Chapter 4 - The South Gate Escape
The black sedan was tucked into the blind spot of the massive stone pillars flanking the south service gate. David pulled the rear door open with his free hand, bundling my son and me into the leather interior before sliding into the driver's seat with the infant still cradled securely against his chest.
"Seatbelts, now," he ordered, slamming his door and throwing the gearshift into drive.
The tires kicked up gravel as the heavy sedan surged forward, ramming through the unlocked service gate just as the estate's automated security lights flickered on behind us. I twisted in my seat, watching the towering white columns of the mansion shrink into the distance until they were swallowed entirely by the dark rolling hills of the valley.
In the backseat, my son let out a small, trembling sob. I pulled him into my lap, wrapping my arms around his small shoulders while pressing my cheek against his hair.
"Are we safe, Mommy?" he whispered, his voice small and frightened.
"Yes, baby. We're safe," I lied, though my heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I looked over the center console at David. Profiled against the glow of the dashboard instrument panel, his jaw was clenched so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek. He drove with a practiced precision, keeping the headlights off until we turned onto the two-lane state highway cutting through the pine forest.
"Where are we going?" I asked, my voice barely audible over the hum of the tires on asphalt.
"A motel twenty miles past the county line," David said without taking his eyes off the road. He glanced in the rearview mirror, checking for tail lights. "My lawyer has a safe house set up there. It's off the grid. Vance's private security won't find us before sunrise."
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"And the baby?" I asked, my gaze dropping to the tiny bundle resting quietly against David's right arm. The infant was sleeping again, breathing with a soft, steady rhythm that seemed impossible given the chaos we had just survived.
"His name is Leo," David said softly, a faint, haunted shadow of a smile touching the corner of his mouth. "Born three months before you came back to the estate for that charity gala. Your mother told me he died at birth, Maya. She handed me a death certificate with a forged signature on the hospital steps."
