Chapter 11 - FIRE
“Everybody out!”
People rushed toward the exits.
The hallway was already filled with smoke.
Sprinklers failed.
Of course they did.
Garrett grabbed Penelope.
She screamed.
I ran after them.
Victor shoved a security guard into Tobias.
Leonard disappeared through a side door.
The federal agents drew their weapons.
Then the lights died.
Emergency red lights flashed.
I heard Garrett shout somewhere ahead.
“Move!”
Penelope screamed my name.
I followed the sound into the executive corridor.
Garrett had her by the arm.
“Let her go.”
He turned.
A gun in his hand.
“Back up, Rosalind.”
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Penelope coughed.
“You don’t need her.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
He touched her belly.
My belly tightened instinctively.
“The child.”
I wanted to kill him.
“Don’t touch her.”
He laughed.
“You suddenly care about Penny?”
“I care about what’s inside her.”
Penelope flinched.
Garrett noticed.
“That sounds cold, Rosie.”
“You drugged me and stole an embryo from my body.”
“I built a future.”
“You built a crime scene.”
He raised the gun.
Then Tobias hit him from behind with a fire extinguisher.
Garrett dropped.
I grabbed Penelope.
“Go!”
We made it to the stairwell.
Then an explosion shook the building.
The door slammed shut.
Penelope fell.
“Are you okay?”
She grabbed her stomach.
“My water broke.”
I stared at her.
“You’re only thirty-three weeks.”
“I know!”
Another explosion.
Smoke poured through the door frame.
Penelope started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“Not now.”
“For everything.”
“I said not now.”
“I hated you.”
I looked at her.
She was shaking.
“You had Dad. You had the company. You had everything.”
“You think I had everything?”
“You always looked like you did.”
I almost laughed.
“I spent my whole life trying not to fall apart.”
A contraction hit her.
She screamed.
I held her.
Then the stairwell door opened.
Victor stepped through the smoke.
Gun raised.
“Give me the drive.”
Penelope stared at him.
I put myself in front of her.
Victor smiled.
“You really are your mother’s daughter.”
Then a gunshot exploded.
Victor’s body jerked.
He looked down at the blood spreading across his shirt.
Behind him stood Garrett.
Gun smoking.
Victor whispered, “Son…”
May you like
Garrett shot him again.
And said, “You were always the loose end.”
