Chapter 6 - THE TICKET TO FREEDOM
"Marcus," Gabriel growled, stepping back from the locked door. He looked at me, his icy gray eyes wild with panic. "We can't stay here. There's a servant's passage behind the wardrobe. Move."
I scooped Leo into my arms. He buried his face in my neck, shaking violently. I clutched the faded train ticket Bella had given me.
Gabriel shoved the massive mahogany wardrobe aside with terrifying strength, revealing a narrow, dark corridor. "Go. Run to the study. Lock the iron door."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I'm getting my mother," he said. He didn't wait for my answer. He kicked the oak door of the bedroom right near the hinges, splintering the wood, and threw himself into the hallway.
I ran.
The passage was pitch black, smelling of dust and old masonry. I navigated by running my hand along the rough stone wall, whispering soothing words to Leo.
"It's okay, sweetie. I've got you. You're safe."
We spilled out into the study. It was a massive room lined with books, dominated by a heavy oak desk. I slammed the heavy iron door of the passageway shut and threw the deadbolt just as I heard gunfire echo through the house.
I gasped, dropping to the floor behind the desk, pulling Leo into my lap. I covered his ears, squeezing my eyes shut.
Be invisible. Be invisible.
But I wasn't just a waitress anymore. I was a target.
I uncurled my fist and looked at the train ticket Bella had given me. Why this? Why hand me a piece of trash in a life-or-death moment?
I turned the ticket over. On the back, written in the same ink as the date, was a string of numbers.
44-09-12-88
"A combination," I realized aloud.
I looked up at the wall behind the desk. A large oil painting of a fierce ocean storm hung there. I stood up, keeping Leo behind me, and pulled the frame. It swung open on hidden hinges, revealing a sleek, modern steel safe.
My hands shook as I entered the numbers from the ticket. 44... 09... 12... 88.
The keypad beeped green. The heavy door clicked open.
I pulled it open, expecting stacks of cash or passports. Instead, there was a single, thick, leather-bound ledger. And resting on top of it was Gabriel’s heavy wool winter coat.
I pulled the coat out. It was shockingly heavy. I reached into the right pocket and my hand closed around cold, hard steel. A second gun.
But it was what was in the left pocket that made my breath hitch.
I pulled out a small, perfectly carved wooden bird. A swallow. The exact shape of the charm on my mother's bracelet. The exact shape of Bella's bracelet.
Leo gasped. He reached up and took the wooden bird from my hand. "Daddy made it," he whispered. "For the lady in the picture."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "What picture, Leo?"
Leo pointed into the safe. Beneath the ledger was a polaroid photograph. I pulled it out.
It was Gabriel, years younger, smiling brightly. And standing next to him, holding a baby, was a woman who looked exactly like me.
His wife. Leo's mother.
My twin sister.
The reversal hit me so hard my knees buckled. I fell back against the desk. Bella hadn't had one daughter. She had twins. Clara had taken me. But the other twin... Gabriel's wife... had stayed behind.
"You're not Marcus's target," a voice sneered from the doorway of the study.
I whipped around, raising the heavy gun.
May you like
Standing there was a massive man with a jagged scar cutting through his left eyebrow. Marcus. He was holding a bruised and bleeding Gabriel by the collar, a gun pressed to the back of Gabriel’s head.
"She was," Marcus smiled, a cruel, blood-chilling sight. "But she's dead. Now, I just want the ledger."
