Chapter 9 - The Devil's Bargain
I screamed and violently reached for the door handle, desperate to escape the vehicle.
The electronic child locks clicked heavily into place, completely trapping me in the back seat.
Glen climbed quickly into the passenger side, keeping his rifle pointed toward the abandoned building.
"Calm down, Maya, or we are all going to die tonight," Clara snapped from the driver's seat.
She slammed her foot on the gas, and the car sped aggressively into the dark city streets.
"You tried to ruin my life!" I yelled at her, holding Ariel as a protective shield.
Clara kept her eyes completely glued to the dark road ahead.
"I was trying to survive your psychotic father, just like you are now," she replied coldly.
Glen turned around in his seat, his face pale and covered in drying blood.
"Richard wants all of us dead now," Glen explained quickly.
"He found out about Dr. Evans and realized his entire empire is built on our lies."
Clara took a sharp turn, skillfully avoiding a police barricade in the distance.
"I have a private jet waiting at a secret airstrip twenty miles from here," Clara stated.
"If we can get on that plane, we disappear to a country with no extradition laws."
I stared at the two people who had completely destroyed my entire existence.
They were now my only realistic chance of keeping my daughter alive.
"Why did you come back for me?" I demanded, refusing to believe their sudden altruism.
Clara let out a bitter, humorless laugh that chilled me to the bone.
"Because Richard placed a massive bounty on our heads with the local cartel," Clara said.
"And you, my dear stepdaughter, are the only hostage Richard actually cares about."
They weren't rescuing me out of guilt or sudden moral clarity.
They were using me as a human shield to guarantee their own safe passage.
"I am not going anywhere with you," I said firmly.
"You don't have a choice," Glen replied, pointing the barrel of the rifle directly at my chest.
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Suddenly, a massive spotlight illuminated our car from directly above.
The deafening roar of a military helicopter completely drowned out the car engine.
