Chapter 11 - THE CHOICE
Victor kicked the nursery door.
Nothing.
He kicked again.
Ethan started crying.
“It’s okay.”
Victor forced himself to slow down.
Think.
Lauren wanted panic.
His father had always used panic.
Make a person afraid enough and they would choose badly.
Victor looked around.
Old nursery.
One window.
One door.
Ventilation grille.
Fireplace.
He froze.
The fireplace.
As a child, Victor had discovered that several fireplaces in the manor connected to maintenance shafts.
He carried Ethan to the hearth.
The opening was narrow.
But perhaps wide enough.
He pulled away the decorative screen.
Behind it sat a metal panel.
He kicked.
Once.
Twice.
It bent.
Downstairs, Lauren spoke to Lily.
Victor could hear her through the monitor.
“Do you know what bothers me about you?”
Lily stared at her.
“What?”
“You got everything.”
Lily almost laughed despite the ropes.
“I’m a nanny with student loans.”
“You got a mother.”
Lily’s expression changed.
“You got birthdays. School pictures. Someone sitting beside your bed when you were sick.”
Evelyn started crying.
“Lauren—”
“Don’t call me that.”
Evelyn froze.
“What should I call you?”
Lauren’s face twisted.
For one second, she looked like a child.
Then the rage returned.
“He called me Number Seven.”
Lily stared at her.
Serena looked away.
Even she had never heard that.
Lauren smiled without humor.
“Cute, right?”
Evelyn sobbed.
“I’m sorry.”
Lauren pointed the gun at her.
“You don’t get to be sorry.”
“I looked for you.”
“Not hard enough.”
“They threatened Lily.”
“Of course they did.”
“I thought you were dead for seven years.”
“And after that?”
Evelyn had no answer.
Lauren laughed.
“Exactly.”
Upstairs, Victor ripped the panel free.
Behind it was a narrow shaft.
He looked at Ethan.
“Daddy needs you to be brave.”
The toddler sniffled.
Victor wrapped Ethan inside his jacket against his chest.
Then he entered the shaft.
It was filthy.
Dark.
Barely large enough for his shoulders.
He crawled.
Downstairs, Lily watched Lauren.
“What do you want from me?”
Lauren looked at her.
“I want to know why you deserve the life I was supposed to have.”
“I don’t.”
That answer stopped her.
Lily continued.
“I didn’t earn my parents.”
Lauren stared.
“I didn’t earn birthdays. Or school pictures. Or somebody making soup when I was sick.”
Lily’s voice cracked.
“I got lucky.”
Lauren’s jaw tightened.
“And you didn’t.”
“Shut up.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Shut up.”
“What happened to you was horrible.”
“I SAID SHUT UP!”
Lauren struck Lily across the face.
Serena flinched.
Lily tasted blood.
Then she looked back up.
“But hurting Ethan doesn’t give your childhood back.”
Lauren’s breathing changed.
“He’s a Blackwood.”
“He’s a baby.”
“Same blood.”
“He didn’t choose it.”
Lauren pointed the gun at Lily’s chest.
“Neither did I.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
That answer made Lauren hesitate again.
Above them, Victor crawled through darkness.
The shaft turned.
He remembered an exit behind his father’s old library.
He pushed against a panel.
It opened.
Victor climbed out.
He was one floor below the nursery.
Ethan remained quiet against him.
Victor whispered, “Good boy.”
He reached the service stairs.
Ruiz’s voice came faintly through the earpiece.
“Victor, respond.”
Victor pressed it.
“Inside. Ethan secure.”
“Location?”
“Second-floor west service corridor.”
“We’re entering.”
“No.”
Ruiz cursed.
“Excuse me?”
“Lauren has an ignition trigger.”
Victor looked down the staircase.
“If she hears you, she lights the place.”
“Then get out.”
“She has Lily and two others.”
“Serena?”
“Yes.”
“Why Serena?”
“Ask later.”
Victor handed Ethan through a broken window to an officer positioned outside on a maintenance roof.
“Take him.”
The officer secured the child.
Victor kissed Ethan’s forehead.
“I love you.”
Then he turned back.
Ruiz shouted in his earpiece.
“Victor, leave!”
Victor removed the earpiece.
And went downstairs.
Lauren heard the study door open.
She spun.
Victor stood there.
Alone.
Her eyes widened.
“How?”
He looked at the ignition trigger.
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
“I grew up in this house.”
Lauren raised the gun.
“Where’s Ethan?”
“Safe.”
Her face transformed.
“You cheated.”
Victor almost smiled.
“No. I rejected your choice.”
She stared at him.
“That wasn’t allowed.”
“My father’s rules are dead.”
Lauren’s thumb moved toward the trigger.
Victor took one step.
“So is he.”
“Stop.”
“He can’t punish you anymore.”
“STOP.”
“He can’t lock you in a room.”
Lauren’s gun shook.
“Shut up.”
“He can’t call you Number Seven.”
Her face crumpled.
Then rage consumed it.
She pressed the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Lauren stared at the device.
Victor exhaled.
Outside, Daniel had found the remote receiver and disabled it seconds earlier.
Lauren pressed again.
Nothing.
Victor said quietly, “It’s over.”
Lauren looked at Lily.
Then at Evelyn.
Then back at Victor.
“No.”
She dropped the trigger.
Raised the gun.
And pointed it at her own mother.
“If I can’t have my life back…”
Lily screamed.
“LAUREN, NO!”
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A gunshot exploded through the room.
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