Chapter 5 - The Ultimatum
The phone slipped from my sweaty palm and clattered loudly onto the hardwood floor.
Marcus was dead.
The only person who could have testified against Julian and dismantled this corrupt network had been executed in broad daylight.
Clara saw the sheer terror on my face and immediately knew that our last shred of hope was gone.
She walked over to the burner phone sitting on the counter, her expression hardening into something terrifyingly calm.
I grabbed her wrist, begging her not to do what I knew she was thinking about doing.
Clara pulled her arm away gently, stating that the twenty-four hour deadline was expiring soon and Lily was running out of time.
If Julian was protected by murderers, a custody lawyer wasn't going to save her daughter.
The only way to keep Lily alive was for Clara to surrender herself to the monster.
She typed a single message into the burner phone, agreeing to come home immediately if Lily remained unharmed.
I stood in front of the door, completely desperate, threatening to physically barricade her inside my house.
Clara looked me dead in the eye and said that if I stopped her, Julian would kill Lily just to prove a point.
I knew she was absolutely right, which broke my heart into a thousand irreparable pieces.
I insisted on driving her to Georgetown, refusing to let her walk into the lion's den without me watching her back.
The drive was silent, feeling like a funeral procession for a woman who was still breathing.
When we pulled up to Clara's immaculate, picture-perfect house, Julian's luxury sedan was parked in the driveway.
Clara stepped out of my SUV, taking a deep breath before marching toward the front door like a soldier walking to the gallows.
I kept the engine running, gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned completely white.
Clara turned the knob and pushed the front door open, stepping into the dimly lit foyer.
Through the massive glass windows of the living room, I could see Julian pouring a drink, smirking victoriously.
But my blood ran cold when I saw someone else sitting on the velvet sofa next to him.
It was a striking, dark-haired woman, gently brushing Lily's hair as the little girl sat rigidly in her lap.
The woman turned her head toward the window, and I almost stopped breathing.
She was wearing Clara's favorite silk blouse and Clara's expensive diamond earrings.
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Julian hadn't just forced his wife to come home to suffer.
He had already moved her replacement into the house.
