Chapter 15 - The Locked Greenhouse
Elena did not lose consciousness immediately.
That saved her.
The sedative burned through her shoulder.
Her limbs became heavy.
But she remained aware long enough to feel Victoria dragging her toward the hidden passage.
Marcus shouted somewhere behind them.
Dana pounded against the emergency shutter.
“Elena!”
Victoria whispered.
“Sleep.”
Elena bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste blood.
Pain.
Real.
Focus.
One foot.
Then another.
The passage tilted.
Victoria had expected full sedation.
Elena’s pregnancy had changed the drug’s effect.
Or Kessler had lied about the dosage.
Either way, Elena still had seconds.
She let her knees collapse.
Victoria cursed.
“Get up.”
Elena went limp.
Dead weight.
Victoria tried to pull her.
Elena’s hand touched a metal pipe along the wall.
She wrapped her fingers around it.
Victoria pulled harder.
Elena held.
“What are you doing?”
Elena opened her eyes.
“Ruining your plan.”
She kicked backward.
Her heel struck Victoria’s knee.
Victoria fell.
The syringe skidded away.
Elena crawled.
Her body felt underwater.
Victoria grabbed her ankle.
“Elena!”
Elena kicked again.
Missed.
Victoria climbed over her.
For the first time, the elegant mask vanished.
Her face twisted with rage.
“You ungrateful little parasite.”
Elena stared.
Victoria slapped her.
Hard.
Real pain.
Real Victoria.
No hallucination.
“You think this family belongs to you because you married him?”
Victoria hissed.
“I built this family.”
“You destroyed it.”
“I saved it.”
“You killed Caroline.”
Victoria froze.
Only for a second.
But Elena saw it.
“You did.”
Victoria smiled.
“Caroline killed Caroline.”
“You drugged her.”
“She was weak.”
The answer came too fast.
Too honest.
Elena felt something inside her coat.
Her phone.
Recording.
She had started it before entering the tunnel.
“You made everyone think she was insane.”
Victoria leaned closer.
“I made people see what they were willing to believe.”
Elena kept her eyes open.
“And Edward?”
Victoria’s expression changed.
“What about him?”
“He found out.”
“Too late.”
“Did you kill him too?”
Victoria laughed.
“Edward’s heart killed him.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’ll get.”
Sirens sounded faintly outside.
Victoria looked toward the passage.
Elena saw calculation return.
She reached for the syringe.
Elena caught her wrist.
They struggled.
Victoria was stronger than she looked.
But Elena had something Victoria had never respected.
A reason larger than power.
Her daughter.
Elena twisted.
The syringe dropped.
Marcus’s voice echoed through the passage.
“Elena!”
Victoria’s face changed.
She punched a hidden release.
A panel opened.
Cold air rushed in from the greenhouse.
Victoria dragged Elena through.
Rain struck the glass roof.
Lightning flashed.
The greenhouse was still damaged from the smoke attack.
Victoria pushed Elena toward the center.
Marcus entered seconds later.
“Let her go.”
Victoria grabbed a broken gardening knife.
She held it near Elena’s throat.
Marcus stopped.
Victoria smiled.
“There he is.”
“Let her go.”
“You always were predictable.”
“Victoria.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You listen.”
Marcus looked at Elena.
Elena could barely stand.
The sedative pulled at her consciousness.
Victoria continued.
“Your mother was weak.”
Marcus’s jaw clenched.
“She needed everyone to believe her.”
“You drugged her.”
“She accused me before I ever touched her medication.”
“So you admit it.”
Victoria smiled.
“I admit Caroline made herself easy to discredit.”
Marcus’s eyes filled with hatred.
“You murdered her.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice became colder.
“I simply stopped protecting her from herself.”
Elena knew that sentence mattered.
Not confession.
But close.
Marcus took one step.
Victoria pressed the blade closer.
“No.”
He stopped.
“Elena comes with me.”
“You’re surrounded.”
Victoria laughed.
“By police who still need evidence.”
Elena whispered.
“We have enough.”
Victoria looked down at her.
“Do you?”
Elena slowly lifted her phone.
The recording screen glowed.
Victoria’s expression changed.
For the first time.
Fear.
She lunged for it.
Elena threw the phone across the greenhouse.
Marcus moved.
He slammed into Victoria.
The knife flew.
Elena fell.
Glass cracked beneath Marcus and Victoria.
Victoria clawed his face.
Marcus pinned her wrist.
She screamed.
Not elegantly.
Not calmly.
Like an animal trapped in its own cage.
Dana burst through the door with officers.
“Don’t move!”
Marcus released Victoria.
She rolled toward the knife.
Dana kicked it away.
Two officers restrained her.
Victoria fought.
“Elena is hallucinating!”
Dana cuffed her.
“Elena didn’t make the recording.”
“She attacked me!”
“Save it.”
Victoria looked at Marcus.
“Marcus.”
He stared at her.
“You will regret this.”
“No.”
Marcus’s voice was quiet.
“I regret not believing my mother.”
That hurt Victoria more than the handcuffs.
Elena saw it.
Then another contraction hit.
Harder than anything before.
She screamed.
Dr. Reyes had warned stress could restart labor.
Elena felt warmth rush down her legs.
Her water broke across the greenhouse floor.
Marcus ran to her.
“Elena.”
She gripped his shirt.
“The baby.”
Dana shouted for an ambulance.
Victoria stopped struggling.
Then she smiled.
That terrified Elena.
Because even in handcuffs, Victoria looked satisfied.
“Why are you smiling?”
Elena demanded.
Victoria’s eyes moved toward her belly.
“You still think arresting me stops what I started.”
Elena stared.
May you like
Victoria leaned closer as officers pulled her away.
“You should ask which hospital the ambulance is taking you to.”
