Chapter 48 The Price Of Peace

Chapter 48 The Price Of Peace
My hand was shaking, but I did not let go of Serena. I squeezed her fingers tightly, feeling the warmth. The paramedics rushed past us, carrying my mother on the heavy plastic stretcher. Her face was pale—drained of the life, the power, and the arrogance that had defined her entire existence.

"Sir, I need you to take a step back and keep your hands where I can see them," a loud voice said behind me.

I turned my head slowly. A tall police officer with a serious face and a drawn pistol was pointing it at Mark. Two other officers were already moving toward Lily’s remaining guards, pushing them against the wall and putting handcuffs around their wrists.

"I’m unarmed," Mark said, calmly raising his hands. He looked exhausted, his shirt soaked in sweat and stained with soot. "I am a security contractor. We were under attack."

Another officer approached Serena and me. He had a notepad out, his eyes shifting from the blood pools on the marble stairs to the look of pure terror on Serena's face. "Are you two hurt? Who shot the woman?"
"We are fine," I answered. My voice sounded dull, even to my own ears. It did not sound like me. "We don't know who shot her. The lights were out.”

"We need everyone to stay right here," the officer said. "Detectives are on their way. Nobody leaves this place until we get official statements from every single person in this room."
For the next two hours, the place became a prison of questions. 

Commander Miller arrived shortly after the first wave of police, using his authority to make sure the officers treated us like victims rather than suspects. Even with his help, the questioning was brutal.

Finally, around three o'clock in the morning, a detective rubbed his tired eyes and closed his folder. "You are free to go for tonight, Mr. Vance. But do not leave the island. We will need you at the precinct tomorrow afternoon."

"We are going to the hospital," I said, standing up. My legs felt stiff.
Serena looked up at me, her eyes filled with concern. "Edward, you don't have to go there tonight. You're exhausted. We can find a hotel, check on Arthur, and go in the morning."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I have to know, Serena. I need to see how this ends."
She didn't argue. She just stood up, wrapped her arm through mine, and walked with me outside. 

Commander Miller arranged for a police escort to drive us down toward the local medical center.

The drive was quiet. I looked out the window at the ocean waves crashing against the island rocks. My mind was spinning out of control. Just a few hours ago, Lily was threatening to steal our son, Arthur. She was boasting about her wealth, her absolute power, and how she would destroy our lives completely. Now, she was hooked up to machines, fighting for her life.

When the car pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital, the bright fluorescent lights inside made the world feel painfully real. The smell of bleach and medicine hit my nose as we walked through the sliding glass doors.
A nurse at the front desk recognized my name immediately.

"Mr. Vance?" a doctor in green scrubs called out, walking down the long hallway toward us. He looked tired, his surgical mask hanging loosely around his neck.
"I'm Edward Vance," I said, stepping forward. Serena moved closer. "The woman they brought in... Lily Vance. Is she out of surgery?"

The doctor stopped a few feet away from us. He sighed, looking down at his clipboard before meeting my eyes. "Mr. Vance, I am very sorry. We did everything we could. The bullet tore through a major artery near her heart. She experienced massive internal bleeding before the paramedics could even arrive at the scene."

The words bounced around the quiet hallway. Massive internal bleeding.
"She lost too much blood," the doctor continued softly. "Her heart stopped twice on the operating table. The second time, we were unable to bring her back. I am so sorry for your loss. She passed away twenty minutes ago."

The doctor kept talking, explaining something about paperwork and the morgue, but his voice became distant, like he was speaking underwater.
She was dead.
Lily Vance—the matriarch of the Vance empire, the woman who had controlled my entire life, the monster who had kidnapped my wife—was gone. The root of all our pain, the source of every single nightmare we had faced over the last year, had simply ceased to exist.

"Edward?" Serena called, her voice trembling. She reached up and touched my cheek. "Edward, look at me."
I turned my head to look at her. I couldn't speak. My throat felt tight, like it was clogged with sand.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
I honestly didn't know the answer. A wave of conflicting emotions crashed inside my chest, tearing me apart.

Part of me wanted to scream with relief. I wanted to laugh out loud because the threat was finally gone. Arthur was safe. Serena was safe. We could finally go home, sleep through the night, and build a beautiful life without looking over our shoulders every single second. The heavy iron chains Lily had wrapped around my neck since the day I was born had just shattered into pieces. I was free.

But as I looked down at the cold hospital floor, another feeling crawled up from the dark corners of my heart. It was a biting sadness.
She was a terrible person. She had done unforgivable things to the people I loved most. But she was still the woman who had held my hand when I was a little boy. She was the one who taught me how to read, the one who bought me my first suit, and the only parent I had ever known after my father died. For years, I had craved her approval, desperately wanting her to just love me like a normal mother loves a son. Now, I would never get that. The tiny, foolish hope I kept hidden inside—that she might change one day—was dead too.

"I don't know what to feel," I said to Serena, a single tear dropping down my cheek. "I'm glad we are safe. I hate what she did to us. But she was my mother, Serena. Why does it hurt so much?"
Serena didn't try to give me a complicated lecture about forgiveness or grief. She just wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and pulled my head down against her shoulder.

"It's okay to cry for the mother she should have been," Serena whispered into my ear, her own tears wetting my shirt. "You're allowed to feel both, Edward. You are human. She couldn't take that away from you."
I closed my eyes and finally let the tears fall, sobbing quietly in the bright, empty hospital hallway. The kingdom had fallen, the monster was dead, and the future was ours. But the scars of how we got here would stay with us forever.