Chapter 46 The Trap

Chapter 46 The Trap
The back gate of the villa was made of thick iron, but Mark had a digital key tool that opened the lock in seconds. It opened with a tiny click. Mark’s men moved first; Edward followed next with his gun raised, scanning the garden. I followed closely behind him, my heart pounding so hard I was sure the guards could hear it. Mark stayed at the rear, watching the wall behind us.

The garden was beautiful and smelled of sweet flowers and wet soil. Palm leaves rustled loudly in the wind, hiding the sound of our footsteps. We moved past a large swimming pool toward the glass doors of the main house.

"Two guards are at the front gate," Mark whispered, looking at a small tracker in his hand. "One is patrolling the side of the house. We have two minutes before he comes back around."
"Let’s go," Edward whispered, as he followed closely behind Mark’s men.

They did not break the door. One of them just turned the handle. To our surprise, it was unlocked. The house was quiet as we walked into the dark living room. The air conditioning was on, reliving us from the heat of the island. The room smelled of sea-salt candles and fresh paint.

We walked through the dark hallway, and our eyes adjusted to the shadows. Everything was quiet. Too quiet.  

"Something is wrong," I whispered, grabbing the back of Edward’s shirt. "If she has five million dollars, why is the back door unlocked? Why are there so few guards?"  

Edward stopped and looked around the empty hallway. "She thinks she is safe, Serena. She thinks no one knows she is alive."  
"No," I whispered. "Lily is never this careless."  

Before Edward could answer, a bright white light flashed from the top of the stairs. I blinked, blinded by the light.  

"You always did think too much, Serena," a familiar voice echoed from above.  

My vision cleared immediately. Lily Vance was standing at the top of the staircase. She wore a white linen pantsuit and looked perfectly unharmed. She did not look like a woman who had escaped a burning mansion a month ago. She looked like a queen in her castle. Behind her stood two tall men in black suits, both holding guns pointed at us.

Edward instantly stepped in front of me to shield me. He raised his gun and aimed it at his mother’s chest. "It’s over, Mother. Drop the weapons. The police know you are here."  

Lily laughed, a sound that sent a chill down my spine. "The police? Edward, please. Five million dollars buys a lot of silence on this island. By the time Commander Miller gets any international authority to come here, you will all be at the bottom of the ocean."

"You faked your death," I shouted from behind Edward, my anger burning away my fear. "You burned your own home just to run away!"  
"I burned a prison, Serena," Lily said, looking down at me with hatred in her eyes. "That house was filled with memories of weakness. My husband's weakness. Edward's weakness. You thought that silly USB drive would destroy me? It only forced me to clean up my empire. I don’t need Oaktown anymore. I have enough money to start fresh anywhere in the world."
"You won’t start anything," Edward said. "I will pull this trigger, Mother. Don’t think I won’t."  

Lily’s smile disappeared. Her face turned red. "You won’t shoot me, Edward. You don’t have the stomach for it. If you did, you would have done it in the library."  

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.  

Suddenly, the door behind us opened with a loud bang. Two more men entered from the garden, their guns pointed at Mark’s head. We were surrounded. Mark slowly raised his hands.  

"Drop the gun, Edward," Lily commanded. "Or your loyal bodyguard Mark dies first. Then your lovely little wife."  

Edward hesitated. His arm was shaking. He looked at Mark, then at me. I could see the pain in his eyes. He was trying to find a way out, but there were too many guns pointed at us.

Slowly, Edward lowered his weapon and dropped it on the floor. It made a heavy thud. One of the guards kicked the gun away.  

"Good boy," Lily said, walking slowly down the stairs. She stopped three feet away from us. The smell of her perfume was suffocating.

She looked at me and studied my clothes. "You really are a survivor, aren’t you, Serena? I gave you to those men in the warehouse. I tried to burn you out of the cellar. And yet, here you are, standing in my living room."  
"I am here to watch you lose," I said, staring into her eyes.  

Lily slapped me on my face. The blow knocked me sideways, and my cheek burned with pain.  
"Serena!" Edward screamed and stepped forward, but a guard shoved a gun into his ribs and forced him to his knees.  

"Don’t move, Edward," Lily warned. She looked back at me and wiped her hand with a silk handkerchief. "You think you won because you have the baby? That little boy is a Vance. He belongs to my legacy. Once you two are gone, I will go back to that little farm, collect my grandson, and raise him the way I should have raised Edward. Without weakness."

Hearing her mention Arthur made something snap inside me. The fear vanished. A cold, sharp clarity took over my mind. She did not just want our lives. She wanted our son. She wanted to turn him into a monster like her.  

"You will never touch him," I whispered, spitting a bit of blood onto the floor.  

Lily laughed again. "And who is going to stop me? You?"  

She turned her back to me and looked at the guard holding Edward down. "Take them down to the docks behind the villa. Tie them to the boat weights. The ocean here is very deep."  

As Lily turned to walk back up the stairs, she did not notice Mark moving his fingers slowly behind his back. He caught my eye for a second and nodded toward the wall switch near the door.  

I remembered what Mark said in the car: The villa belongs to a shell company. She hasn’t had time to hire a full security team yet. That meant the backup generator was old.

With all my strength, I moved to the side and slammed my weight against the main power lever on the wall.  

The entire villa went completely dark.  
"What happened? Fix the lights!" Lily screamed from the stairs.  

Pop! Pop!  
Gunshots exploded in the dark room, and bright flashes lit up the walls like lightning.