Chapter 6 - Flight Through the Dark
The cold night air whipped across Tessa’s face as she dragged her mother away from the shed, sprinting toward the rear boundary of the property where a thick line of pine trees bordered the neighboring park.
Behind them, Bryce roared in anger, his heavy boots thudding against the lawn in hot pursuit. “Tessa! Stop right there! You’re not going anywhere!”
“Keep going, Mom, just a little further!” Tessa urged, wrapping her jacket around Judith’s shoulders as best she could while running.
They reached the dense tree line just as Bryce’s flashlight beam cut wildly through the dark behind them. Ducking behind a thick cluster of evergreens, Tessa pulled Judith down into the shadows of a ditch, holding her breath. They listened as Bryce’s footsteps thundered past them deeper into the woods, screaming their names in fake concern designed to trick them into answering.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Tessa whispered, her chest heaving as she checked her mother for injuries.
Judith nodded, her breathing shallow but steady. “I’m okay, sweetheart. I’m just so sorry I dragged you into their trap.”
“You didn't drag me anywhere. You saved yourself,” Tessa said firmly. She opened her palm and looked at the heavy brass key. “This opens Dad’s old desk in the study, doesn't it?”
“Yes,” Judith whispered. “Your father kept the real estate deeds, his original handwritten will, and records of Bryce’s mounting debts in that desk. Bryce found out, and that’s when the nightmares started. They wanted me to sign a new power of attorney that stripped me of everything, leaving Bryce as sole executor to sell the house and pay off his business failures.”
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Tessa’s jaw clenched. Her brother wasn’t just cruel; he was a desperate criminal who had exploited their mother’s vulnerable state while she was grieving their father.
“We’re going back inside,” Tessa declared, a steely determination settling in her bones. “Not to run, but to get the evidence.”
