Chapter 10 - The Reckoning
"Nobody move!" my supposed-dead husband, David, shouted, holding his hands up as the police trained their guns on him.
I pressed my face against the cruiser window, my mind completely shattering.
David was alive.
Ryan froze, his facade of the calm, victimized husband completely dropping.
He looked at David like he had seen a ghost.
"I have evidence!" David yelled, slowly reaching into his jacket and pulling out a thick file.
"My name is David Collins, and that man tried to have me killed three years ago so he could take my family."
The officers hesitated, glancing between David and Ryan.
"He's a lunatic!" Ryan shouted, taking a step backward. "Arrest him!"
But David threw the file onto the hood of a police cruiser.
"Bank transfers, hitman communications, and the original encrypted flash drive he thought he destroyed," David explained rapidly.
"Claire contacted me months ago when she found out I survived."
I looked over at Claire, who was nodding tearfully.
She hadn't just been gathering evidence; she had been gathering the ghosts Ryan left behind.
Realizing his meticulously crafted world was crumbling, Ryan panicked.
He didn't run.
Instead, he grabbed Lily by the arm and yanked her roughly against his chest, wrapping his arm around her throat.
"Back off!" Ryan screamed, his eyes wide and unhinged.
The officers immediately leveled their weapons at him.
"Let the child go!" the captain shouted.
"Unlock the cruiser!" David yelled at the cop standing next to my door.
The officer, realizing I was telling the truth the whole time, opened the door and uncuffed me.
I didn't think twice.
I grabbed the heavy metal flashlight attached to the officer's belt.
Ryan was too focused on the cops and David to notice me slipping around the back of the cruiser.
"I will snap her neck!" Ryan roared, dragging Lily toward the house.
I stepped out of the shadows behind him and swung the metal flashlight with every ounce of strength I had left.
It connected with the back of his skull with a sickening crack.
Ryan dropped like a stone, releasing Lily instantly.
I caught her before she hit the ground, wrapping my arms around her tightly as the police swarmed him.
David rushed over, falling to his knees and wrapping his arms around both of us.
For the first time in years, our family was whole.
Ryan was dragged away in handcuffs, blood pouring down his face, his reign of terror finally over.
Six months later, the nightmare was firmly behind us.
David and I had bought a beautiful little apartment in a new city, far away from the memories of that house.
Lily was happy again, her nightmares replaced by laughter and playdates.
I walked to the mailbox one sunny afternoon, enjoying the crisp autumn air.
I sifted through the bills and junk mail until I found a small, unmarked white envelope addressed to Lily.
I opened it, expecting a belated birthday card from a relative.
May you like
Instead, it was a hand-drawn picture of our new apartment's bathroom layout, and on the back, in familiar, neat handwriting, were three words.
"See you soon."
