Chapter 20 - The Vow
The sunrise caught me sitting on the terrace steps, just like it had a year ago. The estate was once again silent. Arthur came out of the house, his shirt stained with dust, a bandage wrapped around his forearm.
"They're gone," he said, looking at the bodies being removed by my private security team. "We’ve cleared the grounds. The police are on their way, but I’ve instructed them to keep this quiet. No media, no headlines."
"They’ll keep coming, won't they?" I asked, staring at the horizon.
Arthur sat down next to me. "Yes. Until we stop them at the source."
I looked at my house, at the security cameras that now seemed so insufficient, and then toward the wing where Ethan was still sleeping, unaware that his world had been under siege.
"I spent a year trying to run from who I am," I said, my voice firm. "I tried to be a mother in a garden, pretending the past was a nightmare I could wake up from. But the past is who I am."
"What are you saying, Amanda?"
"I'm saying we don't hide anymore," I said, standing up. "If they want the legacy, they can come for it. But they aren't going to find a victim this time. They’re going to find a predator."
Arthur looked at me, a flicker of something—pride or fear—crossing his eyes. "What do you need me to do?"
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"Start by calling the lawyers," I said, walking toward the house. "And then, pull the files on the rest of the circle. We aren't going to wait for them to knock on our door again. We’re going to tear their world down, piece by piece, until there is nothing left of them to fear."
The gardener was already out, pruning the roses, oblivious to the fact that the soil had been fed with blood. I walked into the house, and as the heavy steel door clicked shut behind me, I felt a strange sense of peace. I was no longer the woman under the bed. I was the architect of my own safety. And God help anyone who tried to take it from me.
