Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO WOULD NOT FALL
Hayes struck the factory floor first.
Victoria landed across an old conveyor belt.
The metal frame collapsed beneath her.
Aaron reached Hayes.
The doctor was conscious but fading.
He looked toward Elena.
“I am sorry.”
Elena knelt beside him.
“I cannot forgive you now.”
“I know.”
“But tell the truth while you can.”
Hayes nodded.
Federal agents recorded his confession.
He named every payment.
Every false diagnosis.
Every patient Victoria threatened.
Then his breathing stopped.
Across the factory, Victoria crawled from beneath the conveyor.
Blood covered her face.
She still held the gun.
Elena reached Isabel and cut the ropes.
Her mother could barely stand.
They held each other for the first time in twenty-four years.
Elena felt bones beneath Isabel’s coat.
She smelled antiseptic and dust.
“Are you real?” Elena whispered.
Isabel touched her daughter’s face.
“I never stopped trying to come back.”
A shot struck the chair beside them.
Victoria stood near the river doors.
“Move away from her.”
Elena placed herself in front of Isabel.
Victoria laughed.
“Still performing goodness.”
“You always thought being kind made you superior.”
“No.”
Elena’s voice remained steady.
“I thought it made me human.”
Victoria aimed at her.
Aaron approached from the side.
Victoria saw him.
She moved the gun toward Isabel.
“Drop your weapon.”
Aaron stopped.
Victoria backed toward the loading dock.
The Hudson moved beyond the open doors.
A speedboat waited below.
She had prepared another escape.
“Bring me the transfer document,” she ordered.
Elena picked it up from the platform.
She walked slowly toward Victoria.
Isabel grabbed her sleeve.
“No.”
Elena looked at her mother.
“Trust me.”
She reached the loading dock.
Victoria held out one hand.
Elena offered the document.
Victoria grabbed it.
Elena released it before Victoria had a secure grip.
The wind caught the pages.
They flew over the river.
Victoria turned instinctively.
Elena struck her wrist.
The gun fell onto the dock.
They fought near the edge.
Victoria grabbed Elena’s hair.
“You stole my brother.”
“You stole my company.”
“You stole my house.”
Elena pushed against her.
“Jonathan chose me.”
“The company belonged to my family.”
“And Ashcroft belongs to whoever the deed names.”
Victoria slapped her.
“You were nothing before us.”
Elena tasted blood.
“I was Elena before you.”
“That was always enough.”
Victoria lunged toward the gun.
Isabel reached it first.
Her hands shook around the weapon.
Victoria stopped.
For twenty-four years, Isabel had lived beneath her control.
Now she stood between Victoria and the river.
“You ruined my family,” Isabel said.
Victoria smiled.
“And you were too weak to stop me.”
Isabel lowered the gun.
Victoria laughed.
Then police surrounded the dock.
Isabel had not lowered it from weakness.
She had lowered it because she no longer needed it.
Victoria looked at the officers.
Then at the boat.
She ran.
The rotten dock board broke beneath her heel.
Victoria fell into the Hudson.
The current pulled her beneath the surface.
Elena moved toward the edge.
Aaron caught her.
Divers entered the water.
They recovered Victoria fifty yards downstream.
She was alive.
As officers lifted her onto the shore, she opened her eyes.
May you like
The first person she saw was Isabel.
The woman she had erased was standing in daylight.
