Chapter 13 - THE ROAD ABOVE THE SEA
“Lily!”
Lucas ran for the nearest vehicle.
Grant jumped behind the wheel.
They chased Edward down the mountain as rain hammered the windshield.
The road twisted above a black, violent sea.
Edward’s SUV swerved around fallen branches.
Lily appeared briefly in the rear window.
“She’s alive,” Grant said.
Lucas called the phone he had hidden inside Lily’s coat.
She answered without speaking.
“Lily, can you hear me?”
A faint tap.
“Is Grandpa armed?”
Two taps.
Yes.
“Is your seat belt on?”
One tap.
Edward’s voice came through the phone.
“Who are you talking to?”
The call disconnected.
The SUV accelerated.
Grant’s tires slipped near the cliff edge.
“We need to stop him before the bridge.”
A storm had damaged the old coastal bridge earlier that week.
Only one lane remained open.
If Edward reached it at that speed, the vehicle could go into the sea.
Lucas spotted a maintenance road cutting across the mountain.
“Take the left.”
“That road isn’t paved.”
“It reaches the bridge first.”
Grant turned hard.
Their vehicle tore through mud and branches.
They emerged near the bridge seconds before Edward.
Grant positioned the car across the road.
Edward did not slow down.
“He’s going to ram us,” Grant said.
Lucas climbed out.
Edward’s headlights raced toward him.
“Get back in the car!” Grant shouted.
Lucas stood in the center of the road.
At the last second, the SUV swerved.
It struck the guardrail and spun sideways.
The rear door opened.
Lily jumped onto the wet pavement.
Lucas ran toward her.
Edward crawled from the driver’s side and seized her coat.
He pressed the gun against her neck.
“One more step, and she dies.”
Lucas stopped.
Rain streamed down his face.
“You won’t shoot her.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know exactly who you are. You need someone left alive to admire you.”
Edward dragged Lily toward the damaged bridge.
Grant aimed his weapon but had no clear shot.
“You ruined everything,” Edward said.
“No. Rachel and Daniel did. They exposed you.”
“They’re dead.”
“But they won.”
Edward’s eyes burned.
Lucas saw Lily’s hand slowly moving toward the silver necklace Maria had given him.
He had placed it around her neck at the estate.
The locket had a sharp metal edge.
Lily tore it free and drove it into Edward’s hand.
He shouted.
The gun dropped.
Lucas tackled him.
They crashed against the broken guardrail.
Edward grabbed Lucas’s throat.
“You were always the weaker son.”
Lucas looked past him at Lily.
She was safe in Grant’s arms.
“No,” Lucas said. “I was the son who stayed human.”
The guardrail gave way beneath Edward.
Lucas caught his wrist.
For one suspended moment, his father hung above the rocks and raging water.
“Pull me up,” Edward ordered.
Lucas tried.
Despite everything, he tried.
Edward reached for the backup gun at his ankle.
Grant shouted a warning.
The weapon slipped from Edward’s hand.
His body followed.
He vanished into the darkness below.
Lucas stared over the edge.
Then Lily screamed behind him.
May you like
Vanessa stood near the wrecked SUV, wounded but alive.
And her gun was pointed directly at Grant.
