Chapter 8
The lake house sat behind rusted gates and dead trees.
Police surrounded it before sunrise.
I stayed in the command vehicle with Noah because Detective Cole ordered me to.
That lasted seven minutes.
Then I heard a scream from inside.
A woman.
Lila.
I moved before anyone stopped me.
Noah grabbed my sleeve.
“Mom, don’t.”
I knelt.
“I will come back.”
“You always say that.”
“And I always do.”
I ran.
Inside, Julian stood in the living room with a gun shaking in his hand.
Lila was behind him.
Her adoptive parents were tied to kitchen chairs.
Rebecca Hart cried silently.
Martin had blood on his forehead.
Julian looked nothing like the polished man from the wedding.
His hair was wild.
His bow tie hung loose.
“Claire,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“You kidnapped your daughter.”
“She is my daughter.”
Lila shouted, “You are not my father.”
The words hit him hard.
“I didn’t know,” Julian said. “My mother told me the baby died.”
Lila’s face twisted.
“So you believed her and went on with your life?”
He looked at me.
“I was a kid.”
“You became a man and never checked.”
His gun lowered slightly.
Then Elaine’s voice rang from a phone on speaker.
“Julian, do not let them take what is ours.”
My stomach turned.
She was listening.
Still commanding.
Still poisoning.
Lila saw the opening first.
She kicked Julian behind the knee.
He fell.
Police rushed in.
The gun skidded across the floor.
I grabbed Lila and pulled her behind me.
Julian screamed, “I didn’t hurt her!”
Noah appeared in the doorway with Cole behind him.
Lila looked at him.
“You’re Noah?”
He nodded.
“I’m your brother.”
May you like
She started crying.
So did he.
