Chapter 6 - Outside the Gates
The cold morning air hit my face like a splash of ice water, clearing the fog of shock and adrenaline from my mind. Behind me, Julian’s muffled curses echoed from the doorway, followed by Martha’s shrill commands for him to grab his jacket and give chase.
I didn't run—I couldn't, not with my leg brace and the throbbing pain in my knee—but I moved with a brisk, purposeful limp down the long gravel driveway of the estate. Every crunch of the stones beneath my boots felt like a step toward freedom.
As I reached the wrought-iron gates of the property, I realized they were padlocked from the outside. Martha had locked us in to keep me from escaping.
"Damn it," I muttered, looking around frantically.
A sleek black SUV was idling just fifty yards down the country road, its hazard lights blinking rhythmically. As I limped closer, the passenger door swung open, and a woman with sharp features, dark hair pulled back in a severe ponytail, and piercing eyes identical to my own stepped out onto the pavement.
She stared at me in absolute astonishment.
"Clara?" she breathed, rushing forward to catch me as my knees nearly buckled from exhaustion.
"You..." I gasped, looking into her face. It was like looking into a mirror across a parallel life. "You're... my sister."
"My name is Elena," she said, her voice trembling as she wrapped her arms around me, pulling the red blanket and the locket from my hands. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the photograph inside the locket. "I've been looking for you for five years. I hired private investigators, I dug through adoption agency archives... I knew Martha Vance had stolen one of us. I just didn't know she had trapped you inside her own home."
Before I could answer, the heavy front door of the estate slammed shut in the distance. Julian came barreling down the driveway, waving a heavy iron wrench, his face smeared with blood from where I had struck him.
"Clara! Get back here, you ungrateful thief!" Julian screamed, his voice cracking with desperation.
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Elena’s eyes flashed with pure steel. She turned, opened the rear door of the SUV, and pulled out a heavy legal briefcase. She popped the latches and pulled out a thick stack of official court documents bearing the seal of the Supreme Court.
"Let him come," Elena said coldly, stepping in front of me with the confidence of a seasoned prosecutor. "Because today, the Vance family empire falls."
