Elise stayed in the closet until the sun came up.
When she finally crept back to her room, she went straight to the bathroom and vomited.
It wasn't just fear. It was a deep, physical sickness that had been plaguing her for days.
Nina came in with a breakfast tray.
Elise grabbed her arm and dragged her into the bathroom. She turned on the shower full blast.
"Elise?" Nina looked scared.
"He's alive," Elise whispered frantically. "Jarret is alive. He's pretending to be Jayden."
Nina looked at Elise like she had lost her mind. "Elise, you're in shock..."
"I heard them!" Elise hissed. "They killed Jayden! They switched places! And they want to kill me once I sign the papers!"
Nina stared at Elise. She saw the terror in Elise's eyes. She saw the truth.
"Okay," she said. Her voice shook. "Okay. We get you out."
"Tonight," Nina said. "During the staff shift change at 6 PM. The back gate is usually unguarded for ten minutes."
Elise nodded. She felt another wave of nausea. She retched into the sink.
Nina rubbed Elise's back. Then she stopped.
She looked at the calendar on the wall. She looked at Elise.
"Elise..." she said slowly. "When was your last period?"
Elise froze. She counted back. The wedding. The stress.
"The wedding night," she whispered.
"You might be pregnant," Nina said.
Elise stared at her stomach. "No. Not his child. Not the monster's child."
But then, a memory flashed. The wedding night. The gentle hands. The hesitation. The callouses.
Jayden.
If Jarret was the monster... who was the man in her bed that night?
Jarret had left the room to take a call. The man who came in was different.
Oh god.
Did she sleep with Jayden? Was Jayden the one who held her? Was Jayden the father?
The man they murdered.
Elise sank to the floor. The tragedy was suffocating.
"We have to go," Elise said. "I can't let them raise this child."
She packed the cash into the lining of her coat. She dressed in dark clothes.
"I'll go scout the perimeter," Nina said. "Wait here."
She left.
Elise waited.
One hour passed. Two.
The sun started to set.
Nina didn't come back.
There was a knock on the door. It wasn't the secret knock. It was a heavy, authoritative pounding.
The door opened.
Joyce stood there. She was smiling thinly.
"Elise," she said. "We need to talk."
