Chapter 14 - ASHES AND SUNRISEThe heavy steel shutters groaned as the tactical team pried them open with the jaws of life.
When they finally breached the hallway, they found Evelyn Vance curled in a fetal position on the floor, covered in soot from the theatrical smoke, babbling incoherently about ghosts and locked doors. She didn't even fight as they slapped the heavy iron handcuffs onto her wrists. She was completely broken.
An officer kicked down the door to my bedroom.
I was sitting calmly on the bed. I pulled the mask off and looked at him.
"Are you Elena Vance?" the officer asked, lowering his weapon.
"Yes," I said quietly. "I'm the one who called you."
They escorted me out of the house. As we walked down the front steps, the crisp morning air hit my face. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, casting a brilliant, golden light across the manicured lawns.
I saw Evelyn being shoved into the back of a police cruiser. She looked through the window, her eyes locking onto mine one last time. There was no hatred left in them. Only sheer, unadulterated fear. She knew that wherever she was going, she would never, ever be in control again.
Jessica had already confessed to her part in the attempted arson fifteen years ago, trading her mother's secrets for a reduced sentence. They would both spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
"Miss Vance?" a detective approached me, holding a notepad. "We have the evidence from the bank vault. The DA says it's a slam dunk. You're going to get everything back. Your father's estate... it's all yours."
"Thank you, Detective," I said softly.
"Is there anything else you need?" he asked, looking at me with a mixture of awe and pity.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the heavy iron key. It was warm now, heated by the morning sun. I looked at it, tracing the jagged edges that had tethered me to the past for fifteen years.
"No," I smiled, a genuine, weightless smile. "I have everything I need."
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I walked away from the house, away from the flashing red and blue lights, and down the long driveway toward the rising sun. For the first time in my life, there were no locks. There were no closed doors.
There was only the open sky, and I was finally free to breathe.
