Chapter 4

Late at night, the estate finally fell quiet.

I twisted the bedsheets into a rope and climbed out through the second-floor bathroom window. When I landed, my injured knee slammed against the stone steps, and I had to bite down on my sleeve to keep from crying out.

After Adrian took Leah away, Vera had security lock down the guest wing. But I had grown up at Maple Ridge and knew about the service passage behind the old greenhouse.

I dragged my leg, barely able to bend it, from room to room. The nursery was empty. So was the living room, even the nanny's room. I finally found Leah in the attic storage room.

She was wrapped in a thin blanket, her cheeks burning red. She didn't respond no matter how many times I called her name.

"Leah, Mommy's here." I picked her up. When my hand touched her scorching forehead, my heart nearly shattered. "Don't be scared. I'm taking you to the hospital right now."

I didn't care anymore whether I'd alert security. I carried her downstairs and rushed toward the side door, only to find Vera standing there.

She wore a dark coat, and behind her stood the same men from the cannery. The one in front held an estate access card.

Vera smiled. "What a coincidence. I was about to have them go upstairs and take you quietly, but you came out on your own."

I clutched Leah tighter. "What are you trying to do? She's seriously ill. If you keep blocking me, I'll see every one of you behind bars."

"Still talking down to me." Vera stepped closer and brushed a fingertip over Leah's face. "And our genius scientist still hasn't grasped reality? Your man, your mother, your family lawyers. They're all on my side now."

I kicked her hand away. "Get away from us!"

The smile vanished from Vera's face. She lifted her chin, and the men rushed forward. To keep Leah from falling, I could only curl my body around her and let them bind my hands and shove us into the car.

They drove for nearly two hours before stopping at Black Pine Mountain, north of Grayport.

There was an abandoned lookout point with a sheer cliff below. Vera had the men tie me to the railing, then loosely wrapped rope around herself and smeared mud and blood on her own face.

"When Adrian finds us, he'll still rescue me first." She crouched in front of me, her voice almost giddy. "He'll believe that you planned the kidnapping out of jealousy.

"As for Leah, I've already made arrangements with a couple who live on a farm near the border. They need a child who can work. Once her identity records are changed, she'll never make it back to Grayport."

I looked at her and finally understood. Poverty and misfortune had never made her this way.

In college, she was insecure about her background, so I brought her to class get-togethers and covered the gaps in her tuition and housing so she wouldn't have to juggle three jobs. She once gave me a hand-knitted scarf that I treasured for years.

But the moment she learned how much the necklace Adrian gave me was worth, she began pulling away. Later, when her husband started hitting her, she came back for help. I thought she finally saw me as family. I didn't know what she truly wanted was to take my entire life for herself.

The sound of a car came from the distance.

Vera immediately began screaming at the top of her lungs. "Adrian! I'm here! Save me!"

Adrian rushed onto the lookout with two security guards. His brow furrowed deeply when he saw how disheveled we both were.

Before I could get a word out, Vera was already sobbing. "Elena brought me here. She said the one you love most is still her, and that if she forced you to choose, you'd come back to her."

Adrian turned to me. There was no question in his eyes, only disgust. "You'd stoop to kidnapping just to fight over a man?"

I shook my head desperately, my voice raw. "It wasn't me. Look at Leah first. She's had a high fever this whole time and she's unconscious. Please call for a medevac. Save our child first!"

He bent down and untied the ropes Vera could have easily freed herself from, his voice ice-cold. "Again with the sick child, again with your injuries. Elena, do you think as long as you drag Leah into it, I can never say no to you?"

"She's not faking!" I was on the verge of breaking down. "She's your daughter!"

Adrian didn't look at Leah again. He picked up Vera and headed for the car. "You two are on your own. I'm done being led around by your lies."

The taillights wound down the mountain road and disappeared.

Thunder rolled across the valley and rain poured down in sheets. The kidnappers emerged from the tree line. One of them gripped my chin and let his eyes crawl over my rain-soaked clothes.

"Mr. Cole doesn't want you anymore." His grin was nauseating. "Why don't you let us keep you company?"

Behind me was the cliff. In front of me were the thugs. And Leah was still burning with fever.

I forced myself to stay calm and played along, telling them the ropes were too tight, that they should at least loosen them so I wouldn't spoil their fun.

They laughed and untied the ropes around my wrists.

I whipped my coat into the nearest man's face, grabbed Leah in the split second they stumbled back, and rolled through a gap in the railing down the slope.

Loose rocks sliced my arms and face as I locked Leah against my chest. Each turn slammed us into stone and brush. By the time my body stopped, I had rolled all the way down to the mountain road below.

A car was speeding toward us from the distance.

I struggled to my feet and waved frantically. The car screeched to a halt just meters away, but the person who stepped out was Adrian.

He must have realized Vera wasn't actually hurt and turned back. When he saw my face covered in blood, a flash of pain crossed his eyes, but a second later anger swallowed it.

"Elena, you actually threw yourself down a mountain with our child just to make me come back?"

"Take her to the hospital." I had no strength left to argue. "Save Leah, and I'll agree to anything."

Adrian glanced at the child, her eyes tightly shut, and finally held out his hand to me. "Get in. Once we're back, apologize to Vera, and I'll have the driver take you to the emergency room."

As if I had to submit to his legal wife before he would save his own daughter.

I stepped back, away from his hand.

The cold mechanical voice cut through the rain.

[Countdown complete. Do you wish to leave the current world?]

[Yes.]

I held Leah tight and leaped off the road into the valley.

The anger on Adrian's face turned to sheer horror. He threw himself forward. His fingers grazed the hem of my coat but caught nothing.

A burst of colored light enveloped me and Leah.

Before I fell into the darkness, I left behind only one sentence.

"Adrian, from this day on, we will never see each other again."