Chapter 14 - THE FINAL ASSAULT
Night fell fast and deep in the mountains.
We secured every window. Barred the doors. Jared took the front porch with an axe I found by the hearth. I positioned myself inside the main room, near the only other exit. Elara took Ethan into the root cellar beneath the kitchen, hidden and locked, with strict instructions to remain silent no matter what she heard.
“If anything goes wrong,” I told her, kissing her forehead, “wait until dawn. If we do not come… run. Take Ethan and never look back.”
She clung to me, tears streaking her face, but nodded bravely.
I had barely locked the cellar door when headlights swept across the windows.
A car skidded to a halt outside. Two doors slammed.
Vivian walked through the trees like a woman possessed. Beside her stood the lawyer—gaunt, wild-eyed, holding something long and dark. A crowbar.
They burst through the front gate. Jared stepped out to meet them.
“Go back,” he warned. “This ends here.”
The lawyer lunged without speaking. The fight was short and brutal. Jared took a blow to the ribs but drove his axe handle hard into the lawyer’s knee, dropping him. Vivian seized the moment, slipping past Jared and bursting through the front door.
She stood in the center of the room, breathing hard, eyes wild.
“Where is he?” she shrieked. “Bring me that boy!”
“Get out,” I said, standing between her and the kitchen. “There is nothing here for you.”
“He is the only thing standing between me and everything!” Vivian screamed. “He is not even legitimate! A bastard nephew! He has no right to that fortune! No right to that name!”
“He is my son!” I roared. “And you will not touch him!”
We circled each other. She had a knife now, glinting in the firelight.
“You don’t even know the truth!” she laughed wildly. “You think you protect him out of honor? You raise another man’s child like a fool! Elara used you from the very first day! Jared used you! Everyone laughed behind your back! And now… I will be the only one who ever truly told you the truth!”
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“The truth is that you murdered my father,” I said. “You tried to kill an innocent child. You used everyone around you. And you will spend the rest of your life in prison.”
Vivian’s face twisted. She lunged.
