Page 97 of Fallen Legacy

She has me again. She pulls me flush against her chest and I feel something cool at my neck. I gasp when I look down to find Felicity is holding a knife to my throat.

“Don’t come any closer,” she yells to Tony. “We must stop her, she’ll tell the police,” she mumbles to herself, shaking her head back and forth.

“Miss, put the knife down. We don’t want anyone getting hurt now,” Tony urges her softly, taking a tentative step forward, his gun aimed at us.

“Stay back!” she shouts, moving us back a step. “I don’t want to hurt her, but I can’t go to jail.”

“Mum,” Georgie gasps as she comes into the corridor completely unaware. “Mum, what are you doing?” She looks in horror at the knife held to my throat.

“Georgie!” Felicity homes in on her daughter. “I’ve missed you, baby. Daddy and I have both missed you, but we’ll all be together again soon. We’ll all go where no one can find us, me, you, daddy and Archer. We’ll be a family.”

“Mum, let Eliza go. I’ve missed you.” Georgie shakily holds her arms open, waiting to embrace her mum. “I need a hug, mum.” Tentatively she steps past Tony, who tries to hold her back, but she looks at him from the corner of her eye and shakes her head. “Please put the knife down, mummy. You’re scaring me,” she begs.

Felicity whimpers, looking from her daughter to Tony, who is standing with his gun aimed at her. “He’ll shoot me.”

“He won’t, I promise,” Georgie assures her. She looks back at Tony and gestures with her hand for him to lower the gun. Tony doesn’t look happy, but he does as she asks. “See. Now put the knife down and come to me. I need my mum.”

Felicity nods her head and the knife clatters to the floor. I don’t hesitate. I move fast, and Tony grabs me and pushes me behind him. Felicity throws herself into her daughter's arms and she sobs. “It was all for you and Archer.”

“It’s okay,” Georgie soothes her, stroking her hair. “It’s all over now, mum.”

Tony pushes me back and gestures for me to get out of here. I slowly take a step backwards and then another. A hand touches my shoulder and I jump out of my skin. It’s our other two security men. They move past me and quietly moving up to Georgie; they take a hold of Felicity.

“No! You can’t take me away from her. I’m her mother. She needs me,” she wails as they secure her arms behind her back. Tony ushers me and Georgie away and he escorts us to an empty room.

“Stay here. I mean it, Eliza. Do not leave this room until I come to collect you both.” He points his finger at me in warning. The old me would have likely ignored him and left that room as soon as he was out of sight, but the new me is a little more safety conscious these days. I have had a dance with death a few times now and I have decided that sometimes I need to stop and think.

The sound of Georgie sobbing pulls my attention. I turn to find her sitting on the floor, hugging her legs to her chest. I sit down beside her and throw my arm over her shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

Georgie shakes her head, and she leans on my shoulder. “This is all my fault. You heard her. Everything they did was for me.”

“No,” I tell her firmly. “This is all on them, no one else.”

“Are you okay?” she asks me, silent tears falling down her face. “You’re the one who’s just had a knife held against their throat.”

“I’m fine,” I reassure her. “She’s your mum and it must’ve been hard to see her like that?”

I offer her a tissue from my jacket pocket, and she takes it from me and blows her nose. “That wasn’t my mum out there. Not the one I knew all my life, anyway.”

I nod my head. “I think she’s having some kind of breakdown. She needs help.”

I know we have had our differences, but I really feel for her right now. Georgie’s had her entire world turned upside down and I know what it feels like to have everything you’ve ever known taken from you.

“I’ve lost everything,” she sobs, wiping at her eyes.

“You haven’t,” I tell her, squeezing her shoulder and shaking my head. “I saw Callum out there before with you. To him, you’re still his little girl. He brought you up and nothing can ever change that. He loves you like a father should love his child. Plus, you have Archer now.”

She scoffs at me. “He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you.” I grimace. He’s not exactly warm and fuzzy towards her, but he’s still processing everything. “He just doesn’t know how to be around you yet, Georgie. Just give it time. If there’s one thing I know about him, it’s that he looks after his own. He’s loyal.”

The door to the small office space flings open, making both Georgie and I startle.

“It’s only me,” Archer says softly, seeing our fear. He stands in the doorway and looks at Georgie with a frown when he sees her crying. “Are you both okay?”

“We will be,” I reply with a weary smile. The adrenaline and stress have left me feeling shattered. “Georgie was great out there. She saved me.”

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