Chapter 4 - The Sound of Truth
The police arrived in a whirlwind of blue and red lights that illuminated the limestone walls of my home. My brother, arriving to claim his "spoils," was arrested before he even reached the front gate.
I sat in the back of an ambulance, a blanket draped over my shoulders. A medic was checking my blood pressure, but my eyes were on the ballroom. They were escorting Vanessa out in handcuffs. She didn't look at me. She looked at the floor, her silver gown dragging in the dirt like a discarded skin.
The ringing was almost entirely gone. The adrenaline, it seemed, had shocked my system back into awareness.
"You’re going to be fine, Mr. Mercer," the medic said. "Your vitals are stabilizing."
"I know," I said.
Nora approached the ambulance, holding Lily’s hand. The little girl was clutching her stuffed rabbit, the one with the missing eye.
"Mr. Mercer," Nora said, her voice shaking. "I don't know what to do. I have nowhere to go."
"You have a place here," I said. "As long as you want it. And Lily..."
I climbed out of the ambulance and knelt in front of the child. She looked at me, her eyes large and wise.
"Thank you," I signed.
She smiled, a slow, genuine thing, and then she leaned forward and hugged my neck. Her small arms were tight, a stark contrast to the cold, calculated grip of the woman I had almost married.
I stood up and watched the police cruisers pull away, the red lights fading into the dark woods of Lake Forest. My estate stood behind me—a tomb, as I had once thought, but now a house again.
I looked at the house. I had spent my life building things that lasted—chips, software, networks. But I had failed to build the one thing that mattered: a life worth living.
I turned to Nora. "We’re going to need a lot of help to clean this place up."
May you like
"I'll get the staff, sir," she said, nodding.
"No," I said. "Just you. And Lily. We start fresh."
