Chapter 10 - The Last Threat
Victor Hale’s trial began on a rainy Monday morning.
Reporters filled the courthouse steps. Cameras flashed. Protesters shouted. Every news channel wanted a photograph of Adrian West, the billionaire father whose infant son had been stolen.
But Adrian did not enter the courthouse alone.
Monica walked beside him.
Emily and Grace stayed at the estate with Marcus and a team of guards, watching the trial on television.
Angel sat in Grace’s lap, chewing the ear of his stuffed elephant.
“He’s going to ruin it,” Grace said.
“He’s a baby,” Emily replied.
“He has no respect for toys.”
The television showed Victor being led into the courtroom in handcuffs.
He looked smaller than he had on television.
But his eyes were still cruel.
When the prosecutor described how Lena West had died, Adrian’s face changed. Emily saw him lower his head.
Monica placed her hand over his.
It was a small gesture.
But Emily noticed.
So did everyone else.
Then the power went out.
The television screen turned black.
The lights in the estate flickered.
Marcus’s voice came through the hallway.
“Lockdown!”
A loud alarm began to pulse.
Grace grabbed Emily’s hand.
“What’s happening?”
Marcus entered the room with two guards.
“Someone cut the power at the outer gate,” he said. “Stay here.”
Then a window shattered.
A smoke canister rolled across the floor.
Angel began screaming.
Emily grabbed him. Grace coughed beside her.
Through the smoke, a masked man climbed through the broken window.
He reached for Angel.
“No!” Emily screamed.
She backed into the corner, holding the baby tight.
The man moved closer.
“Give me the child.”
Emily’s mind raced.
She remembered the market.
The fire escape.
The alley.
Every time someone dangerous came near, adults told her to run.
But there was nowhere to run now.
So she did something else.
She threw the stuffed elephant at the man’s face.
It did not hurt him.
But it surprised him.
Grace grabbed a heavy lamp and pushed it off the table. It crashed at his feet. He stumbled.
Marcus burst through the door and tackled him before he could recover.
Two more men were captured outside.
Within minutes, the attack was over.
The men were not there to take Angel.
They were there to create chaos.
At the courthouse, Victor Hale had attempted to escape during the blackout.
But he failed.
The prosecutor revealed that Victor had arranged the attack from inside jail through a network of former employees and criminals. The attempt only gave the court more evidence against him.
By the end of the week, Victor was sentenced to life in prison.
No parole.
No deals.
No second chances.
Adrian returned home after the verdict and found Emily sitting in the nursery with Angel.
He looked tired, but lighter somehow.
“It’s over,” he said.
Emily studied him.
“Really over?”
He sat beside her.
“The dangerous part is over.”
“What about the sad part?”
Adrian looked at Angel.
“The sad part will always be there.”
Emily nodded.
She understood that.
Some things did not disappear just because bad people were caught.
Her old home was still gone.
Her father was still gone.
Lena was still gone.
But Angel was alive.
And Monica was alive.
And Grace was sitting nearby, teaching the stuffed elephant how to drink imaginary tea.
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Maybe that was enough to begin.
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