Chapter 8 - The Final Poison
“Drop the gun, Mark,” Elena yelled, her voice shaking but full of absolute defiance.
Mark let out a derisive snort. “You brought the maid to save you, Sarah? Elena, you pathetic immigrant, put that down before I put a bullet between your eyes.”
Elena didn’t back down. Instead, she stepped fully into the room, revealing the person standing directly behind her.
It was Mateo. Elena’s cousin from the lab.
And he was pointing a 12-gauge hunting shotgun straight at Mark’s chest.
“Let the little girl go, cabrón,” Mateo said coldly, racking the shotgun. The sharp, mechanical click echoed loudly in the small cabin.
Mark froze. He had the handgun, but he was outgunned, and he knew it. His grip on Lily loosened slightly.
“You think you can just walk in here?” Mark spat, his eyes darting between Mateo and the door. “I called the police. They’re tracking my phone. They’ll be here in five minutes, and you’ll both be arrested for kidnapping.”
“They’re not coming for us,” Elena said. She pulled a smartphone from her pocket and tapped the screen.
A voice began playing loudly from the phone speaker.
“Chloe was collateral damage. If Rachel had just drank her milk like a good wife, none of that would have happened. She forced my hand.”
Mark’s face drained of color.
I looked down at the shattered recorder in the fireplace. Mark had destroyed the physical device. But he didn’t know it was a Bluetooth-enabled dictaphone. It had been silently uploading the audio feed directly to my cloud account—the account Elena had access to on her phone.
“I didn’t run to the bus station, Mark,” Elena said, her chin raised high. “I ran to the FBI field office. They have the receipt. They have the audio. And Mateo already ran a rapid tox screen on the chicken Sarah dropped at the lab.”
Mark realized it was over. The perfect, charming facade completely crumbled, leaving only a desperate, cornered animal.
With a roar of pure rage, he shoved Lily hard to the floor and raised his handgun toward Mateo.
BANG.
The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed space.
But it wasn’t Mark who fired.
Mark dropped his gun, screaming in agony as he clutched his right shoulder. Mateo had fired a warning shot, catching Mark perfectly in the collarbone, spinning him to the ground.
I scrambled across the floor and threw myself over Lily, shielding her small body with my own.
“Mama’s got you,” I sobbed, rocking her as she cried. “I’ve got you.”
Mark writhed on the floor, groaning, his expensive suit soaked in blood. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with venom.
“You’re crazy,” he gasped, coughing. “You’re all crazy. I’ll tell the judge you set me up. I’m a respected businessman.”
Elena walked over to the kitchen counter. She picked up the Tupperware container containing the drugged chicken.
She walked back to Mark, looking down at him with an expression of pure, unfiltered disgust.
“Eat your lunch, Mr. Mark,” she said coldly, tossing the container onto his bleeding chest.
May you like
Through the open cabin door, the wail of police sirens finally pierced the quiet night. Red and blue lights began flashing through the pine trees, illuminating the dark woods.
The nightmare was finally over.
