Chapter 7 - The Mother's Choice
I left Chloe resting safely in the library and sprinted into the night.
I knew exactly where my mother would be hiding during a crisis.
I found her sitting alone in the waiting room of the city hospital.
Her eyes were red from crying over my father's critical condition.
"Ava, the police are looking everywhere for you," Mom whispered in terror.
"I need your phone right now," I demanded, holding out my hand.
Mom clutched her expensive purse tightly to her chest.
"Brandon warned me you would try to steal his money again," she defended blindly.
"Brandon is the one who put Dad in that hospital bed!" I screamed at her.
Mom flinched as if I had struck her across the face.
The deep, undeniable truth finally shattered her lifelong wall of denial.
She reached into her purse with trembling hands and pulled out her glowing phone.
She handed the device to me with a silent, heartbroken sob.
I quickly unlocked the screen and opened the newest text message.
I memorized the six-digit code that would finally set me free.
Suddenly, the phone vibrated violently in my palm with an incoming call.
The caller ID displayed the name of my beloved Aunt Sarah.
May you like
I answered the phone, expecting to hear my aunt's cheerful voice.
"If you finalize that wire transfer, your aunt takes a bullet to the head," a dark, menacing voice threatened.
