Chapter 22: The Shadows Of The Past

The door handle turned slowly. I held my breath. I was stuck in this bed, my arm hurting, my body heavy with a secret I had just started to carry.

The door opened. A tall shadow stepped into the room.

"Edward?" I whispered, my voice shaking.

The figure didn't answer. He moved quietly, like someone who knew what he was doing. This was not a doctor. As he stepped into the dim red light from the backup power, I saw metal shine in his hand. It was a needle.

"Who are you?" I moved back fast, hitting the headboard. "Guards! Michael!"

"They won’t hear you, Mrs. Vance," the man said. 'You should have taken the ten million dollars when you had the chance."

He walked toward me.

Fear was strong, but the need to protect my baby was stronger. I didn't think about my hurt arm. I didn't think about the law. I grabbed the heavy glass vase of lilies from the table and swung it as hard as I could.

Crash!

The glass broke against his shoulder. Water and flower petals flew everywhere. He stepped back as the water made the floor wet. I didn't wait. I rolled out of the other side of the bed, my feet hitting the cold floor.

"Help!" I screamed as loud as I could.

I ran for the door, but he was fast. He grabbed the back of my hospital gown, his fingers digging into my skin. I felt the sharp tip of the needle touch my shoulder.

"Get off me!" I turned and kicked him hard in the leg.

He winced with pain and let go a little. I pulled myself and ran into the hallway. It was empty. The guards were gone. The nurses' desk was empty. Louise hadn't been lying. She had people everywhere.

I didn't go to the elevators. That’s where he would look for me. Instead, I pushed open the heavy door to the stairs. My heart was pounding hard in my chest. One floor. I just need to get down one floor. There are always people there, I thought.

I flew down the stairs. I could hear his heavy boots behind me, loud and scary.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

I reached the fourth floor and pushed the door open. I ran toward the lights, toward the sound of a baby crying far away.

"Stop her!" the man yelled from behind me.

I saw a nurse coming out of a room with a tray. "Help me!" I cried, grabbing her arm. "He's trying to kill me! Call the police!"

The nurse looked at my bleeding arm and the man running down the hall. She didn't wait. She threw the heavy plastic tray at his feet and shouted for help.

The hallway suddenly came to life. Doors opened. People shouted. The man in the lab coat knew his chance was gone. He turned and ran back into the stairs just as the elevators opened.

Edward ran out, with Michael and three armed officers behind him.

"Serena!"

Edward reached me in three big steps, catching me before I fell. I dropped into his chest, my breath fast and rough.

"He was in the room," I said, holding his jacket tight. "The lights went out... Louise... she was just here, Ed. She sent the shooter."

Edward held me so tight I could feel his heart beating against mine. He looked at Michael, his eyes cold and deadly.

"Lock the building," Edward ordered. "No one leaves. Not even the doctors. If you find a man in a lab coat with a wet shoulder, bring him to me."

An hour later, the hospital was full of police. The man had been caught trying to leave through the laundry area. He was a "fixer," someone rich people use to make problems go away. And Louise Bennet’s name was all over his bank records.

We were back in a new room, on the top floor, with guards inside and outside the door. My father sat in the corner, his head in his hands.

"Thomas," Edward said, standing in front of my father. "I need the truth. Now. Did you have anything to do with my father’s death?"

My father looked up. His eyes were full of tears. "I was a struggling mechanic, Edward. Ten years ago, money was so tight. Maya was sick, and we couldn't pay for her medicine. A man came to me. He told me he just wanted me to 'slow down' the car. He said it was for business. He told me no one would get hurt."

I didn't even know it was Arthur Vance until I saw the news the next morning. A week later, a woman came to our home. She gave me bread and an envelope full of cash. She told me if I ever spoke, my whole family would be gone, and I'd never see Maya again."

"Lily," I whispered.

Edward stood very still. His father hadn't died in a random crash. He had been killed by a plan from the two people he trusted most, his business partner and his wife.

Edward walked over to the window, looking out at the city. The sun was starting to rise, the light hitting the tall buildings of Oaktown.

"They thought they could use the past to ruin our future," Edward said. He turned back to me, and for the first time, he looked truly free. "But they forgot one thing."

"What?"

"They forgot that I’m the best lawyer in this city," Edward said, with a smile. "And I don't just win cases. I end them."

He walked over to the bed and sat next to me, taking my hand. "Michael found the contract in the library floor. Louise was right about one thing. There is a rule.

"What does it say?"

"It says that all the Vance assets will be transferred to my name once I’m of age and married; also, if I have an heir, half of the Vance estate will go to the heir..."

Edward leaned in and kissed my forehead.

"Everything belongs to us, Serena. The house, the trust, the company. All of it. And by the time I’m done with the Bennets in court, they won't even have money left to buy bread."

"And my father?" I asked softly.

Edward looked at Thomas. "Your father was a victim of threats and tricks. He’s going to be a witness, Serena. Not a criminal. I’ll make sure of it."

I leaned my head on Edward’s shoulder, finally letting myself rest. The fight was over. The deal was done.

But as we sat there in the quiet morning, my phone buzzed on the table. It was a text from a number I didn’t know.

I picked it up, thinking it was Michael. But when I read the words, I felt a cold shock down my spine.

The contract has a second page. Ask Lily about the woman in Lyon. Ask her why Serena’s mother looks exactly like the girl Edward had an affair with 25 years ago.

I looked at Edward. He saw the message.

The ghosts weren't gone yet. They were just taking a new form.