Chapter 12 - MIA DISAPPEARS
Elena heard it again.
“MAMA!”
She stood so fast she almost slipped in Damian’s blood.
“That’s Mia.”
Harris yelled, “Stay with Cross!”
“No.”
“Elena!”
“That’s my child!”
She ran.
Monica appeared at the top of the cellar stairs.
Her face was white.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena stopped.
“Where is she?”
“Someone opened the safe room.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?”
Monica started crying.
“He took her.”
Everything inside Elena went cold.
Not fear.
Something harder.
She grabbed Harris’s spare radio.
“Where?”
“East hallway.”
Elena ran.
She knew exactly where the east hallway ended.
The greenhouse.
Beyond it, the service road.
If Preston reached a car—
No.
She ran faster.
Vanessa followed.
Elena spun.
“Stay away from me.”
“I know where he’ll go.”
“How?”
“We planned exits.”
Elena stared at her.
“Then talk.”
“The old boathouse.”
“That’s half a mile.”
“There’s a tunnel from the greenhouse.”
Elena’s heart dropped.
She knew the tunnel.
She also knew it had been sealed years earlier.
Apparently not well enough.
They reached the greenhouse.
The hidden door stood open.
Elena entered.
Vanessa behind her.
The tunnel smelled like dirt and wet stone.
Ahead, Mia cried.
“Let me go!”
Elena nearly broke.
“MIA!”
“MAMA!”
Preston shouted, “Stay back!”
Elena stopped.
At the end of the tunnel, Preston held Mia against his chest.
The gun pressed against the floor.
Not Mia.
That was something.
Mia kicked wildly.
“I don’t like you!”
Preston grunted.
“Elena, control your kid.”
Elena stared at him.
“She’s doing great.”
Vanessa whispered, “Preston.”
He looked at her.
“You.”
“Let the child go.”
He laughed.
“You suddenly care?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
Vanessa looked at Mia.
“Since I realized what I became.”
Elena didn’t trust her.
But she didn’t need to.
She just needed Mia.
Preston raised the gun.
“Both of you move back.”
Elena did.
Vanessa didn’t.
“Vanessa.”
“No.”
“Move.”
“You always said I was weak.”
Preston smiled.
“You are.”
“You were right.”
She stepped closer.
“But you also taught me something.”
“What?”
Vanessa smiled.
“People stop watching you when they think you’re scared.”
Then Mia bit Preston’s hand.
Hard.
He screamed.
Vanessa lunged.
Elena ran.
The gun fired.
Mia fell.
Elena’s entire world stopped.
“MIA!”
She reached her daughter.
No blood.
Mia had tripped.
Elena grabbed her and covered her with her body.
Behind them Vanessa and Preston fought.
He hit her.
She went down.
Then Damian’s security chief appeared at the tunnel entrance.
“Drop the weapon!”
Preston grabbed Vanessa by the hair and pressed the gun beneath her jaw.
Everyone froze.
He backed toward the boathouse exit.
“You come closer, she dies.”
Vanessa was bleeding from the mouth.
She looked at Elena.
Then at Mia.
And did something nobody expected.
She drove her heel down on Preston’s foot.
He flinched.
Vanessa threw herself sideways.
The security chief fired.
Preston collapsed.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Mia wrapped both arms around Elena’s neck.
“Mama.”
Elena cried.
Not gracefully.
Not quietly.
She held her daughter and sobbed.
Vanessa sat against the wall.
Alive.
Shaking.
She looked at Elena.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena stared at her.
Sorry wasn’t enough.
Maybe it would never be enough.
Then Harris’s voice came through the radio.
“Elena.”
She grabbed it.
“What?”
“Damian is being transported.”
“Is he alive?”
May you like
A pause.
“He’s lost a lot of blood.”
