Chapter 14 - THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE
“Down!”
Glass exploded.
Everyone hit the floor.
Thomas fired through the front window.
Two men moved around the sides of the house.
Margaret’s officers returned fire.
Evelyn pulled Lily behind the fireplace.
Noah crouched beside her.
David grabbed a pistol.
“No.”
Noah stared at him.
David checked the magazine.
“This ends with me.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
David looked at his son.
“Yes.”
For once, his voice was calm.
“It does.”
He moved toward the back door.
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“David.”
They looked at each other.
Years of anger filled that silence.
Then Evelyn said, “Don’t make your children watch you die trying to become a hero.”
David swallowed.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Live long enough to answer for what you did.”
That landed harder than any bullet.
David nodded.
Together, they formed a plan.
Sarah cut power.
Darkness swallowed the cabin.
Margaret’s officers moved outside.
Noah knew the cabin better than Thomas.
His mother had taken him there as a child.
He remembered the old boat tunnel beneath the dock.
Noah whispered to Lily.
“Stay with Mom.”
“No.”
“Lily.”
“I’m done being left behind.”
He almost argued.
Then he saw her face.
She had survived the walls.
Vanessa.
Pierce.
Reyes.
An explosion.
She wasn’t helpless.
“Fine. Stay behind me.”
They crawled into the basement.
A gunshot sounded upstairs.
Then Thomas’s voice.
“David!”
No answer.
“I know you’re here!”
Noah opened the tunnel hatch.
Cold lake air rushed in.
They moved under the dock.
From there, they could see Thomas near the front porch.
He shouted.
“You destroyed the Bennett name!”
David stepped from behind a tree.
“No.”
Thomas turned.
“You did.”
Thomas aimed.
Noah grabbed a loose metal chain attached to the dock.
He pulled.
An old emergency bell rang near the boathouse.
Thomas spun toward the sound.
David fired.
The shotgun flew from Thomas’s hands.
Margaret’s officers tackled his men.
Thomas ran.
Straight toward the dock.
Straight toward Noah.
Noah froze.
Thomas saw him.
For one second, the old man smiled.
“You.”
He lunged.
Noah backed away.
The dock boards were wet.
Thomas grabbed his jacket.
“You should have died in that crib.”
Noah punched him.
Thomas barely moved.
Then Lily appeared behind Thomas.
She swung her stuffed rabbit.
It hit Thomas in the back of the head.
Thomas turned in disbelief.
“That is my brother!” Lily screamed.
Noah kicked Thomas’s knee.
Thomas slipped.
He crashed through the rotten dock railing and fell into the freezing lake.
He surfaced, choking.
David approached.
Thomas reached up.
“Son.”
David stared down.
“Help me.”
Noah watched his father.
David could walk away.
He could let Thomas drown.
For a terrifying second, Noah thought he would.
Then David threw him a rope.
Police dragged Thomas from the water.
Noah stared.
“Why did you save him?”
David looked at his father being handcuffed.
“Because dead men don’t stand trial.”
Sirens filled the woods.
Thomas Bennett was finally taken alive.
Noah thought it was over.
Then Sarah’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression fell.
“What?”
Sarah looked at Evelyn.
“They found Vanessa.”
Noah’s stomach tightened.
“Where?”
Sarah swallowed.
“At the mansion.”
Pause.
“She has Agent Reyes.”
“And?”
May you like
Sarah looked toward Lily.
“She says she’ll trade Reyes for Noah.”
