Chapter 4 - Shadows of the Past
Ten minutes later, the high-pitched wail of police sirens echoed from the street forty floors below, growing louder as emergency vehicles converged on the tower.
Security guards from the building had finally arrived, taking over the task of pinning Victoria to the floor. They had bound her wrists with plastic flex-cuffs. She had stopped screaming and now lay motionless on her side, her red dress tangled around her legs, staring at the white tile floor with hollow, unblinking eyes, whispering nursery rhymes under her breath.
Julian sat on the edge of a low leather couch in the lobby reception area. His gray suit jacket was torn at the shoulder, his shirt collar unbuttoned, his red tie hanging loose. On his lap sat Lily. He had wrapped his arms tightly around her small body, burying his face in her dark brown hair, holding her so closely that he could feel every fast, ragged beat of her little heart.
Beside them, an onshore corporate paramedic was attending to Sarah. Her brown wool blazer lay discarded on the floor, stained with dark circles of dried blood. She sat in her white blouse, her shoulders slumped forward in agony as the medic applied cooling gel to the severe, purple-and-black contusions lining her back.
"She broke two ribs, Mr. Vance," the medic said softly, his voice low so as not to startle the child. "She needs an X-ray immediately. If she hadn't taken those hits, the child’s skull would have been fractured."
Julian looked up at Sarah. His eyes were red-rimmed, heavy with a guilt so profound it felt like a physical weight crushing his chest.
"Sarah..." Julian whispered, his voice cracking. "Why didn't you run? You could have locked yourself in the inner office."
Sarah turned her head slowly, wincing as the movement pulled at the bruised muscles of her neck. Her blonde hair was loose, hanging in damp strands around her pale, sweat-streaked face. She offered a faint, trembling smile.
"I promised you I’d look after her, Julian," Sarah said, her voice barely above a whisper. "When Victoria walked off that elevator with the security badge she stole... there wasn't time to think. There was only Lily."
Julian closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against the back of his daughter's head.
The guilt was a poison in his veins. He had known Victoria was unraveling. For three years, since her release from the facility, he had received the cryptic letters, the silent phone calls in the dead of night, the subtle threats delivered through shadowy family court motions. But he had convinced himself that his wealth, his high-security glass tower, and his army of lawyers could keep the madness outside the gates.
He had built a palace of glass to hide his family from the world, only to turn it into a trap.
"Daddy?" Lily whispered, her small fingers clutching the lapel of his torn suit jacket. Her left cheek was already swelling significantly, a deep, angry purple mark marring her delicate skin. "Is she going away again?"
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Julian opened his eyes and looked down into his daughter's tear-stained green eyes. He wiped a tear from her nose with his thumb, his hand shaking uncontrollably.
"Yes, baby," Julian said, his voice cold with absolute finality. "She's going away. And she is never, ever coming back."
