Chapter 5 - THE ESCAPE
I pulled the curtains shut instantly. My heart sank. They were already here.
“Stay right here, Noah,” I whispered. “Don’t make a sound. I’ll be back in one minute.”
I walked quietly to the window again and peered out through the gap in the drapes. The car remained idling. Two men sat in the front seats. Neither looked at their phones. Neither spoke. They simply watched the front gate.
Vanessa had called them. The moment she realized I had seen the truth, she had alerted her partners. They were waiting. Watching the exits. They intended to follow me. Or take the drive by force.
I could not leave through the front. Not with Noah.
I went back to the bedroom and lifted my son into my arms. He wrapped his legs around my waist and rested his head on my shoulder, clutching a small toy car in one fist. He trusted me completely. That trust was the heaviest thing I had ever carried.
“We are going a different way,” I whispered to him. “Through the garden. Can you be very quiet for Daddy?”
He nodded against my neck. “Like a mouse.”
I grabbed the drive, my wallet, and Noah’s case. I slipped out through the back door, into the shadows of the garden. We moved along the treeline, staying in darkness, heading toward the small gate that opened onto the service alley behind the row of houses.
Behind us, I heard a voice call out from the upper floor. Vanessa.
“They are going out the back!”
My blood ran cold. I tightened my grip on Noah and began to run.
I heard car doors slam. Engines revving. Heavy footsteps crunching rapidly across the lawn behind us.
I reached the gate, fumbling with the lock, my fingers slipping. It clicked open just as a shout rang out behind me.
“Stop!”
I shoved the gate open, carried Noah through, and slammed it shut behind us, latching it just in time. Hands hit the wood hard from the other side.
I did not look back. I ran down the alley, breath burning in my chest, until I reached the main road. I hailed a passing taxi seconds later and practically threw us inside.
“Drive!” I gasped, giving the address of a hotel across the city. Anywhere but here.
As the car pulled away, I finally looked back. Two men stood at the alley entrance. Vanessa stood with them, pointing directly at our taxi. She had her phone in her hand, speaking rapidly into it.
They would track us. They would follow. I had bought us minutes, nothing more.
Noah pulled back from my chest and looked up at me, his face pale. “Why is the lady angry, Daddy?”
I stroked his hair, staring out the rear window at the city lights blurring past. “She made a mistake, Noah. A very big mistake. But don’t worry. I will not let anyone hurt you. Ever.”
I pulled out the USB drive again and held it between my fingers. Claire had entrusted this to me. She had given me the evidence to destroy the people who had killed her. She had given me a way to protect our son.
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But standing between me and justice were powerful men. A woman who had lied about everything. And a web of lies that had been woven around my life for years.
I had the truth in my hand. Now I had to survive long enough to prove it.
