“He never understood that it simply made you valuable.”
I moved between him and Leo.
“I’m leaving tomorrow morning.”
His smile widened.
“I’m taking Leo, Julian’s will, and everything else directly to our attorneys.”
He laughed quietly.
“You think you’re leaving Pine Ridge?”
Then he nodded toward the window.
I looked outside.
Two black SUVs were parked across the estate gates.
Men stood beside them.
Blocking the driveway.
My stomach dropped.
“My father may still believe he owns this estate,” Julian’s brother said, “but I control the security.”
He leaned against the desk.
“Tomorrow morning, you sign the transfer agreement.”
“And if I refuse?”
He smiled.
“If you cooperate, you and Leo receive a generous allowance for the rest of your lives.”
His eyes hardened.
“If you don’t…”
He glanced toward the dark forest surrounding the estate.
“Pine Ridge has deep lakes. Dangerous roads. Thick woods.”
He lowered his voice.
“Accidents happen here all the time.”
Then he walked out.
The lock clicked from the other side.
We were trapped.
PART 3
I stood in the dark office staring at the locked door.
They weren’t going to let us leave.
This beautiful mansion had become a prison.
And the men outside were there to make sure I either signed away Leo’s inheritance…
Or disappeared.
I rushed toward the window.
We were on the second floor.
Below us was a garden shed with a sloping wooden roof.
“Mom?”
I turned.
Leo had awakened.
He sat on the sofa rubbing his eyes.
“Why is the door locked?”
I knelt in front of him.
“Leo, remember what Daddy always used to tell us?”
He nodded sleepily.
“That we stay brave when things get dark.”
I forced myself to smile.
“Exactly.”
His eyes searched mine.
“Is Uncle trying to hurt us?”
I didn’t answer directly.
Instead, I whispered,
“We’re going to play a game.”
“What kind?”
“We’re going to leave through the window and move very quietly through the woods. Like shadows.”
Leo swallowed.
“Can you do that?”
He took my hand.
“I’m brave, Mom.”
I used a heavy brass paperweight to force open the old window latch.
Freezing air rushed inside.
I tied the long velvet curtains tightly around a radiator pipe beneath the window.
Then I threw the fabric outside.
It hung almost to the garden shed roof.
“Hold onto my neck.”
Leo climbed onto my back.
“Do not let go.”
I swung over the windowsill and began sliding down.
My hands burned against the fabric.
Seconds later, my feet hit the shed roof.
We climbed down onto the wet grass.
Then someone shouted from the driveway.
“Over there!”
Flashlights swept across the garden.
“Run, Leo!”
We sprinted into the woods.
Branches scratched my face.
Mud pulled at my boots.
Behind us, men shouted to each other.
Heavy footsteps grew closer.
I held Leo’s hand and kept running.
Then suddenly, a hand reached from behind a tree and grabbed my shoulder.
I screamed and swung my bag.
“Elena! Stop!”
A flashlight clicked on.
Pointed toward the ground.
The man from the bus stood in front of us.
“Marcus?”
He nodded.
“Julian’s brother sent four men into these woods.”
He pulled a key card from his jacket.
“We have less than two minutes before they surround this ridge. Follow me.”
Marcus led us down into a drainage ravine hidden beneath an old railway line.
The guards searched above while we moved beneath them.
Half a mile away, a gray pickup truck waited inside an abandoned gravel quarry.
Marcus lifted Leo into the back seat.
Then we climbed inside.
As he started driving, he finally explained everything.
“Arthur called me three days ago.”
I stared at him.
“My father-in-law?”
“He knew his younger son was corrupt.”
Marcus kept his eyes on the road.
“But Arthur was too afraid to expose him publicly.”
“So he lied about dying?”
“He needed a reason to bring you and Leo to Pine Ridge.”
I felt anger rise.
Marcus continued.
