Chapter 10 - The Aftermath
The police arrived seconds later and dragged Mark away in handcuffs.
Doctors successfully flushed the lethal injection from Lily’s IV before it reached her bloodstream.
Mark was charged with attempted murder, fraud, and escaping custody.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Claire was also arrested and sentenced to twenty years for her role in the conspiracy.
Chloe testified against them both, receiving immunity and quietly leaving the state to start over.
Lily made a full physical recovery, and we spent months in therapy healing our emotional scars.
We finally sold the house in Connecticut and moved to a beautiful coastal town in California.
We were safe, happy, and finally free from the nightmare that almost destroyed us.
I was unpacking the last of Lily’s moving boxes in her new, sunlit bedroom.
I found a cheap, prepaid burner phone taped to the bottom of her jewelry box.
I charged it up and opened the only text message saved in the outbox, sent on the night of the poisoning.
May you like
It was a message from Lily to Mark.
“Mom didn't drink the poisoned tea, I had to take it instead to make it look real, what do we do now?”
