Chapter 5 - THE LIVING ROOM SHOWDOWN
My shoulder slammed directly into Margaret's side.
The force of the collision knocked her off balance.
The revolver went off with a deafening roar.
*BANG!*
The bullet shattered the crystal chandelier above us, sending glass shards raining down like diamonds.
Margaret shrieked, sprawling hard across the hardwood floor.
The heavy silver gun slid across the carpet, coming to a stop near the sofa.
Lena screamed, shielding Nico and Noah with her own body.
"Ethan!" Lena gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked up at me.
"Are you okay?" I panted, pulling myself off the floor.
"I'm fine! Get the boys out of here!" I ordered, keeping my eyes locked on Margaret.
Margaret groaned, pushing herself up from the floor.
Her pristine bun was ruined.
Strands of silver hair fell across her twisted, furious face.
Gone was the polite, gentle housekeeper facade.
In its place was a cold, calculating criminal mastermind.
She didn't look panicked.
She looked amused.
"You think you've won, Ethan?" Margaret chuckled darkly, wiping a speck of dust from her uniform.
"You think getting out of that cellar changes anything?"
"You're keeping my wife in a dungeon!" I roared, taking a step toward her.
"And you're drugging my sons!"
"Your wife?" Margaret laughed out loud.
A harsh, grating sound.
"Sarah wasn't a prisoner, Ethan."
"She was a partner."
My foot froze mid-step.
My chest tightened as if squeezed by an iron fist.
"What did you say?"
"Ask her yourself," Margaret smiled, gesturing toward the open French doors behind me.
I slowly turned around.
Standing in the doorway, framed by the pale moonlight, was Sarah.
She wasn't trembling anymore.
Her emaciated posture had vanished.
She stood tall, her eyes cold, devoid of any warmth or love.
In her right hand, she held a heavy hunting rifle, pointed directly at my chest.
"It's true, Ethan," Sarah's voice cut through the quiet room like a razor blade.
"I never crashed that car."
"I faked my own death to escape you."
"And Margaret helped me do it."
My world tilted on its axis.
Everything I thought I knew.
Every memory of grief and mourning.
All a lie.
"Sarah... why?" I whispered, tears burning my eyes for an entirely different reason now.
"Because you were suffocating me, Ethan," Sarah said coldly, stepping into the room.
"Your money, your control, your obsession with corporate perfection."
"I wanted out."
"So we arranged the accident."
"And when you had children..." Sarah's lips curled into a bitter smile.
"...we realized we needed a new start."
"Only you wouldn't let go of the boys."
Lena stared at Sarah in absolute horror.
"You're their mother," Lena whispered in disgust. "How could you do this to them?"
"Motherhood is a cage," Sarah replied flatly.
May you like
"Margaret offered me freedom."
"And now..." Sarah cocked the rifle. "...neither of you is walking out of this house alive."
