CHAPTER 7: CASSANDRA’S CHOICE
CHAPTER 7: CASSANDRA’S CHOICE
Marcus froze.
“Let her go.”
Cassandra smiled.
“You always were weak when it came to children.”
Clara’s face was bruised, but she looked directly at Noah.
“Run,” she whispered.
Cassandra tightened her grip.
“No one is running.”
Evelyn moved in front of her son.
“What do you want?”
“The journal.”
“You already know what’s inside it.”
“The journal contains names. People who will destroy me to protect themselves.”
Evelyn held it against her chest.
“And after I give it to you?”
“You and the boy come with me.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
Cassandra pushed the gun harder against Clara’s head.
“Choose carefully.”
Noah slowly stepped around Evelyn.
“Aunt Cass.”
Cassandra looked at him.
The boy’s voice trembled, but he did not look away.
“You said my mother never wanted me.”
“She didn’t.”
“That was a lie.”
“Everything I did was to protect you.”
“You locked me in a room.”
“You were difficult.”
“You hurt Elias.”
“He betrayed us.”
Noah’s eyes filled with tears, but his voice remained steady.
“He was kinder to me than you ever were.”
Anger twisted Cassandra’s face.
She moved the weapon away from Clara and pointed it at Noah.
That was her mistake.
Clara drove her elbow into Cassandra’s ribs.
Marcus fired.
The bullet struck Cassandra’s shoulder.
She fell, screaming, while Clara ran to her father.
Evelyn pulled Noah behind the altar.
Cassandra crawled toward the tunnel.
“You think this ends with me?” she hissed. “The palace is full of us.”
Marcus stood over her.
“Not for long.”
The Duke’s guards entered moments later.
The attackers had been defeated.
Sir Adrian Holt had confessed after learning Cassandra had ordered his assassination as well.
But when the guards searched Cassandra, they found a second list.
It contained the names of twenty-seven children.
Some were marked PLACED.
Others were marked DISPOSED.
Beside Clara’s name was a location.
Blackwood House.
Noah stared at the words.
“That’s where they kept us.”
The Duke entered the chapel, bleeding from a cut above his eye.
“We move before they destroy the evidence.”
Evelyn looked at Cassandra.
May you like
Cassandra smiled through the pain.
“You’ll be too late.”
