The private road leading away from the Maynard estate was lined with high hedges, creating a green tunnel. Elayne ran, tears blurring her vision. She pushed herself harder, her lungs burning.
She just wanted to be gone. She wanted to disappear.
Up ahead, the road curved sharply.
Suddenly, a flash of white movement erupted from the bushes on the right.
Elayne gasped. It was a person. Standing right in the middle of the lane.
It was Bianca.
She was just standing there, staring at the running figure of Elayne, a strange, calm smile on her face.
Elayne skidded to a halt on the gravel.
"Bianca!" she screamed in her mind. "Are you crazy? Why did you jump out?"
As if on cue, a service car-one of the estate's black sedans-came speeding around the corner.
Bianca turned and, with theatrical precision, threw herself in front of it.
SCREEEECH.
The tires locked up. The smell of burning rubber filled the air. The car skidded, the back end fishtailing on the loose gravel.
Elayne watched in horror, understanding the trap a second too late.
The front bumper clipped Bianca. It wasn't a direct hit, but it was enough.
Bianca screamed-a sound that seemed too loud, too theatrical. She threw herself backward, rolling onto the manicured grass of the verge.
The car came to a halt, the engine stalling. Silence descended for a heartbeat.
The driver, a Maynard security guard, scrambled out.
"She just ran out!" he yelled, pointing not at Bianca, but at Elayne.
Bianca lay on the grass. She didn't look hurt. There was no blood. But she was clutching her stomach, curling into a ball.
She looked up at Elayne. Her eyes weren't filled with pain. They were filled with malice.
"You're done, Elayne," Bianca hissed. "Checkmate."
Before Elayne could process the words, the main gates of the estate flew open behind them. Theodore, Judith, and Conrad came running out, flanked by the security team. They had been waiting.
"Oh my God!" Judith shrieked. "She chased her down! She tried to kill her!"
Theodore sprinted over, his face contorted with fury. He shoved Elayne hard. She stumbled and fell onto the gravel driveway, scraping her palms raw.
"You monster!" Theodore roared. "You jealous, sick monster! You tried to run her down!"
"She jumped out!" Elayne yelled from the ground, her voice silent but her face a mask of desperate truth. "The guard saw it! It was a setup!"
Conrad dove into the security car. He ripped the camera unit off the windshield. He pulled the SD card out.
He looked at Elayne, smiled, and snapped the plastic card in half with a loud crack. He tossed the pieces into the tall grass.
"Oops," Conrad said. "Looks like it malfunctioned." Elayne's heart sank, but a cold, calculating part of her brain noted, The cloud stream is already secure. They're destroying a decoy.
Sirens wailed in the distance. They were close. Too close. They must have been called before Bianca even stepped onto the road.
Paramedics rushed onto the scene. They loaded Bianca onto a stretcher.
"My baby..." Bianca moaned loudly, clutching her stomach. "Please, save my baby..."
The world stopped spinning. Theodore froze.
"Baby?" Theodore whispered.
"She's pregnant!" Judith wailed, falling to her knees. "Elayne tried to kill the heir! She tried to kill her own niece or nephew!"
Theodore turned to Elayne. The look in his eyes changed. It wasn't just anger anymore. It was hatred. Pure, unadulterated hatred.
"Hold her," Theodore commanded the security chief, Miller. "Call the police. Tell them I want to press charges. Attempted murder."
Miller grabbed Elayne's arms, pinning her against the hot hood of the car.
"No! It's a lie!" Elayne screamed as the ambulance pulled away.
"You are no daughter-in-law of mine," Theodore spat.
Elayne pressed her cheek against the burning metal of the car, watching the flashing lights fade, knowing that the trap had snapped shut.
