If you want to be Silas’s wife, you take care of his mess, or you get back on the plane to Ohio.
The hum of the emergency generator vibrated through the floorboards. The lights inside the house, now powered by the satellite backup, cast an eerie, unwavering glow.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the front doors. Victoria Finch, soaked to the bone and livid, burst through the entrance. Her four armed security guards, equally drenched and grim-faced, followed closely behind.
“Norah Bennett!” Victoria shrieked, her voice echoing through the grand hall. Rain dripped from her expensive suit jacket, forming puddles on the marble floor. “Where is it? Give me the receipt, now!”
Her eyes, wild with fury, darted around the living room. They fell upon me, standing by the fireplace, the warmth of the fire a stark contrast to the storm raging outside.
I clutched the leather folder containing the trust ledger to my chest. Eli, with a fierce protectiveness, stepped in front of me.
“You’re not getting it,” he said, his voice trembling but firm.
Little Maya, usually so quiet, stood beside him, clutching Toby’s hand. Even the younger children, seeing the aggression in Victoria’s eyes, instinctively formed a small, defiant wall around us.
Victoria sneered. “Move aside, you insolent brats! This doesn’t concern you. This woman is a criminal, a trespasser!”
She motioned to her guards. “Seize her! Get the folder!”
Two guards advanced, their hands reaching for me.
“Don’t touch her!” Eli yelled, his eyes blazing.
But before they could reach us, another sound erupted. A loud, desperate pounding on the patio doors at the back of the living room.
Then, with a splintering crash of wood, Silas Montgomery burst through.
He was a wreck. His clothes were torn and muddy, his hair plastered to his forehead, his face streaked with dirt and rain. He looked utterly exhausted, but his eyes, when they locked onto Victoria, burned with an intensity I hadn’t seen before.
“Victoria!” he roared, his voice hoarse from the storm, “Leave them alone!”
Victoria froze, her jaw dropping in shock. Her security guards, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion, spun around, their hands hovering over their sidearms.
Silas, a man who had been kept prisoner, manipulated, and isolated for years, was finally home. And he was not alone. He stood, breathing heavily, beside the children he had been forced to abandon.
The air crackled with tension, not just from the storm outside, but from the confrontation brewing inside the grand, beleaguered mansion.
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