Page 40 of She Found Me

“The baby is early. It might need some medical care. I’m not having it here. Neither of us knows what we doing—it’s too dangerous. Come on, Eric, please—where’s the keys to locks?”

I feel remarkably calm, considering the situation I am in. My only concern is my baby and that knife. Eric doesn’t reply. The locks don’t actually bother me. There are plenty of windows in this house I can easily break and get out of. I just don’t want to turn my back on Eric while he is in this state.

“I’m telling you now, Eric—I am leaving this house and going to the hospital. I will either go through the door or the window. You will not stop me.” I’m ready to fight for my baby.

Eric stands up and picks up the knife.

“I can’t let you leave me again, Arianna. I can’t live without you.”

“I’m not Arianna. I’m….”

My name is on the tip of my tongue. I’m feeling more and more myself. I’m a strong capable woman. Looking at the knife Eric is pointing towards me, I know what I have to do. I act fast so he has no time to respond. My reflexes are precise and forceful. While holding his arm at his back, I release the knife from his hand. Then I wrap my arm around his neck. I put my left hand on the back of his head and tilt it forward to keep control of him. He’s trying his best to fight back, but I’m much stronger and faster than him.

Suddenly I get a flashback, like a reel of memories lasting seconds. I’m doing self-defence with a trainer. Then I’m fighting for my life against a large man wearing black. All these snippets of memories have a soundtrack of harrowing female screams. I know those voices.

I apply pressure to the sides of Eric’s neck by squeezing my arm, cutting off the blood supply to his brain. Once his body goes limp, I sit him down on a chair. I find the duct tape and secure his arms behind him, a leg to each chair leg, and then use the rest to wrap his body against the back of the chair. There’s no chance he is coming after me. After sticking a little piece over his mouth for added discomfort, I find the keys to the padlocks in Eric’s pocket, along with the car keys.

Once I’m out of the house, I get into Eric’s car. I hope I can drive. After turning on the engine, I put my foot on the clutch and put the car into reverse. I do know how to drive. As I set off down the narrow lane that leads to our house, a flashback of a red Ferrari makes me smile. A little kick from my baby has me rubbing my bump. “Everything is going to be just fine, I promise.”

“Arggh!” My first contraction makes me slam on the break. “Breathe, Mia. Breathe.”

Oh my god. My name is Mia.

Again I’m hit with a flashback reel. It’s of different people, all saying my name. “Mia.” “Mia.” “Mia.”

Once the pain subsides, I continue my journey to the hospital. I’m not one hundred percent sure where the hospital is, but I know it isn’t far. I’ll just ask someone for directions when I get to the main road. A minute later I’m hit with another contraction, and they don’t stop there. They’re coming thick and fast now, and I have to keep stopping the car to breathe through them. I’ve been driving along the main road for what seems like hours, and I haven’t seen one person or even a car to stop and ask for directions.

“Finally,” I say to my rearview mirror as I see a car pull into the lay-by I’m resting in.

Chapter 22

Marco

On the jet over to England, Leo goes through the police reports he’s been sent from his contacts in the UK.

“Damien said it’s a mess. The police didn’t follow up in so many areas. For example, this.”

Leo passes me a folder. I open it and read the first page, which is an evidence sheet. The crime scene is detailed. Two women in their thirties found dead in Beacons Alley. Both women had gunshot wounds that were determined as their cause of death.

“Look at the photos at the back,” Leo suggests.

I take out the images from the back of the folder and instantly recognise them as Marisa and Lucia.

“They were found meters away from where the accident happened, yet the police thought they were unrelated,” Leo explains.

All I can do is shake my head. Leo then passes me another folder.

“These are the DNA results from the wreckage and Mia.”

The police took DNA from both Van and their father to run a DNA match for Mia. Her body had been so badly crushed and burnt in the accident, they couldn’t positively identify her from her dental records. The results showed a match of DNA to theirs in what was left of the car. But the DNA on Mia’s body showed inconclusive.

“Inconclusive. What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means my fucking father didn’t read it properly. It means the DNA of the body wasn’t a match, it should have been tested again. But it wasn’t.” Van is furious.

“And there’s more.” Leo passes me and Van another file. Van obviously isn’t aware of the information in this file.

“There were six bodies pulled from the wreckage. Two dead guards. Three dead females, and one alive female. Name: Arianna Wake.” Leo gestures for us to open the file.

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