Chapter 13 - THE HOUSE IN FLAMES
Fire crews approached without sirens while police surrounded the property.
Darren dragged my mother through the back door seconds before flames burst from an upstairs window.
He forced her into the woods behind the house.
Amanda called him from the second phone.
“I have the certificate,” she said.
Darren laughed.
“You chose Ethan.”
“I chose the side that wasn’t planning to kill me.”
“You always were sentimental.”
“I learned it from you.”
She told him to meet us at the old railroad bridge with Evelyn. Ortiz fitted Amanda with a wire and placed the fake music box in her hands.
“You stay behind the line,” Ortiz told me.
I nodded.
I had no intention of obeying.
The bridge had been closed for fifteen years. Rusted steel rose above the river, and missing boards revealed black water below.
Darren stood halfway across with my mother on her knees.
Amanda walked toward him alone.
Her wedding dress was dirty and torn, but she still wore it. The image felt like a cruel joke.
“Set Evelyn free,” Amanda said.
“Bring me the box.”
They moved at the same time.
My mother stumbled toward us while Amanda carried the music box forward.
Darren opened it and unfolded the certificate.
His smile disappeared.
“This is a copy.”
Amanda stepped back.
“You taught me to use people. You forgot they can learn.”
Darren struck her across the face.
I ran onto the bridge.
He fired.
The bullet hit the railing beside me.
Police shouted from both ends, but Darren grabbed Amanda and pressed the gun under her chin.
“One more step and the bride dies.”
Amanda’s eyes met mine.
For months, she had lied to me, manipulated Sophie, and planned to steal everything we owned.
But I couldn’t stand there and watch her be murdered.
“Let her go,” I said. “I know where the last certificate is.”
Darren’s attention shifted.
Amanda drove her heel into his foot and threw herself sideways.
The gun fired.
A rotten board broke beneath Darren.
He grabbed the rail with one hand, hanging above the river.
Amanda lay on the bridge, bleeding from her side.
Darren looked up at me.
“Help me.”
I could have watched him fall.
For one terrible second, I wanted to.
Then I grabbed his wrist.
Not because he deserved it.
Because Sophie deserved a father who wasn’t changed into a killer.
Officers pulled Darren onto the bridge and handcuffed him.
As paramedics rushed toward Amanda, Darren began laughing.
“You think this ends with me?”
Ortiz tightened the cuffs.
“It ends in a federal prison.”
“No,” he said, looking at me. “It ends when Ethan learns who signed Emily’s death certificate.”
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I froze.
The doctor who declared Emily dead had been Claire.
