Chapter 7 - THE FALLING MASK
“Put the gun down, Sabrina,” Ethan said. He didn’t shout. His voice was terrifyingly calm as he slowly shifted his body to shield Lily.
Sabrina’s silver dress was torn at the hem. Her perfect updo had unraveled, blonde hair hanging in her face. The mask of the elegant, charitable socialite was completely gone, revealing the bitter, desperate woman underneath.
“Move away from the child, Ethan,” Sabrina commanded, her hands shaking slightly. “I won’t spend my life in a cell because of a brat and a housekeeper.”
“It’s over,” Grace said, calculating the distance between herself and Sabrina. Twelve feet. Too far for a disarm. She needed her to step closer. “Derek is already talking to the police outside. He’s going to pin the murders on you to save himself.”
“Derek is an idiot!” Sabrina snapped, stepping into the room. Eleven feet. “He was supposed to make the crash look clean. But he couldn’t resist taking a souvenir. He ruined everything.”
“Why?” Ethan’s voice broke. “Daniel never did anything to you. He didn’t even know you!”
Sabrina let out a harsh, wet laugh. “He knew my father. Three years ago, when my family’s real estate firm was going bankrupt, my father begged Daniel for a bridge loan. Daniel laughed at him. Called our portfolio ‘toxic.’ My father had a heart attack a week later. We lost everything. The house, the country club, the respect.”
She pointed the gun closer to Ethan’s face. “You Caldwells think you can just buy and sell people. I decided to take back exactly what Daniel stole from me. His fortune. It was so easy to make you fall in love with me, Ethan. You were so pathetic. So sad.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened, but he kept his hands visible. “You’re sick.”
“I’m wealthy,” Sabrina corrected. “Or I will be, once I tell the police that the disgruntled housekeeper broke in, shot my fiancé and his niece in a rage, and I had to put her down in self-defense.”
She shifted the barrel toward Grace.
Ten feet.
Grace didn’t look at the gun. She looked at Ethan. She tapped her thigh twice.
Ethan understood instantly.
He threw the heavy crystal bourbon decanter straight at Sabrina’s head.
Sabrina shrieked, ducking to the left. The gun fired. The deafening CRACK echoed through the library as the bullet shattered the antique mirror behind Grace.
But Grace was already moving.
She closed the ten feet in two massive strides. She didn’t go for a high kick—the borrowed dress was too tight. Instead, she dropped low, driving her shoulder directly into Sabrina’s knees.
The two women crashed to the hardwood floor. The gun skittered across the rug.
Sabrina clawed wildly at Grace’s face, her manicured nails tearing into Grace’s cheek. “I’ll kill you! You piece of trash!”
Grace grabbed Sabrina by the wrists, pinned her arms to the floor, and drove her knee into the woman’s sternum, pinning her completely.
“I’m not trash,” Grace breathed heavily, blood trickling down her cheek. “I’m the head housekeeper. And you’re making a mess.”
Detective Russo and three uniformed officers burst into the room, their weapons drawn.
“Secure her!” Russo yelled.
As the police hauled a screaming, thrashing Sabrina to her feet and clamped the cuffs on her wrists, Grace sat back on the floor, gasping for air.
Suddenly, small arms wrapped tightly around her neck.
May you like
Lily buried her face in Grace’s shoulder. “You saved us,” the little girl cried. “You saved us.”
Grace hugged her back, burying her face in Lily’s hair, letting the tears finally fall.
