Chapter 11 - The Empty Bed Ethan's safe room was empty.
No broken lock.
No gunfire.
No forced entry.
Someone had authorized his transfer.
Isabella had been drugged.
Victor nearly lost control.
Lily stopped him.
“Think.”
“I'm thinking.”
“No. You're hunting.”
That silenced him.
Lily examined Ethan's abandoned things.
His blanket.
His rabbit.
One shoe.
Then she remembered Isabella describing Serena's obsession with the Blackwood chapel.
The place Victor and Isabella married.
They raced there.
Serena stood before the altar holding Ethan.
“Tell me you would have chosen me,” she demanded.
Victor stared at his son.
“I came for Ethan.”
Serena stepped backward.
Lily saw the rotten floorboards behind her.
“Serena.”
She turned.
Lily moved slowly.
“Give him to me.”
“You think you're his mother?”
“No.”
That answer surprised Serena.
“I think he deserves to choose who makes him feel safe.”
Ethan saw Lily.
“Lil.”
He reached toward her.
Something inside Serena broke.
She pushed Ethan away.
Lily caught him.
Victor grabbed Serena before she reached the broken floor.
Police stormed the chapel.
Handcuffs closed around Serena's wrists.
She looked at Lily and smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
Lily tightened her arms around Ethan.
“Understand what?”
May you like
Serena whispered:
“I was never the last one.”
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