No Exit

Two against one. And they had the home court advantage.

Elena stared at the burning passport, the blue cover curling into black ash. The wind off the lake rattled the boathouse door, but the cold she felt was entirely internal. Seraphina stood between her and Leo, a gun in one hand, the baby in the other.

"You're not a ghost," Elena said, her voice shaking but clear. "Ghosts are dead. I'm very much alive."

"For now," Seraphina said.

She shifted Leo to her hip, the gun never wavering.

"Marcus will be here soon," she said. "He's just parking the car. And when he gets here... well, let's just say the police will find a very tragic scene. A distraught mother. A murder-suicide."

"You're going to kill your own son?" Elena asked.

"He's not my son," Seraphina corrected. "He's an asset. And assets can be liquidated."

She stepped closer.

"Besides," she whispered. "I have embryos. Plenty of them. We can always make another."

Elena looked at Leo. He was awake, staring at Seraphina with wide, terrified eyes. He knew. Babies always knew.

She had to get him away from her.

"Let him go," Elena said. "Take me. Kill me. Just let him go."

"Why?" Seraphina asked. "So he can grow up knowing his mother was a whore?"

"So he can grow up," Elena said.

Seraphina laughed. "You're so sentimental, Elena. It's your weakness."

The door behind Elena opened.

Marcus walked in.

He wasn't smiling anymore. He looked tired. Old.

"The guards are gone," he said. "I sent them back to the gate. It's just us."

He looked at Elena.

"Why did you come back?" he asked. "You were free. You were gone."

"I came back for my son," Elena said.

"He's better off without you," Marcus said. "We can give him everything. The best schools. The best life."

"You'll give him trauma," Elena said. "You'll give him this."

She gestured to the room. To the gun. To the madness.

"We're protecting the family," Marcus said, closing the door. He locked it.

"There is no family," Elena said. "There's just a trust fund and a crime scene."

Marcus sighed. He walked over to Seraphina. He took the gun from her hand.

"I'll do it," he said.

"No," Seraphina said, her eyes flashing. "I want to watch."

"Go wait in the car, Seraphina."

"I'm not leaving!"

"Go!" Marcus roared.

Seraphina flinched. She looked at him, surprised by the anger in his voice.

"Fine," she said. "But make it messy."

She handed Leo to Marcus.

"Be careful with the asset," she said.

She walked out, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. The door slammed shut behind her.

Marcus looked at Leo. He looked at Elena.

"I'm sorry, El," he said.

"Don't call me that," Elena said.

"I have to do this," Marcus said. "You understand, don't you? If the truth comes out... everything ends."

"It's already ended, Marcus. The Feds have the files. Silas has the license. It's over."

"Silas is dead," Marcus said.

Elena froze. "What?"

"The guard texted me," Marcus said. "He tried to run. They put him down."

He raised the gun.

"And Kai? He's in custody. Federal custody. But not the good kind. The kind where you don't get a phone call."

Elena stared at the barrel of the gun. It was black. cold.

She was alone. Truly, completely alone.

"Put the baby down, Marcus," she said.

"I can't."

"Yes, you can. You're not a killer."

"I am whatever I need to be," Marcus said.

He cocked the gun.

Elena looked around the boathouse. There was nothing. No weapons. No exits.

Except one.

The floor.

The trapdoor to the tunnel.

It was under the rug, just behind Marcus.

"Look at him," Elena said. "Look at his eyes."

Marcus looked down at Leo.

And for a second, he hesitated.

That was all Elena needed.

She didn't lunge for the gun. She lunged for the rug.

She grabbed the edge and pulled. Hard.

Marcus stumbled. He stepped back.

His heel hit the edge of the open trapdoor.

He fell.

He didn't scream. He just gasped as he disappeared into the hole.

Leo flew from his arms.

Elena dove.

She caught him. Mid-air. Just before he hit the edge of the pit.

She slammed onto the floor, her shoulder taking the impact, shielding the baby.

A gunshot rang out from the darkness below.

Then silence.

Elena scrambled away from the hole, clutching Leo. She listened.

Nothing.

She crawled to the edge. She looked down.

Marcus was lying at the bottom of the shaft, ten feet down. His neck was twisted at an unnatural angle. The gun lay beside him, smoke curling from the barrel.

He wasn't moving.

Elena stood up, shaking. She backed away.

She had to get out. Before Seraphina came back.

She ran to the door. Locked.

She tried the window. Painted shut.

She looked at the trapdoor. It was the only way out. But she couldn't go down there. Not with Marcus.

Then she heard it.

The sound of a key in the lock.

Seraphina.

She hadn't gone to the car. She had waited.

Elena looked around desperately.

The boat slip.

The speedboat was gone, but the water was there. Dark. Freezing.

She ran to the edge of the slip.

The door opened.

Seraphina walked in. She saw the open trapdoor. She saw Marcus's body.

She screamed.

It wasn't a scream of grief. It was a scream of rage.

She looked at Elena.

"You killed him!"

She pulled a knife from her coat pocket. A hunting knife. Long. Serrated.

"I'm going to carve you," she whispered.

She ran at Elena.

Elena didn't have a weapon. She didn't have a plan.

She just had the water.

She clutched Leo tight.

"Hold your breath," she whispered.

And she jumped.