Chapter 6 - The Midnight Flight
Packing took less than ten minutes.
We had accumulated few personal belongings during our brief stay, save for the clothes Darius had purchased for the girls and Ruby’s stack of drawings. I packed only our original clothes, leaving the expensive gifts behind on the bed. I couldn't bring myself to take Victoria’s money; taking her cash felt like selling the last piece of my dignity.
At 11:30 PM, while the house was silent and dark, I lifted a sleeping Mia into her front carrier and took four-year-old Ruby by the hand.
"Mommy..." Ruby whispered, rubbing her sleepy eyes as we crept down the dark service stairs. "Where are we going? Is it time for work?"
"Shh, sweetheart," I whispered back, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "We're going on a little trip. We have to be very quiet."
We slipped through the side entrance near the kitchen, stepping out into the cold, drizzling night air. The grand iron gates at the end of the driveway were locked, but I knew from my daily walks with Mrs. Gable that a small pedestrian gate near the gardener's shed remained unlocked from the inside.
We walked across the wet lawn, the cold mud soaking through my thin shoes. Every shadow seemed to stretch toward us, every rustle of the wind through the pines sounded like approaching footsteps.
Just as my hand touched the cold latch of the pedestrian gate, a heavy beam of light cut through the rain, illuminating us where we stood.
"Leaving so soon, Miss Mercer?"
I whirled around. Standing near the edge of the paved driveway was Marcus, flanked by three armed security guards holding high-powered flashlights. But behind them, stepping out of the rear seat of a black sedan that had just pulled through the main gate, was Darius.
He looked exhausted, his tie loosened, his suit jacket damp from the rain. But when his eyes landed on my suitcase and my tear-stained face, a look of profound, crushing betrayal crossed his features.
He walked across the wet lawn toward us, stopping five feet away. The rain flattened his dark hair against his forehead, but his gaze was pinned entirely on me.
"Where are you going, Elena?" he asked, his voice disturbingly quiet.
"I... I have to go, Darius," I choked out, pulling Ruby behind my skirt. "It was a mistake for us to stay here. We don't belong in your world."
Darius looked down at the suitcase in my hand, then up at my eyes. "Who spoke to you?"
"Nobody," I lied, my voice cracking. "I just... I want to take my daughters away."
"Elena," Darius said, taking one step closer, his hands held open in a rare gesture of vulnerability. "Look at me."
I looked up, meeting his intense, dark gaze.
"Victoria came to this house while I was downtown, didn't she?" Darius asked, his voice dropping into a lethal, dangerous whisper. "She threatened you."
I squeezed my eyes shut, fresh tears spilling over my lashes and mixing with the cold rain on my cheeks. "She said she'd put drugs in my room. She said she'd call social services and take Mia and Ruby away from me. Darius... I can't lose my baby girls. I have nothing else."
A dark, terrifying silence fell over the garden.
Darius didn't yell. He didn't curse. But the aura of absolute, terrifying malice that suddenly radiated from him made even his own security guards step back in apprehension.
May you like
He reached out, his warm, massive hand gently closing around my trembling wrist, pulling me and my children away from the gate and back toward the warmth of his body.
"Marcus," Darius ordered, his voice sounding like grinding stone. "Bring Victoria Vance to the study. Now."
