Chapter 9 - The Ravine
The creek at the bottom of the ravine was rising rapidly, the muddy water churning over jagged rocks just feet from where they stood. Thunder rumbled directly overhead, shaking the earth beneath their feet.
Maya kept the knife pointed at Eleanor’s chest, her feet sliding slightly in the slick mud. "Put her down, Eleanor. It’s over. The police know about the escape. They know about the accounts."
Eleanor let out a cold, breathless laugh that sounded almost musical against the backdrop of the storm. "The police know what I allow them to know. By tomorrow morning, a body wearing my dental records will be found burned in a vehicle three miles from here. I will be dead, Maya. Legally, officially, permanently dead."
"And Lily?" Maya asked, her voice dropping into a dangerous, lethal calm. "What is she in your little play?"
"My legacy," Eleanor said, tightening her grip on the small child. "Julian is weak. He proved that tonight. Clara is a parasite. But Lily... Lily has Vance blood. She is young enough to be re-educated. Away from your pathetic, middle-class influence. Away from this country."
Lily made a muffled sound behind the tape, her small frame quivering against Eleanor’s chest, her tear-filled eyes locked on her mother.
"She's five years old!" Maya yelled, stepping forward. "She's a child, not a prize!"
"She is an investment!" Eleanor spat back, her eyes flashing with a terrifying, unhinged fervor. "I built this family! Every dollar, every property, every social connection! I will not let it die because my son picked a weakling for a wife!"
From the top of the ravine, light beams cut through the rain.
"Maya!" Julian's voice called out from above, followed by the heavy crunch of footsteps through the brush. "Maya! Where are you?"
Eleanor’s eyes flicked upward for a fraction of a second.
That was all the distraction Maya needed.
Maya didn't use the knife to strike. She lunged forward, driving her shoulder directly into Eleanor’s chest, using the full momentum of her body weight.
The two women collided with a sickening force. Eleanor gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs, her footing giving way on the muddy bank. As she fell backward toward the rushing creek, her instinct was to hold onto Lily, but Maya drove her arm between them, tearing the blanket-wrapped child from Eleanor's arms just as Eleanor’s back hit the roaring water.
Eleanor fell into the current, the heavy, waterlogged fabric of her beaded beige gown acting like an anchor, dragging her down into the dark, churning creek.
Maya scrambled onto her back, cradling Lily tightly against her chest, pulling the duct tape gently off her daughter's mouth as she backed away from the water's edge.
"Mommy!" Lily sobbed, wrapping her tiny arms around Maya’s neck, burying her face into Maya’s rain-soaked hair. "Mommy, I'm scared!"
"I've got you, baby," Maya sobbed, kissing the top of Lily's head, her body shaking hysterically. "I've got you. You're safe."
In the creek, Eleanor’s head surfaced thirty feet downstream. She had grabbed hold of an overhanging tree branch, fighting against the powerful current. Her face was illuminated by a flash of lightning—a terrifying vision of mud, wet hair, and pure, concentrated hatred.
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"You think you won?" Eleanor screamed across the rushing water, her fingers slipping against the slick bark of the branch. "You haven't won anything! Look at your phone, Maya! Look at the transfers! It's already done!"
Before Maya could comprehend the words, the heavy current broke the branch. Eleanor was swept away into the darkness, swallowed by the roaring black river.
