Back from the Dead

Lily's POV

We didn't sleep that night.

By the time the fire trucks left the lake house, it was almost four in the morning. A doctor cleaned the glass out of my hands in the back of an ambulance and wrapped them in white bandages. Ethan sat beside me the whole time with Duke at his feet, and he didn't let go of my arm once.

The police asked me what happened. I told them the truth. A woman invited me there, locked me inside, and turned on the gas. When they asked me her name, I looked at Ethan.

"Not yet," he said quietly. "When we tell them, it has to stick."

So I said I didn't know her, and I hated how easy the lie came out.

Back at the house, Eleanor was waiting in the front hall in her robe, with her cane in both hands. She didn't say a word when she saw my bandages. She just put her thin arms around me and held me for a long time. It was the first time she had ever hugged me. She smelled like lavender and old books, and for a moment I felt like someone's granddaughter.

"Richard came home at two," she said into my hair. "He smelled like smoke. He told me he had been at his club."

"Did he see you?" Ethan asked.

"No," Eleanor said. "I was sitting in the dark."

At nine o'clock, Ethan came out of his dressing room in a black suit and a white shirt. He had shaved, and the cut above his eye was covered with a small bandage. He didn't take his cane. For the first time since I had met him, he looked like the man in the photos on the walls of Blackwood Holdings. Cold, sharp, and dangerous.

He looked at me in the dark blue dress Rosa had found for me.

"You don't have to come," he said.

"Yes, I do," I said. "He tried to kill me too."

He looked at me for a long moment. Then he held out his hand.

Blackwood Holdings took up the top ten floors of a glass tower downtown. Marcus drove us into the private garage and took us up in a private elevator, so nobody saw us coming. Eleanor rode with us, standing straight as a soldier.

On the fortieth floor, the doors opened onto a long, quiet hall. At the end of it was a pair of tall wooden doors. Through them, I could hear Richard's voice.

"...and so it breaks my heart to bring you this news," he was saying. "Last night, there was a terrible fire at a lake house outside the city. My nephew's young wife was inside. The police are still searching, but I'm afraid we must prepare for the worst."

My whole body went cold. He thought I was dead. He was standing in front of a room full of people and using my death to take Ethan's company.

"My nephew was already very sick," Richard went on. His voice was full of fake sadness. "Now, with this loss, I don't believe he will ever be strong enough to lead this company again. So today I'm asking this board to make me the permanent CEO of Blackwood Holdings. It's what my brother would have wanted."

Ethan looked at me. I nodded. My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it in my ears, but my feet didn't move backward.

He pushed the doors open.

Twelve people sat around a long glass table. Richard stood at the head of it, in front of a big screen with the company logo on it. Every head turned toward the door.

Ethan walked in first, with no cane, no wheelchair, and nobody holding him up. I walked in beside him, with my bandaged hand in his. Eleanor came last, tapping her cane on the floor.

Richard's face went white.

"Good morning," Ethan said. "I'm sorry I'm late. My wife and I had a long night."

The room exploded. People stood up. Someone knocked over a glass of water. An old man at the end of the table said, "Ethan? My God, son, they told us you could barely sit up."

"They told you a lot of things," Ethan said. He didn't look away from his uncle. "Hello, Uncle Richard. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Richard opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked at me, at my bandaged hands and the small cut on my cheek, and I saw real fear in his eyes for the first time.

"Vanessa," he said weakly. "Thank God. We were so worried."

"I'm sure you were," I said.

Ethan walked to the head of the table and stood right in front of his uncle. He was taller than Richard. I had never noticed that before. Maybe Richard hadn't either, until now.

"I'm calling a vote," Ethan said to the room. "I'm well, I'm awake, and I'm taking my company back. Anyone who wants to see my doctor's report can have it on their desk in an hour. All in favor of returning me to my place as CEO?"

Hands began to go up around the table. Three. Five. Seven.

Eleanor raised her cane. "My shares say yes."

Richard turned to her like she had slapped him. "Mother."

"Sit down, Richard," Eleanor said. "You've done enough."

Nine hands. Ten. It was over before anyone said another word.

Richard sat down slowly in the nearest chair. His face had gone from white to gray. When Ethan leaned down to speak to him, his voice was so low that only Richard and I could hear it.

"I know about Bright Care," Ethan said. "I know about the pills, and the wine, and the gas. You have one day to decide whose side you're on. After that, I stop being kind."

Richard didn't answer. He just stared at the table.

Outside in the hall, my legs finally started to shake. Ethan caught me and pulled me against him, right there in front of the elevator, where anyone could see.

"You did it," I whispered.

"We did it," he said, and he kissed my forehead.

Then the elevator doors opened.

Two police officers stepped out. One of them was holding a piece of paper. Behind them, wearing a black dress and dark glasses, was Margaret Sinclair. Vanessa stood beside her, holding her mother's arm and crying.

"That's her," Margaret said, and she pointed straight at me. "That's the woman who has been pretending to be my daughter. She tricked the Blackwood family, she married Ethan Blackwood with a fake name, and last night she burned down our lake house to hide her crimes."

The older officer looked at me.

"Lily Carter?" he said. "You need to come with us."