Chapter 8 - THE FLIGHT TO FREEDOM
The police sirens were deafening now.
Catherine hadn't lied about bringing them. She had just intended to be the sole survivor, claiming she had walked in on a massacre.
Daniel grabbed the plane ticket.
He looked at me, then at Sofia and Lily.
“We have to go,” Daniel said. “There’s a tunnel under the wine cellar. It leads to the boathouse.”
“What about Evelyn?” I asked, looking at the frail woman passed out in the chair.
“Leave her,” Sofia said bitterly. “She caused all of this.”
I looked at the old woman. She was guilty of horrible things. But as a nurse, I couldn't leave a patient.
“I’ll stay with her,” I said. “I’ll tell the police Catherine and Pierce did this. I’ll buy you time.”
Daniel grabbed my shoulders. “Rachel, you saved our lives. Come with us.”
I shook my head. “I have a dad in Wisconsin with a broken furnace. I belong there. You belong with your sister.”
Sofia stood up. She looked at me, her dark eyes softening for the first time.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, heavy object.
She pressed it into my hand.
It was a rosary. Solid gold.
“My father gave this to my mother,” Sofia whispered. “It’s worth enough to fix a thousand furnaces. Thank you, Rachel.”
I hugged her.
Then I crouched down to Lily.
“You be brave, okay?” I told the little girl.
Lily nodded, clutching her blue coat. “I’m safe now.”
“Yes, you are.”
I watched them run.
Daniel, the son who had lost everything but found his true family.
Sofia, the daughter who returned from the dead.
And Lily, the little girl who would never have to be afraid again.
They disappeared behind the secret panel in the library wall just as the front doors swarmed with Chicago police officers.
I sat down in the leather chair.
I looked at Catherine, who was handcuffed and screaming threats at anyone who would listen.
I looked at the crushed body of Dr. Pierce beneath the chandelier.
And I looked at Julian.
He had died a fraud, living another man's life.
But in his final moments, he had been a true father.
An officer approached me, his notepad out.
“Ma'am? Can you tell me what happened here?”
I looked at the officer.
May you like
I took a deep breath.
“It started with a blood transfusion,” I said.
