up off the floor where Margaret had dropped it.
He held it up.
“Got it,” he said. “This ends tonight.”
I looked out the window.
The sun was just starting to come up over the trees.
Pink and orange light spilled across the lawn.
For the first time in seven years…
May you like
I breathed.
We were safe.
