Chapter 4 - Midnight Whispers in the Nursery
Andrew took in the scene in a fraction of a second.
Victoria was scrambling on the floor near the shattered vial,
while Clara was curled near the foot of the bed,
gasping for air and clutching her bruised neck.
“Security!”
Andrew roared,
his voice echoing down the corridors.
Within seconds,
three guards burst into the room,
subduing Victoria before she could stand up.
“Andrew,
she attacked me!”
Victoria screamed,
her composure completely collapsing into hysteria.
“She’s crazy!
She tried to poison me!”
Andrew paid no attention to her screeching.
He knelt beside Clara,
gently lifting her into his arms.
“Did she hurt you?”
he asked,
his hands shaking as he brushed a strand of dark hair away from her face.
Clara looked into his eyes,
and for the very first time in three years,
the fog in her mind completely parted.
The tears flooded her eyes,
not from fear,
but from a deep,
overwhelming wave of recognition.
“Andrew,”
she whispered,
her voice trembling with three years of stolen grief.
“The nursery key...
she hid it in the garden fountain...
the night of the storm.”
Andrew froze,
his heart stopping in his chest.
That detail had never been released to the public or the police.
Only the person who had tried to escape that burning room could have known about the missing key.
“Evelyn,”
Andrew breathed,
pulling her tight against his chest as tears spilled down his own face.
“It’s really you...
my God,
it’s you.”
In the corner of the room,
Victoria struggled against the guards,
her face twisted in pure venom.
“You ruined everything!”
she shrieked,
her voice echoing wildly.
“You were supposed to die in that fire!
You were supposed to stay dead!”
Andrew stood up slowly,
turning to face the guards holding Victoria.
“Take her down to the holding room in the basement,”
Andrew commanded with icy calm.
“Call Chief Inspector Vance.
Tell him we have an attempted murder suspect,
a kidnapper,
and a fraud in custody.”
The guards dragged Victoria out of the room,
her screams fading into the distant hallways of the mansion.
Andrew turned back to Evelyn,
dropping to his knees beside her again.
He took her hands in his,
kissing her scarred wrist over and over again.
“I buried a shadow,”
Andrew wept softly.
“I thought I lost you forever.”
Evelyn reached out,
her trembling fingers tracing the familiar jawline of the man she had loved for a lifetime.
“Take me to our boys,
Andrew,”
she whispered softly.
May you like
“Please,
take me to my children.”
