Chapter 5 - The Night She Chose to RunMaya barely reached the second floor before she heard Tyler’s voice.
“Where is my wife?”
A security guard answered from the entrance hall.
“I believe she’s upstairs, sir.”
Maya handed the USB drive to Rosa.
“Hide this.”
Rosa shook her head.
“They will search me first.”
“Then what do I do?”
Rosa looked toward Maya’s jacket.
“The inner lining.”
Maya tore a small opening in the fabric, pushed the drive inside, and closed the material around it with a safety pin.
The office door slammed upstairs.
Tyler shouted her name.
Rosa hurried toward the servants’ staircase while Maya entered the bedroom and sat beside the window.
Tyler arrived seconds later.
His face was calm.
That frightened her more than shouting would have.
“You entered my office.”
“No.”
“The camera recorded you.”
Maya looked at the floor.
Tyler closed the door.
“What did you take?”
“Nothing.”
He searched her jewelry box, drawers, handbag, and wardrobe.
Then he took her phone and smashed it against the desk.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I saw the files.”
Tyler turned slowly.
“You saw private family business.”
“You’ve been spying on people.”
“We protect ourselves.”
“You created a false medical report about me.”
“That report becomes necessary only if you become a problem.”
Maya stood.
“I’m leaving.”
Tyler laughed.
“You have no phone, no car, no money, and nowhere to go.”
“My mother—”
“Will receive evidence that she accepted illegal payments.”
“She never did.”
“The truth matters less than the headline.”
Maya moved toward the door.
Tyler blocked her path.
“You are not leaving this room until you tell me what you took.”
For the next several hours, he questioned her.
Maya repeated the same answer.
Nothing.
Shortly before midnight, an alarm sounded downstairs.
Smoke began filling the west wing.
Tyler looked toward the hallway.
Rosa had started a small electrical fire in the laundry room.
The mansion’s safety system unlocked every door.
Security guards rushed downstairs.
Maya ran.
She crossed the hall, descended the back staircase, and entered the kitchen.
Rosa stood near the service exit.
“Go,” she said.
“What about you?”
“I will tell them the machine caught fire.”
“He’ll know you helped me.”
“Then make sure he no longer has the power to punish anyone.”
Maya pushed through the exit.
She ran across the rear garden without shoes. Her body hurt, but she did not stop.
Behind her, Tyler shouted orders.
The front gate remained closed, so Maya headed toward the eastern wall where old trees grew beside the property line.
She climbed onto a garden bench and pulled herself over the stone barrier.
She landed on wet grass outside the estate.
A road stretched through the darkness.
No houses were nearby.
No vehicles passed.
Maya began walking toward the city.
After nearly an hour, headlights appeared.
She raised both arms.
The vehicle slowed.
For one terrified second, Maya thought Tyler’s security team had found her.
Then she saw the hospital symbol on the side of the van.
It was a medical supply vehicle returning from a delivery.
The driver stepped out.
“Are you all right?”
Maya tried to answer.
But the road tilted beneath her.
May you like
Before she collapsed, she whispered two words.
“Call Elena.”
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