Chapter 7
The Whitmore boathouse sat behind the eastern garden.
Private.
Old.
Rarely used.
I took six guards.
Mark came.
Daniel tried.
I stopped him.
“You stay.”
“This is my property.”
“No.”
He stared.
I smiled slightly.
“That’s another thing you misunderstood.”
Margaret heard.
Her face tightened.
Good.
We reached the boathouse in under three minutes.
The brass key opened the rear room.
Inside were two suitcases.
One mine.
One Lily’s.
I recognized both.
Clothes.
Medicine.
Her rabbit.
My passport.
Cash.
A burner phone.
No sentimental objects.
No choice.
Mark whispered:
“They were sending you away.”
I looked at the burner.
One message.
LEAVE BY 7:30. SOUTH DOCK.
I checked the time.
7:08.
“Who’s at the dock?”
My captain sent two men.
Mark opened another cabinet.
Inside were restraints.
Not chains.
Soft travel straps.
Designed to hold wrists without visible bruising.
My stomach turned.
“They weren’t asking.”
Mark looked sick.
I stared at the suitcases.
The birthday party had been staged.
Margaret would publicly call Lily illegitimate.
Daniel would side with her.
I would leave angry.
And if I didn’t?
They had a second plan.
Force.
I returned to the house.
Margaret was waiting.
“So?”
I dropped the burner phone onto the table.
Her expression barely moved.
“You packed us.”
“You needed distance.”
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“Cruelty renamed as care.”
Daniel stood.
“It was temporary.”
Lily heard.
“Daddy?”
He looked at her.
She pointed toward the suitcase.
“My bunny.”
His face changed.
She understood.
Not everything.
Enough.
“You were taking me?”
Daniel crouched.
“Sweetheart—”
Lily stepped behind me.
“No.”
He flinched.
Margaret laughed.
“Look what Claire has taught you.”
Lily started crying.
Margaret continued.
“Hide behind Mommy. That’s all you know.”
I stepped forward.
“She is three.”
“And?”
That word again.
Mark turned on his mother.
“Stop saying that.”
Margaret looked at him.
He continued:
“She’s three.”
For the first time, Mark stopped sounding shocked.
He sounded angry.
Then my captain entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Two men at the south dock.”
“Whose?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Price crew.”
May you like
Savannah’s family.
The replacement family was already waiting to collect us.
