Page 55 of One Last Secret

Despite the injury to my leg, I manage to remain ahead of them, but when I reach Victor’s studio, I realize I have nowhere to go. I’ve backed myself into a corner. I look around wildly for something to defend myself and pick up a shard of glass. It’s a poor weapon, but I have no other choice.

As I pick the glass up, I see a note on the ground. It’s in Celeste’s handwriting. I can only read part of it. The part that I can see readssecond inlet.

Before I can wonder what that means, the door bursts open, and Marcus and Lisa rush inside. Lisa cackles madly. “You idiot. You’ve boxed yourself in.”

“Don’t stab her,” Marcus says. “Let me push her through the window. Then we can say she fell by accident.”

“It won’t really matter with the maid’s body in the living room,” Lisa says drily.

"Yes, it does. The police are already looking at her. They'll think she was up to no good, and Evelyn tried to stop her, so she offed her, then fell to her doom when she was looking for something up here."

Lisa sighed. “Whatever. Just do it quickly. The sun’s already up, and if this bitch hasn’t called the police yet, someone will soon.”

“Fine,” Marcus says.

He begins moving toward me, and I lift the glass. “Stay back!” I cry. “I’ll kill you!”

He chuckles. “Cute.”

Then, with one swipe of his fat paw, he smacks the glass from my hand. It shatters on the ground, leaving nothing between me and the man who intends to kill me.

And that’s when I finally hear sirens.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Marcus and Lisa turn white, and I laugh with relief. “I told you they were coming.”

Marcus swears and looks wildly around, as though for a place to hide. Lisa looks at me and bares her teeth. “You bitch.”

I smile sweetly. “Right back at you.”

The door bursts open, and I hear Detective Reyes exclaim when she sees Evelyn. Marcus gives Lisa a terrified look, but the harpy only has eyes for me. She shrieks and rushes me. I parry the knife blow, but her momentum carries me to the window. I stop myself just before she pushes me through, and we struggle, straining for purchase against the glass.

She is a few years older than me, but she's taller and heavier. I struggle with all my might, but because I need to worry about the knife, I can't get the right leverage to keep myself steady. I feel the glass from the window cutting into my back, and fear lances through me. Another instant, and I'll fall.

I meet Lisa’s eyes and see a wicked grin of triumph. A memory flashes across my mind.

You were smiling. Just like this.

I’m not sure what comes over me then. I only know that the world around me seems to fade. I release a cry not of fear but of rage and rake my fingernails across Lisa’s face. She flinches and claps a hand to her cheek, horrified.

This momentary distraction allows me to grab the knife and knock it from her hand. I grab her by the hair with both hands and twist cruelly. She shrieks, and with another vicious twist, I have her halfway out of the window.

She looks up at me, her eyes wide with terror. “No! No, please! Don’t hurt me!”

Blood trickles down her cheeks where my nails scored her skin. I tighten my grip in her hair and hiss, “You took that girl’s father from her. You deserve worse than what I’m about to give you.”

“Shit!”

Marcus’s cry snaps me out of my fugue. I blink and turn around to see police rushing into the room. Marcus lifts his hands and says, “I’m unarmed!” right before Reyes hurls him to the ground with less effort than a child might use to toss a pillow.

More officers rush into the room, and after them comes Sean. He sees me, and relief floods his eyes. “Oh God! Thank God, Mary.”

Tears come to my eyes. I pull Lisa away from the window and push her to the ground. She remains there, weeping, and two officers come to arrest her. I go to Sean and collapse into his arms, sobbing.

“It’s all right,” he says, holding me close. “It’s over now.”

“Sean,” I weep. “I… I…”

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