Chapter 6 - The Unexpected Ally
Before Vanessa could buck me off the bed, a sharp, metallic crash echoed from the hallway outside the master suite.
Clatter.
We both froze.
“Who’s out there?” Vanessa hissed, her eyes darting toward the open bedroom door.
Heavy, frantic footsteps echoed down the corridor, followed by a small, breathless voice crying out in high-pitched distress.
“Don't hurt him! Leave him alone!”
It was Lily.
Before Vanessa could react, the little girl burst into the bedroom, her bare feet pattering across the hardwood floor. In her hands, she wasn't holding her stuffed rabbit anymore. She was holding Vanessa’s personal laptop—the master control device for the estate’s security and communications hub.
“Lily! Get out of here!” Vanessa screamed, her voice cracking with sudden panic as she tried to shove me off.
“No!” Lily signed fiercely with one hand while holding the heavy laptop tightly against her chest with the other. “Bad lady! I saw you put the drops in his cup! I recorded you on Mom’s phone!”
My heart hammered against my ribs. Recorded her.
Vanessa’s face drained of all color. She abandoned her struggle against me, shoving me backward with a burst of adrenaline, and scrambled off the bed toward the little girl.
“Give me that computer, you little brat!” Vanessa shrieked, lunging forward with her hands outstretched like claws.
“Run, Lily!” I roared, springing up from the floor and tackling Vanessa around the waist just as her fingers grazed the child's sweater.
We crashed hard onto the floorboards, tumbling near the bedroom doorway. Vanessa fought like a wild animal, kicking and scratching, but I used my full weight to pin her shoulders to the floor, wrapping my belt securely around her wrists.
“Lily! Are you okay?” I called out, gasping for air.
The little girl stood by the doorway, her chest heaving, tears streaming down her cheeks. But she was holding the laptop steady.
“I send it,” Lily signed rapidly, her small fingers flying through the air with astonishing speed. “I send the video to the police! And to your lawyer!”
Vanessa stopped thrashing. She went completely limp beneath me, her eyes wide with absolute horror as she stared up at the ceiling.
“You... you little monster,” Vanessa whispered, her voice cracking.
May you like
Downstairs, the heavy oak front doors shuddered under the force of heavy blows, followed by the blare of flashing red and blue lights painting the bedroom walls in alternating crimson and azure.
The Lake Forest Police Department had arrived.
