Chapter 10 - Thirty Seconds Underwater
Seraphina entered the lake before anyone could stop her.
The cold seized her lungs.
Her surgical wound tore open beneath the pressure.
She dove toward the pale shape sinking through black water.
Arabella's carrier rotated slowly beneath her.
One strap had caught on the overturned boat.
Seraphina pulled.
The strap held.
Her body begged for air.
She tore at the buckle until her nails split.
A second pair of hands reached past her.
Julian cut the strap with a folding knife.
Together, they pushed the carrier upward.
Gabriel hauled Arabella into the rescue boat.
Mara began compressions the moment the carrier opened.
The child did not cry.
Seraphina surfaced and tried to climb aboard.
Pain folded her in half.
Julian lifted her over the side.
“Breathe, Arabella,” Seraphina begged.
Mara continued compressions.
“Come on.”
The infant coughed.
A thin cry rose above the rain.
Seraphina collapsed against Gabriel.
For one second, everyone forgot Vivienne.
Then a gunshot struck the boat's windshield.
Vivienne stood waist-deep near the stone marker.
Blood ran from her forehead.
She held a small pistol with both hands.
“You destroyed everything,” she screamed.
Julian moved between her and the child.
Vivienne fired again.
The bullet struck Julian below the shoulder.
He fell against the console.
Gabriel reached for the emergency flare gun.
Seraphina stopped him.
“Alive,” she said.
Vivienne laughed.
“You still believe a courtroom can punish me?”
Mara raised Julian's dropped weapon.
“It can start with handcuffs.”
Police boats approached from the burning shore.
Vivienne looked toward the infant.
Her face became strangely calm.
She lifted the gun to her own chin.
Julian, bleeding heavily, stepped into the water.
“Mother.”
“Do not call me that.”
“You made me exactly what you needed.”
“I made you capable.”
“You made me empty.”
Vivienne's finger tightened.
Julian took another step.
“Then live long enough to watch me tell them everything.”
The threat reached her.
Death would preserve her legend.
Testimony would dismantle it.
Vivienne lowered the pistol toward Julian.
Mara fired once.
The bullet struck Vivienne's shoulder.
She dropped the weapon and disappeared beneath the water.
Officers pulled her out alive.
By dawn, Blackthorn House was a smoking shell.
The underground archive survived because its chamber had been reinforced.
Federal agents recovered decades of records.
The evidence connected Vivienne to insurance fraud, corporate sabotage, medical crimes, bribery, and Marcus Ashcroft's death.
It also connected Julian.
He underwent surgery under armed guard.
Seraphina was returned to the hospital with Arabella beside her.
For the first time, mother and daughter shared the same room.
Seraphina held the child against her chest.
Gabriel watched from the doorway.
“We have them,” he said.
Seraphina looked toward the television.
Julian's attorney was already speaking to reporters.
He described Julian as a coerced victim who had saved his wife and child.
Vivienne's lawyers claimed she had suffered a psychotic break caused by years of abuse from the Ashcroft family.
The public story was changing before the evidence had even dried.
Seraphina kissed Arabella's forehead.
May you like
“No,” she said.
“We have a beginning.”
