Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT THE HOUSE BURNED AGAIN
“Take the documents.”
Rose loaded the shotgun.
Clara grabbed the files.
Samuel shoved them into two bags.
Margaret looked outside.
Men were surrounding the cottage.
“We can't outrun them.”
Rose pointed toward the rear door.
“There's a trail through the woods.”
Clara shook her head.
“I'm not running again.”
Everyone looked at her.
Clara took out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure Eleanor can't bury the truth.”
She photographed the most important documents.
Then sent them to Samuel's law office.
Samuel smiled.
“Good.”
Clara sent another copy to a newspaper editor.
Then another to the police.
Headlights illuminated the windows.
A voice came from outside.
“Rose Bennett!”
Eleanor.
Rose went still.
Twenty years disappeared from her face.
She looked terrified again.
Clara took her hand.
“She can't lock you in that cellar anymore.”
Rose looked at her.
“No.”
She raised the shotgun.
“She can't.”
They walked onto the porch.
Eleanor stood beside a black automobile.
Daniel was behind her.
His hands were tied.
Clara stared.
“Daniel?”
Eleanor smiled.
“My son developed a conscience.”
Daniel had blood on his mouth.
“Don't give her anything.”
Eleanor slapped him.
Rose screamed.
“Don't touch him!”
Eleanor looked toward her.
“Well.”
The two women stared at each other across twenty years.
Eleanor smiled.
“You've aged terribly.”
Rose raised the shotgun.
“And you're still ugly where it matters.”
Eleanor's smile disappeared.
“Give me Thomas's documents.”
“No.”
Eleanor pulled a pistol.
She pressed it against Daniel's head.
Rose lowered the shotgun slightly.
Clara whispered.
“Don't.”
Rose looked at her son.
Daniel shook his head.
“Don't give her anything.”
Eleanor cocked the gun.
Rose's hands trembled.
“Mother.”
Daniel's voice was quiet.
Eleanor looked at him.
“You never called me that when you were frightened.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You made me believe I killed her.”
“I made you strong.”
“You made me a coward.”
Eleanor's face tightened.
Daniel continued.
“I hurt Clara because I was afraid of you.”
“No.”
“You taught me survival mattered more than being decent.”
Eleanor leaned close.
“And you're alive because of it.”
Daniel looked toward Clara.
“No.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I'm just breathing.”
Then Daniel drove his head backward into Eleanor's face.
The gun fired.
Rose screamed.
Daniel dropped.
Clara's heart stopped.
“DANIEL!”
Chaos exploded.
Rose fired into the air.
Samuel dragged Clara behind the porch wall.
Margaret grabbed one evidence bag.
Men scattered.
Daniel rolled across the ground.
The bullet had missed his head.
Eleanor screamed.
“BURN IT!”
Victor's men threw flaming bottles through the cottage windows.
Glass shattered.
Fire raced across the curtains.
“No!”
Rose ran toward the house.
Clara grabbed her.
“The evidence!”
“It's copied!”
“But my letters to Daniel!”
Rose stopped.
Twenty years of words to her son were inside.
Daniel tore free from the rope around his wrists.
He ran into the burning cottage.
Rose screamed.
“Daniel!”
Flames climbed the walls.
Clara stared in horror.
Thirty seconds passed.
Then forty.
The roof began collapsing.
“Daniel!”
A window shattered.
Daniel stumbled out.
He carried the tin box against his chest.
His jacket was burning.
Samuel knocked him down and smothered the flames.
Daniel coughed violently.
He pushed the box toward Rose.
“Your letters.”
Rose dropped to her knees.
She touched her son's face.
Daniel stared at her.
For the first time since he was six years old, he looked into his mother's eyes.
“You didn't leave me?”
Rose broke.
“No.”
Daniel began sobbing.
Neither noticed Eleanor backing toward the car.
Clara did.
“She's leaving!”
Eleanor ran.
Daniel looked up.
Eleanor jumped behind the wheel.
The car accelerated.
Straight toward Clara.
Clara froze.
May you like
Headlights filled her vision.
Then Daniel ran between them.
