Chapter 2 - Night Flight
Working in the dark, I used the small blade to slash through the zip-ties binding my ankles beneath the dirt. Inch by agonizing inch, I carved away the soil packed around my chest, expanding my lungs until I could leverage my shoulders against the bank of the pit.
With one final, desperate push that felt like it would tear my body apart, I hoisted myself out of the earth. I collapsed onto the wet grass, gasping for air, clutching my stomach.
"You're safe," I whispered to my belly, feeling the faint, gentle movement of my baby inside me. "We made it."
I couldn't stay near the Vance estate. The property spanned fifty acres of dense Virginia woodland. I grabbed the water bottle Chloe had dropped, took a small sip, and began walking into the shadows of the forest.
I marched for two miles through the dark woods, guided only by distant highway lights. My dress was soaked with mud and blood, but my mind was clearer than it had ever been. By 3:00 AM, I reached an isolated gas station off Route 29.
The cashier gasped when I stumbled through the glass doors.
"Ma'am! Oh my God, what happened to you?" he cried, reaching for the phone.
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"Don't call the local police," I said, my voice cold as ice. "Call Detective David Miller at the State Police Department. Tell him Clara Sterling is alive."
David was my late father’s closest friend—and the one man the Vance family couldn't bribe.
